Highlight: Adventures Within
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Judy Wolf
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by Judy Wolf
How many of us are brave enough to search inward for adventure? Jeanne R. isn't someone who's seeking outward recognition. In fact, says Jeanne, "I'm an anonymous kind of person….You know, when I was in high school, I counted up to 300 encounters with folks who knew someone who looked like me, 'could be' my twin, 'could be' my younger/older sister. Since then, I don't bother to count. I think it may be a cosmic message that individualism is really interconnected-ism."
This unpretentious 50-year-old is a mother of two children, now young adults, and she's been married over 30 years to her high school sweetheart. "From my earliest memory, I wanted to be a mom. It may sound alien in this day of career women, but I took this job very seriously." In a world where stay-at-home moms often feel a need to justify their choices, Jeanne doesn't spend much time apologizing. "Both kids are a joy. I laugh a lot when they visit. They are out in the world finding their place, using their many talents and not limiting themselves to a narrow field or point of view. That feels like a success."
While raising kids and supporting the efforts of her husband (who's had his own business since 1986, recently got his Master's in Alternative Energy, and has spent half of each of the past four years doing humanitarian work in Afghanistan), Jeanne has been on an intrepid journey of "self-understanding."
In 1984, she began "seriously studying T'ai Chi Ch'uan." In 1994, she discovered two complementary passions: she started practicing massage and healing bodywork and also began studying with Tom Brown, Jr., "The Tracker." How are these two experiences related? Jeanne explains, "[Tom's] point is to raise awareness and intuition. A lot can be changed by doing this, and it begins within oneself. If you don't know yourself, accept yourself, how much can you help anyone else, or the planet?….Massage school, where I thought I was going to learn to heal others, is where I learned about healing myself, learning patience, learning to listen and be still and not have to offer solutions, but simply be with the person. That stillness is so important….It's seeing the beauty of the person as they learn to trust and be with themselves. It is witnessing another, and in doing so, seeing oneself."
Jeanne works not only to "become the change you want to see," but also to deepen her intuition so it "gets stronger and more confident. I see it as a lifelong event….Tom calls it 'spiritual weightlifting.' It's tough at first." Since her first workshops with Tom Brown, Jr., she has also studied with Caroline Myss ("I had read all her books and found her to have a lot of knowledge and experience that seemed in alignment with my own feelings") and David Morehouse ("who wrote The Psychic Warrior and teaches Remote Viewing").
"Each event in my life has prepared me for the next teacher to come into my life….They've helped me to see the value in the smallest of things that I accomplish. I know the importance of my actions and my thoughts. I am learning to use my words as if they were smoke, never to be retrieved, and as jewels that need to be given as such. I'm learning to forgive my humanity and to accept it lovingly."
Like many people who learn to listen to themselves, Jeanne pays attention to her ups and downs. "I know when I'm 'off' because I just want to lie down and quit. So I do this for a limited time, a time out, and then give myself the pep talk, a mini life review, a tally of my blessings and how far I have come, and why it is important to me to continue, even blindly if need be. And when I'm 'on,' the energy flows, things happen almost as soon as I put the thought out to the universe.…Events tie to one another, and suddenly there is a circle of serendipity."
In having the courage to explore the universe within, this "stay-at-home mom" lights a candle on the path and invites each of us to find and define our own inward adventures. "Somewhere in all this is who I am. Somewhere in all this is Truth. Life is not the latest technology, or fashion or 'stuff' I've acquired. Life is the squirrel collecting sticks for a nest, and watching the birth of my dog, and listening to my daughter, and allowing my son to teach me, and being with my husband as he gently slumbers. It's seeing more than the obvious and being open to more than my experiences….It is seeking the peace, the joy, and the love that is mine to have if only I ask for it, open to it, answer 'yes.'"
Do you have an interesting story to tell? Or know of an adventurous or inspiring tale lived by someone else? Let me know!
Copyright (c) 2002 Judy Wolf
About
the Author:
Judy Wolf (www.judywolf.com)
is a world traveler, freelance writer, speaker, and whitewater kayak instructor.
She's taken numerous, extended solo journeys around the world, traveling by
foot, bus, jeep, camel, truck, boat, train, plane, elephant, and bicycle to
over 30 countries on five continents. She currently lives in upstate New York
with her husband and border collie, where she's working on a book-length travel
narrative about her most recent adventures…that is, when she's not plunging
off waterfalls or entertaining the dog.
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