Blessing Manifesto

Mushroom Montoya’s Blessing Manifesto

I am a blessing. What I repeat often after I say, “I am,” I manifest into my life. Good coaches tell their charges to tell themselves that they are winners. I am my own coach at this stage of my life. I am a blessing and I will be a blessing upon the earth. I have lived well. I have experienced much that is delightful. I have been blessed with wonderful people who have taught me much. I share what I have learned from others and from my own life experiences.

Even the most horrific of tragedies have taught me much. There is a lesson to be learned or a blessing to be garnered from every experience regardless of how painful it is at the moment. My son’s death brought me unexpected gifts, in terms of what I see as important in my life.

The biggest lesson for me has been the importance and significance of gratitude. I am grateful that I am still alive and I can still contribute to the wellbeing and joy of others. I can continue to be a blessing not only to others, but to myself, as well. 

I have learned that we all expose our energy fields beyond our bodies. We touch others with our energy field. My thoughts and emotions affect my energy field. When I start each day by saying out loud, “I am a blessing.” I start the process to make it so. When people approach me, they feel welcome. They smile. They respond to my “blessing” energy. I don’t need to say anything. I can just be. Be a blessing. 

I enhance my ability to be a blessing by expressing my gratitude each morning. I express my gratitude to the Creator of all things and request the Creator’s help in my being a blessing. I thank the air for all if its gifts: my life, my ability to exercise, my ability to listen and talk. I ask the air to help my words be blessing words, kind words, loving words, and healing words. 

I thank the sun for its warmth, its light, its energy and its radiation. I ask it to help me be an illuminator and a blessing. 

I thank all my relations, the plants, the animals, the minerals and my body parts. I thank the water and my water relations, the fish, the dolphins, the clams, the otters the seaweed. I thank them for their gifts and ask them to help me be fluid and flexible. 

I thank the fire in all its forms for its gifts. I ask the fire to fire me up with energy so that I may have the strength to be a blessing. 

I thank the sky for bringing the sun, the moon and the stars,  I thank the birds and the bees for pollinating and spreading seeds. I thank the clouds for bring the rain, the snow and for feeding Mother Earth. 

I thank Mother Earth for birthing me into life and for her beauty. I ask her to help me be a blessing for her and all of her children. 

Lastly, I express my gratitude to my truest self and ask that I continue to be a blessing.

Angry Towel

The towel glared at the second story window, 

Waiting for my face to appear, 

Waiting to show me its anger

Wagging its soggy tail 

in the drizzly morning breeze. 

It shivered all night on the clothesline

While I slept between

soft

dry

sheets.

Quetzalcoatl, Lord of the Dawn, 

Brightened the room

with bright pastels,

Making my eyes smile

as I yawned, breathing in

the new morning.

My feet carried me outside

to greet the morning mist. 

She blew me a dewy kiss 

As she swished a breeze 

to tickled the perpetual climbing rose bush

into giggling. 

The tear soaked towel perched on the clothesline

Waiting impatiently for me to walk by.

It leapt from the line 

And doused me without asking permission. 

“You neglected to address my complaint, 

Or even say hello,” it hissed. 

Sadness jumped onto a breeze

And pounced on me

Completely pushing out

every

sliver

of intent

I had

to do

anything.

"Tis my turn

To play my game,

My way,” the towel blustered.

“Tis time for you

to practice being in pain.

I didn’t want your soggy tears

that sting my fur with death.”

“BUT MY SON IS DEAD,” I cried.

The towel fluttered its tongue at me.

“I refuse to sing a dirge for your son. 

His hands never touched me

Never folded me

And never, ever caressed me.

I didn’t want your soggy tears

that sting my fur with death. 

We are here and he is not,

Nor will he ever be.

“Tis time for you

to practice being in pain.”

 I winced

And wished my tears would pour 

And take the sadness with them.

The dewy mist licked my face 

Contributing the liquid for my tears.

I held the towel in my hands and cried,

“Nor did I

want my soggy tears

to sting your fur with death.”

Happiness is temporary and wonderful

Happiness is temporary and wonderful. I hear people say that they wish they could be happy all the time. You can't jump rope all day, no matter how much you enjoy it. We are creatures that need contrast to make out our way.
Tahlia Newland, interviewed me from Australia on her Happiness Hints program. Click on the link to go to the YouTube interview.
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Aunt Lucy's Christmas Eve Secret

Not all sad and tragic Xmas stories end on a sad note.

In the early 1950s my Uncle Carlos was driving home in the snow from a Christmas Eve party. He drove off the road and into a parked bulldozer. Aunt Lucy was holding their baby, Margarita, in her lap. The baby died. I remember the little white coffin that they placed baby Margarita into. My cousins were in casts and stitches. It was a very sad Xmas.

Forty years later, our own son died. During our son’s funeral, Aunt Lucy pulled Denise and me aside. “I have a secret to tell you,” she said while holding our hands. “You know how I would forbid everyone from entering my kitchen on Christmas eve while I spend the day baking cookies and other Xmas treats.”

“Yes,” I said. “We all love the aroma of your kitchen on Christmas eve. And we love what you bake. You are the best cook in the family.”

Aunt Lucy squeezed my hand and shook her head. “People think I bake and cry every Christmas ever because I love this time of year. But that’s not true. I cry because my daughter died on Christmas eve. I grieve for her every year. And yet, it is not so bad. Because I can bake and make everyone happy and they helps me, too.”

Aunt Lucy’s words stunned me. Our son died about 8 weeks earlier. Grief squeezed its burning tentacles around my heart. Would I be hurting like this for the next 40 years?

The following Xmas was overwhelmingly sad. I walked the shopping malls, by myself, trying to find presents for Denise. I dragged my smile-less face behind me as I trudged down the store aisles. I left several times empty handed. I ended up buying Denise everything on her list on Xmas Eve that year.

Time heals. It didn’t take long to understand better what Aunt Lucy was telling us. Yes, we will continue to grieve, but, when we give of ourselves, the grief diminishes and life gets brighter. Yes, there is an empty spot under the Xmas tree. And although we may place a few tears in that spot every year, we can smile knowing that his organs allowed four other families to enjoy more Xmas’s with their loved ones. His death, although tragic for us, has brought us other gifts as well, some continue to unfold.

The Blessing of the Dark Side

“You don’t know the power of the Dark Side,” Darth Vader said.

We tend to associate evil with the Dark Side. But that is a far too limited view.

The winter solstice has arrived. We are emerging out of the darkness and into the light. Although the days are getting longer, the dark nights still prevail. Take this opportunity to go to your own Dark Side and expose it to your own inner light. We are human and therefore dualistic. We sometimes become who we are NOT in order to evolve into who we are becoming. We have done things that we are sorry for, that we regret; things that are unkind, mean and cruel. And we have learned that those actions have not been beneficial to us. 

Bring your past Dark actions into the new emerging light and ask yourself. "What have I learned from these?" Write them down. Create your own ceremony in which you take what you've written and offer them to the new light of the fire and emerging season. As your past Dark actions burn, forgive yourself and know that even those dark actions have helped you evolve.

There is a great healing power in self forgiveness. When we forgive ourselves we can more readily see the divinity and the marvel that we really are. And then we are more easily able to be  better humans. 

Next write down the type of person you are hoping to evolve into and the personal qualities that you want to increase and offer those to the emerging season and the fire as well. Invite loved ones to join you in this ceremony to make it more powerful.