Awesome!

A friend emailed this awesome NASA photograph this week. You must see it. It is Shiprock, the red rock formation sacred to the Navajo people, against the star-filled night sky extending to the far reaches of the Universe.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1208/monumentvalley_pacholka_1387.jpg

For me, it represents synchronistic guidance letting me know I’m on track. A thread connects events in a previous blog post - wanting to see Shiprock in person for some time, then unexpectedly reading about it in a novel followed by receiving the photo. When there is a recurring theme, it tells me to pay attention, it’s not by accident, there is communication taking place. Trust the process. I wasn’t sure whether to entitle this week’s blog entry Inspiration from Meditation, Writing About Writing, or Awesome.  By choosing the last one, I can cover all three because this week I have received inspiration about writing through meditation, and it’s awesome. The photo confirms access to universal information.

Very visual, I often “see” things in meditation. The Virgin, or Our Lady, of Guadalupe, joined my guides and teachers this week. That seems totally appropriate because I’ve begun writing the manuscript of A Caregiver’s Journey: Supporting an Adult Child with Cancer. She is very important to those who live in New Mexico. Her appearance indicates she is here to mother, or nurture, me as I write about a mother and son dealing with melanoma. She is here to mother the book by imbuing it with her essence. Thirty to forty pages of manuscript are due at the ABQ Writers Co-op by September 24th. I am immersed in writing. It is a journey into the unknown. Many decisions need to be made about structure, chapter names, what to include, where to start. Guidance and confirmation about being on track are always appreciated. At the end of the meditation, Guadalupe held the completed book up in outstretched hands, offering it, emanating light, to the Universe. It looked like the photo of Shiprock against the starry sky.

I awoke at 4 a.m. Friday morning to jot down three pages of ideas about how to structure the book. Judy Allen, my professional artist neighbor, stopped by to visit. She just accepted a position as an art teacher at a private school on the Navajo reservation, near Shiprock. Judy told me she was guided to find a book she owned on her shelf, one written by Hugh Lynn Cayce, Edgar’s son. He didn’t start at the beginning. He started in a foxhole in the war – the moment of his greatest doubt and fear. I told Judy I had just started A Caregiver’s Journey in the middle of the story too – in the wilderness – where I don’t know what to do or where to go. We noted the similarity and knew it was confirmation. Oh. I’m on the right track. The title of Cayce’s book? Faces of Fear: A Practical Guide to Overcoming Life’s Anxieties. God does have a sense of humor. Trust the process.

Trusting the process characterized a Labor Day weekend road trip of five hundred miles on two different outings through the wilds of New Mexico. The first part was south to Las Cruces for the night, trusting lodging would be available, signs would be posted, the way found to the world-famous Hatch Chile Festival in the small agricultural community known for growing not only chiles, but also onions and pecans. A red-roofed store on the way into town was covered with drying chiles. We noticed them the second time we drove by because two men were up on the roof raking them. Over 30,000 people attend the festival at the small, local airport. All things chile from pottery, cookbooks, Christmas ornaments and ristras (long strings of drying chiles) to green-chile marmalade are for sale. Large cups of watermelon, cantaloupe, jicama, cucumber and mango spears were offered with freshly-squeezed lime juice, salt and, of course, chile powder. “Red or green?” is the state question. You are having chile. What kind would you like? Road tripping in New Mexico demands trust, and a sound car. There are no call boxes in the vast emptiness. Cell phone service is spotty. The ninety-mile stretch of waterless desert, just north of Las Cruces, part of El Camino Real, is called Journada del Muerto, Dead Man’s Journey.

The second part of the road trip was west toward Grants, (yes, that’s right!) New Mexico, to the Acoma pueblo, or “Sky City,” for feast day. The pueblo is built on top of a 367’ sandstone mesa. The countryside is replete with beauty and unique rock formations. Standing in line for the shuttle to the top, I found myself engaged in conversation with a woman on her way to visit relatives living in the pueblo. By the time we arrived, I knew everything I needed to know – how to find the dancing in the main plaza, roasted corn, best tamales, must-see Spanish church and even what to bring as a gift on my next visit – a can of coffee. Not having a television for almost twenty years, I lived knowing “I will know whatever I need to know when I need to know it.” And I did. If the uni-verse is “one-song,” or vibration, connecting everything, then there are myriad ways information can reach me. I can relax and trust the process. Awesome!