I am writing this on Sept 30th, 2022.  I am home from work today due to Hurricane Ian that has torn through Florida.  While I am safely tucked away in my home in North Carolina I think about all those whose lives are forever changed because of this storm.  I send my thoughts and prayers out to each and everyone one of them.  Before I relocated last year from the beach to the mountains I rode out my share of hurricanes. I remember Hurricane Sandy (2012) when I still lived in NY, Hurricane Matthew (2016), Hurricane Florence (2018), and Hurricane Isaias (2020).  Hurricane Isaias made landfall in Ocean Isle beach right where our shop was located!  I saw first hand the devastation and destruction they bring.  I also the amazing love and compassion that was shared after each and every storm!  I saw how people came together.  I saw how in those horrific moments it didn’t matter what your belief system was, how old you were, your religion, and so forth.  All that mattered was helping your neighbor.  All that mattered was being there for each other!  I remember each and every time just watching the communities coming together and always thinking…this is who we truly are!  

As I sit here looking at my window watching the trees blowing violently in the wind I can’t help but wonder what has happened to us as a society? How did we allow such division and hatred to come between us?  Why is it that in the most horrific of times we can all come together as brothers and sisters but the very next moment it is as if all is forgotten and we go right back to division and hatred?  

I have always stayed out of politics as my job, my mission in life is to assist people on their Spiritual Journey.  My job is NOT to tell them how to think or what to believe. However, I am going to break my rule this one time and tell you that I am not a Republican or Democrat.  I am an Independent. I am sharing this because if I did not start by sharing that I can guarantee all the Republicans would read what I am about to say and think I am a Democrat and all the Democrats would think I was a Republican.  Of course, you would all be wrong (imagine that)!  Now for those of you who have never been an Independent, it is kind of like being the only sober person at a party full of really drunk people.  You just sit back watching everyone around you doing insane things.  You spend a lot of time thinking to yourself, “Ugh they are definitely going to regret that”.  I have quietly sat by for the last few years watching totally sane people losing their minds.  I have watched healers and spiritual people berating others for their beliefs.   I have watched families torn apart for being on the opposite side of the political fence.  I have watched the very people claiming to only want to be accepted for who they are destroying the lives of others. 

As the winds have now picked up and the leaves are whipping past the window I can’t help but think, “what the hell is wrong with everyone”?  What is it going to take to bring back love, compassion, and most importantly the practice of …minding your own business!  As we move closer to November you can feel the anxiety in the air.  Regardless of what happens half the people will be happy and half the people will not.  I truly hope the love and compassion that we will share with each other after this latest Hurricane will last long past November.  I hope we will be smart enough, brave enough, and loving enough to reach out a hand and say, “I love you my friend”.  

My Grandma Jennie always used to tell me that rain was good luck!  Let’s hope and pray that this storm (this rain) washes away all that hate, anger, and division.  Let’s hope and pray that we remember that we are all mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters.