Faith

Transformation and a Dogwood tree…

I don’t know about you but the word Transform or the phrase “This person experienced a transformation” seem to be popping up a lot lately. Me being me I used to be open to this concept but also a tad skeptical. Can someone really transform? Can that really happen?

So a little story for you. Grab a cuppa tea and let’s chat.

18 years ago my Dad died suddenly and in his honour I bought a Dogwood tree, as that was his favourite tree, and fairly much daily he and I would go explore and hike with dogs together. I put his ashes under the tree and planted it with great care and surrounded it with all the herbs and flowers he loved.

5 years after that my youngest was born. So in his honour and celebration I bought a plum tree and put the placenta underneath it when it was planted. Both trees grew happily, healthily and strongly until the goats got out. Now if you don’t know anything about goats, they will eat almost anything! In fact I have seen them eat tin cans and tires!

Thus, one day the goats busted out of their pen when no one was around and they did an amazing job on the dogwood and turned it into a small stump and then proceeded to have a good nibble on the plum tree. I carefully bandaged up the dogwood and the plum with hockey tape (as that was all I had), gave them lots of nutrients and hoped for the best.

11 years ago I moved from that property after an abusive marriage and there was no way I was going to leave those trees there. So I dug up the dogwood and all the dirt around it and under it, I also dug up the plum tree, wrapped its roots and soil in a sheet and took them both with me, along with my belongings and my kids. At our new home the kids and I dug a great big hole, and as I looked at this stump of a dogwood tree I decided it would be best to chop it up and put it and all its dirt into the hole and plant the plum tree on top. Which is what we did.

5 years later I noticed that the plum tree leaves were changing and no longer was it producing a gorgeous little plum or two. Odd. I took a good look at the leaves and couldn’t figure out what was happening to them – okay this is odd.

Very odd.

Over the next 4 years there were no plums, the leaves were totally different and there were no blossoms at all, but there was a sense of transformation. Then last year for the first time it blossomed, just a few mindst you. Whoot, whoot, plums again.

No.

The blooms were gorgeous but they were a dogwood flower! Excuse me? How, Why, What? I had and still have no clue.

Today, I walked outside and it was as if the tree exploded!

There are over 200 blooms on it and they are all dogwood flowers which have now become one of my most favourite flowers.

So if you ever doubt the capacity to transform, remember this tree.

If you ever doubt your strength to hold your center and BE, remember this tree (after all it was cut up and in a hole).

If you ever doubt your ability to blossom and thrive against all odds, remember this tree.

Happy transforming!

What do Elks, Faith and Certainty have in common?

Jenny Heston · 1:40 am ·

So a funny story to remind you to have Faith and Certainty in what you are doing and who you are.

I go into the mountains and the woods each morning to run the dogs and it nourishes me (and it is always off the beaten path). So this morning bright and early I grab a friend and we go off. When we walk we share our challenges and our celebrations, so she was talking about her work, why was she doing it etc. As she’s talking I hear a massive rustle in the shrubbery and think it is some of the dogs, so don’t really pay attention.

The noise gets louder so I look up and I see a massive (yes honest, this isn’t a fishing story) bull elk, with a huge rack on his head charging at us. Well holy hannah! Talk about frozen, then a bizarre nano second of – where is my camera, to “we need to throw ourselves down this rocky bank and hide behind that big tree now!”

All of the labs were totally oblivious to what was happening, but the minute my friend screamed as I grabbed her to throw her down the bank – lol (not too sure if it was me throwing her down the bank or the elk she was screaming at) my Akbash (Turkish Mountain Dog) whose nature is the protector and the guardian whipped around, spotted this 1200lbs of flesh hurtling at us and he was like the Flash – white fluid motion hurtling towards this thing. The elk obviously saw and did a majestic veer and Legolas (that’s the dog) hurtled after him. 1.5 hours later the dog came back looking very tired.

