“When the world gets weird, get weirder.”

The motto arrived as I was purchasing a unicorn headband to wear on a visit to my ailing grandmother who has Alzheimer’s. These visits are filled with grief, and bring on all kinds of sensations of feeling powerless in the face of someone you love.

And sometimes: you just need a unicorn horn to remind you … of the big wonderful world that holds beauty with horror, love with grief, grace with fear, and wisdom with inexperience.

Did you know that weird originates from the term wyrd?

It refers to destiny and fate, and is associated to Parcae, the Latin name for the Fates— the three goddesses who spun, measured, and cut the thread of life. It has a complex meaning spun from the languages of Norse and Old English, and speaks to a weaving of one’s future as being woven out of the strings of our past.

As I listened for you today,
(As is my practice before sitting down to write these story letters to you…)
what came was LOVE DROPS.

Perhaps what is most needed when the world feels like it’s topsy turvy.
Not a long love letter pontificating my adoration of you.
Just a few drops of tangible love in action.

Today I bring you Stories as Medicine:
(aka: Story Prescriptions)

• A story for those living with a mind that has lost Hope.

• A story for those who are inhabited by Grief

• A story to remind of the power of one.

Because sometimes all you need is a new story:

“Mind is constellated through all the stories that are told within the relationship that forms the mind. Elders insisted that if we don’t like who we are or what’s happening in our lives, we need new stories. Nothing is wrong with us, they would say. We just need new stories. LMM saw one elder counsel a soon-to-be-released convict in a prison yard sweat. The convict told the elder that the doctors and parole officers and officials had little hope for him since he had bipolar, and antisocial, and attention deficit disorders, among others. The elder countered, “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re a good man. You just grew up with some bad stories. Stick with us and we will give you new stories. Good stories. Stories to live a good life by. Then you will be well. Don’t listen to them doctors. They don’t know all that much anyway.” This exchange was followed by several other people there giving testimonials about how their stories changed as a result of working with this elder, and therefore, their lives were better. The man felt much better after hearing all this. They had given him hope.”

~ Construction of an Aboriginal Theory of Mind and Mental Health by Lewis Mehl‐Madrona Gordon Pennycook

(Gratitude toTad Hargrave for bringing this story to my attention.)

UPCOMING CLASSES:

Story as Initiation: a 12 month journey of Story as a Path to Initiation

“What we are doing here is so important, we better not take it too seriously.” ~ Suzuki Roshi