On Rocky Ground
In the peaceful grandeur of Mirror Lake at Yosemite National Park, I sat in awe of the beauty of my surroundings one afternoon in 1988. The most magical part of that moment, though, would come 25 years later as I uncovered the deeper meaning of self-reflection and the power of our inner truth, our authentic self, reflected to those around us. The remarkable energy of Yosemite National Park nestled in the lakes, the falls, the granite formations and the peaceful meadows provided a purity that was revitalized as I worked with Lisa Noland, master medium and psychic extraordinaire, during an occasion of emotional de-cluttering. In the background of this soul cleansing stood the unwavering elegance and strength of the great sequoias, a tribute to my own power and natural resolve to mirror my truth to the world – but even more than that, to myself.
The first and only time I was at Yosemite National Park was on a date with Michael. We met at the bank in Southern California where we had both been accepted into a management program. I remember the first day I met him. He was kind, gentle and intelligent. He smiled and laughed easily .¨ a dream for any woman. Outnumbered in the ratio of men to women at work, many eligible bachelorettes had their eye on him as the news that he, too, was single spread like wildfire.
As luck would have it, Michael and I ended up working next to each other and had the same break schedule and lunch hour so we naturally started hanging out together. One day at lunch, he asked me out on a date. I, of course, said yes. I lost a lot of lady friends at the bank that day. Funny how we treat each other.
Michael planned a special trip to Yosemite National Park to see a moonbow, or lunar rainbow as they are also known. Interestingly, John Muir, famous photographer of all things Yosemite, befittingly called them Moon Spraybows because they are created by a full moon shining against the mist of Yosemite Falls. This doesn’t happen often. A number of additional conditions have to fall into place as well, so this is really something to see. Michael knew I was a big fan of photography and astronomy so he planned the perfect getaway for us. We spent the first few days hiking around the park to see Half Dome, Three Brothers, Tuolumne Meadows and Mirror Lake. Then came the big night, the moonbow viewing, which was more spectacular than I ever imagined.
If you haven’t seen this, it is worth the price of admission a thousand times over. The camaraderie of all the photographers and other tourists waiting to see if this magical event would occur made it even more exciting when it did happen.
On the last night, we had a romantic meal at The Wawona Hotel and headed back to our room to relax. Michael and I dated happily for quite some time with just kissing and hand holding, but it became clear he wanted to move to the next step in intimacy. He sent a trial balloon in that direction, but it didn’t receive the desired results. It had nothing to do with him; I just wasn’t in the same place intimately that he was at the time. He reacted angrily, yelled non-stop for about fifteen minutes and called me “frigid” as he stormed out of the room. I was shocked, but I stayed true to myself. As you can imagine, it wasn’t too long before we packed up and left on the long, quiet drive back to Southern California. The stress and heaviness of the situation accompanied us on the six-hour drive. I couldn’t believe we left this slice of heaven on Earth over a bruised ego. It didn’t make sense to me.
The Challenge of Being Me
Throughout my life, like many of us, I have been challenged to be myself .¨ the real me. This is only challenging because we are taught that something is wrong with us, that something is missing in us and that we are not good enough. So we spend our lives working to reconcile this anomaly. In our quest to be whole, we find that going with the majority gives us sense of belonging and acceptance. In order to stay in this falsely comfortable position, we may take on a thought system that doesn’t truly match our hearts or act in ways we wouldn’t otherwise act.
Unknowingly, we get caught up in the power and energy of majority dynamics, often losing our true self at the same time.
The thinking system of the majority doesn’t always mean moral, good for the whole or in sync with the energy of your heart, which is love. Going along with the thinking system can also mean a departure from self-identification, self-protection and self-love. And although majority dynamics can be positive or helpful to us, we often choose a connection with the outside world over our truth on the inside.
Back in Yosemite, I was exercising my right to be my authentic self without consciously choosing that at the time. I wasn’t ready to go to the next level of intimacy with Michael. End of story. However, if the majority thinking system had evaluated the events of that night, they might say that if a man takes you to dinner, buys you nice things or takes you on vacation, you should give him sex if he wants it – as if sexual intimacy is payment for anything. And, they would continue, if you don’t give it, you are using him or there is something wrong with you. But, the majority thinking system is derived from a point of view that is not aligned with being true to you or trusting yourself. In fact, most of us question ourselves in nearly every situation in life. There is no good reason for that.
We can see this same pattern of thinking when we take sides against a political party, when we express our dislike of other religions, when we hate people for what they wear, the color of their skin, who they love, where they live or how they live. These thoughts and actions may be part of majority thinking, but they are not remotely connected with our heart. The majority thinking system is full of opposition and, therefore, separation from love. Although it is not well supported by majority thinking and actions, it is obvious that everything that is out of alignment with love is also out of sync with life and all that is healthy. Anything that does not support truth of self, protection of self and love of self is not worth repeating.
What each of us longs for is authenticity. We want to be validated and loved for who we are, not who the majority thinks we should be. The kind of life we are expected to lead through majority thinking is a hard life, indeed, and we have proven this generation after generation. What we want is to be real and to express love for ourselves and others because this is what is truly natural for us. But, we have to be willing to see the truth inside, to stand up for what matches our heart, to realize we are already whole and we don’t need anything to fulfill us but love the in our hearts. We have to be willing to break free from majority thinking.
Lifting the veil of majority thinking, the light automatically shines on the truth about us and life on the planet. We can see we are not separated from anything, we are not valueless or unworthy, we are not questionable and we are not without protection. If there is one thing we all know is true, we know we are healed by reflecting the love in our heart out to others. And we are especially healed when we reflect love when we look in the mirror.
On the afternoon of the emotional tune-up with Lisa, I was able to revisit that time at Yosemite where I sat quietly looking at the reflection of Half Dome in Mirror Lake. In an instant, it became crystal clear to me that what we really see in people is our own reflection. If we see love in everything else, we see it in ourselves. If we see love in ourselves, we see it in everything else.
Love is reciprocal. It’s that simple.
Our massive power to love is as ancient as the giant sequoias. We just need to remember that and then connect with it. Ask yourself, “What am I reflecting today? Am I reflecting majority thinking or am I reflecting love?” Trust that when we reflect love outward from out heart, it is reflected back to us and we deserve nothing less.
Lisa Noland can be contacted at www.lisanoland.com.