Then the interesting thing was as we continued (yes of course we had to keep going) up the mountain I started saying how yesterday I had been having a pity party of “Who am I to move my business this way?” “There are tons of people with more experience” – blah, blah, frigging blah. Then I realised that I had treated Faith like a handbag yesterday – I had put it down and couldn’t remember where I had put it. So I scrabbled around for a bit and found my handbag of Faith and tucked it under my arm to remind me to have faith in me, faith in my gifts, faith in the universe, higher power, divine, fairies – you name it.

So when I got home after the gorgeous adrenaline rushing exploration this morning I grabbed my Animal Speak book to look up Elk. The message for Elk is one of Nobility and Strength as Elk can run for extended periods of time and that is how they outrun their predators. So the message was you are about to hit your stride, strength and don’t give up as it is right there. also Elk are not a solitary animal, they function best in community of their own kind, which I love – Interesting…….

So today as I pondered Certainty and heard – Your function, your purpose is to live a life that’s not of littleness, but one of magnitude. It made me smile. Then the quote from Course In Miracles – If you knew who walks beside you on the way you have chosen, FEAR would be impossible.

It reminded me to keep my handbag of faith nearby and just keep in my stride.

Is Your Faith a Handbag?

Jenny Heston · 1:13 am ·

What do you have Faith in?

Do you have faith the sun will rise tomorrow?

Do you have faith in someone else’s belief of you?

Do you have faith in who others say you should be?

Do you have faith in yourself?

I ask that question as the other day I was thinking about “What do I have faith in?” I have faith in my kids, my family, myself, in love. I have faith in a higher power, that this is a glorious, abundant amazing Universe. I have faith in my body to scramble up and down the sides of a mountain, all sorts of things.

Yet on that day as I was asking myself that question I was doubting myself, allowing other people’s opinions to push my own out, doubts, fear and negative self talk were creeping in and I was feeling blaugh. It was one of those heavy energy, darkish days – not fun at all. Then I realised that I had “misplaced” my faith. Kind of like putting down my handbag and forgetting where I had put it!

Now I don’t know about you but in my handbag is fairly much everything I need for the day; snacks, water, my wallet, ID, drivers licence, lip balm, truck keys and I am sure month old cough drops that are furry! But none the less these things are important and when I leave the house or the office the bag is with me and I know I am covered and it makes life easier. So when I forget where I have hung it up or placed it, there is a sense of panic – actually not a sense of panic but a huge frigging “Oh My Gosh, where the fuck is it!!” kind of panic. Hands get sweaty, visions of identity theft, or huge credit card bills come flooding in, let alone how am I meant to keep my lips moisturised!

Nine times out of ten it is exactly where I left it, I just forgot and upon finding it there is a sigh of relief, a dropping of the shoulders and a sense of “phew, all is right with the world.”

So the other day when fear and doubt were creeping in I realised I couldn’t find my faith in quite a few things that I believe in, including myself. There was that sense of panic, a sense of dis-ease, a feeling of “Holy Hannah what on earth is going on and what am I meant to do?” Yes the palms got sweaty, the shoulders rocketed up and were battling with my earrings and all in all it was supremely uncomfortable. Thus, I got up and went outside, looked at my feet on the earth, found the gorgeous spring flowers that are slowly pushing up their bobbly heads and took a moment to breathe, to breathe in trust, to breathe in faith, to just breathe and calm my mind and find my center.

Ever so slowly I could feel my shoulders creeping down and by the time I walked back inside it was if I could see my gorgeous handbag of faith sitting on the chair where I must have left it, and just forgot. The flooding of calm, reconnection, a sense of all is right with the world again was delicious. So, I think I am going to work with the image of a handbag and my faith bag is a gorgeous red and purple one, with pockets to hold all I love, zippers to keep things safe, a strong shoulder strap so I can take it anywhere with me – and perhaps a GPS locator device in case I forget.

So what colour is your faith bag?

Faith

jennyheston

Release Anxiety And Claim Your Power