sharing a peek into the book in the process...just a peek

Forward

I am not quite certain when or where the ride shifted leading me to this very moment of self- exploration.  All I do know is that it did, and the road to now has been an incredible and at many times, scary journey.  There were noticeable signposts along the way that were immediately recognizable:  my mother and best friend losing her life to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), my marriage falling apart, a child in crisis, and my home going into foreclosure.  These were the landslides that burned themselves into my consciousness.  And yet, these were not the catalysts to my self discovery.  They were the byproduct of change.  They were the jump in with both feet blindfolded opportunities to growth.  The true catalysts were much more subtle and less recognizable from the vantage point of my limited view, until I began the incredible process of understanding.

Looking back from where I am now, the fog is beginning to life, no longer clouding my view behind a murky haze of awareness.  The veil parts, the curtain opens and the view opens up before me miraculously.  Why now?  Because I am ready for it.  From here I can tell you the view of the horizon is breath-taking. 

Digging Deep is about the journey of self-discovery.  Somewhere in the process we must dig down, exposing the roots that hold us firmly where we are in order to move to another place.  Maybe, just maybe, the place where we are meant to be.  I strongly believe that in order to really understand and heal, we have to take everything back to the root of its growth, back to the moment of its seeding.  Everything happens for a reason.  There are no coincidences.  I believe that with my whole soul.  Many are learning now that even physical ailments and disease have underlying causes and lessons within them.  We can use lotions, potions and pills to alleviate the discomfort and symptoms, but these things do not cure the malady.  They are merely band- aids that make it all manageable.  For a while.  Eventually the Band-Aid falls off, leaving us right back where we started.  We can either replace the Band-Aids or we can heal the wound or the sickness.

If we truly want to heal and grow, we need to put on our archeologist hat and begin to dig in the dirt.  Do you remember digging in the dirt when you were a child?  For me, it was a time of exploration and fun.  The messier the better!  When I played in the dirt, or better yet, the mud, it was exhilarating.  My thoughts wandered to what I would find, how would it feel, and I didn’t care one bit how messy I got doing it!  Where did that childhood excitement for exploration go?  It got buried in the avalanche of life situations and growing up.  Did you ever dig around the exposed roots of a tree or move the dirt with your hands exploring just where they went?  I could sit forever under a tree doing just that.  Little did I know someday I would embark on a similar mission of a more spiritual nature.  Trees and their roots have so much they can teach us if we can only begin to move the dirt from around them, exposing their lessons that lie below the surface of what we perceive as solid ground.

I can’t promise you that it will always be easy or that you won’t bang up your knuckles, here and there.  What I can promise you from personal experience is that it will be worth it.  It will open your eyes to miracles that were previously hidden from view.  I hope you will find something to inspire you within these pages.  Come sit with me under the tree for a while.  Bring your child-like curiosity and some digging tools.  Every journal begins with a single step and every treasure needs to be unearthed and dusted off in order to see its beauty and worth.  Welcome my friends, to discovery.