{"id":8813,"date":"2021-11-22T18:39:56","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T18:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/?p=8813"},"modified":"2021-11-22T20:47:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T20:47:44","slug":"what-next-what-now-what-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/what-next-what-now-what-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"What Next? What Now? What Matters?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much of what I see is now becoming repetitious and familiar to me. <\/span><\/em>
\nThis is something to strive for because, without the attainment of familiarity, <\/span><\/em>
\nthe significant remains invisible. Immersion in the familiar also brings me a <\/span><\/em>
\nfeeling of tranquility and comfort, a sense that all is right with the world.<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n

The Geese of Beaver Bog<\/span><\/em>
\nBernd Heinrich<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/h4>\n

It’s been a quiet time for me. Many weeks ago I could have jumped to conclusions and imagined that I had lost my mojo. Instead, I have been smudging while walking the golden forest paths at the tree farm, clearing my lakeside garden and planting the winter salad beds here at Wren House, reorganizing my painting\/Lifecycle studio, working with Lifecycle collaborators, and serving as Artist-in-Residence at a private school all the while keeping my fingers on the pulse of what feels good, beauty-filled, and true.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Drozda (C), Coppice #1, mixed media\/Arches paper, 9 x 12″<\/p>\n


\nOn October 19 my dear sister-friend, Sunny\/Sandra Mosley said goodbye to her physical life experience. I pause. Not wanting to hurry past this tremendous change. <\/span>No rushing forward. Instead, I have made the choice to savor the beauty, the laughter, and the creative joy that we shared over the length of our friendship. I also honor her commitment to teaching through her creative work with ZodiacArts<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sunny left the Earth Mother with dignity, the embodiment of Introspection\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The keyword for this moon\/month of November is Death and Rebirth\/Introspection. In her customary and thoughtful way of doing anything that she placed her attention upon, Sunny transitioned to a noble death.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Drozda (C), Family Tree, Acrylic\/board, 36 x 24″<\/p>\n

Let’s not forget that it’s as natural to leave, to die, as it is to arrive, to be born, and yet, as we all know, our culture celebrates the arrival\/birth and considers parting\/death, as such sweet sorrow.\u00a0 Sunny has lived the past twenty-plus years in her dream home of Hawaii. The last time we sat together chatting into the night was in 2012 when Hurricane Sandy barreled up the east coast. Sunny <\/span>weathered the storm at Wren House<\/span> her flights were canceled for several days.<\/span>
\nSince that time our visits have been long-distance, including our monthly XLC (Extended Lifecycle sessions). Like all Lifecycle collaborators, Sunny wrote a sacred contract just for her and her Higher Self.
\nShe was excited by the idea of crafting a five-year <\/span>legacy gift <\/span>so that by the time her newly arrived Great-Granddaughter turned five Sunny would have a treasure to send to her … Sunny envisioned a collection of writings<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong>, paintings, stories so that her Great-Grand could hold something in hand. <\/span><\/h4>\n

Best laid plans.<\/span><\/h4>\n

On September 15, two weeks beyond her 75th birthday (September 1), Sunny emailed me to say she would have to cancel our scheduled XLC session. She wrote, “I just don’t have energy. I can’t keep my focus.”<\/span><\/h4>\n

Next, I heard from her in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday, September 23. She described a pain episode that took her to the E.R.\u00a0 She gave thanks for the kind woman doctor who ordered the ct scan. And then, with the results, everything changed. Sunny was informed that her liver was covered with lesions. The doctor suggested that with a few more tests they would be able to discern if the stage 4 cancer was sourced in the breast, ovaries, or colon. Sunny declined the tests. With a stage 4 diagnosis, her primary care physician ordered the hospice bed which was delivered Friday.<\/span>
\nThat was my last voice-to-voice contact with my friend of three decades.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

I am being very quiet now. Sunny’s husband phoned on October 20 to tell me that she had crossed the Rainbow Bridge the night before. He indicated that she was at peace in taking leave.<\/span><\/h4>\n

I began writing this post three weeks ago. I kept falling short on what to say and how to say it. My years of hospice volunteer service, sitting at the bedside listening to life stories, as well as my near-death experience as a young woman, do not lessen my present feeling of emptiness and loss. I encourage each of us to take the time we need, whenever we need it, to filter and integrate the loss of any part of our dear lives. No rush. No need to keep everything moving as though nothing has happened. Things happen that change us. Make a note of that.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

2021 is winding down. It has been the Global Year of Change. We roil against things becoming different and we often yearn for ‘the good old days’ perhaps because they appear much clearer in the rearview mirror than the process of looking ahead. Here we are, entering the quieting time of the natural\/circadian year. How do you release and let go? What’s next for your heart? What matters to your soul? What does your NOW hold that is good and true and rich in beauty for you? Leave a comment or make a note in your journal. It’s natural now to be about the creative engagement of introspection which leads to strength, as well as so much for which to be grateful.<\/span><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much of what I see is now becoming repetitious and familiar to me. This is something to strive for because, without the attainment of familiarity, the significant remains invisible. Immersion in the familiar also brings me a feeling of tranquility and comfort, a sense that all is right with the world. The Geese of Beaver […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[167,36,79,193,2,3,183],"tags":[389,391,392,43,388,143,390],"class_list":["post-8813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-act-iii","category-artlife","category-buddhism","category-creative-life","category-natural-time-management","category-slow-time","category-voluntary-simplicity","tag-bernd-heinrich","tag-death-and-dying","tag-hospice","tag-lunar-phases","tag-sandra-mosley","tag-wise-woman","tag-zodiacarts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6htPT-2i9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8813"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8835,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813\/revisions\/8835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}