Iyanla Vanzant wrote "In the Meantime," a great book that I recommend everyone read if they are undergoing drastic changes in their life. The focus is around moving out of a relationship, but the principles she discusses are applicable to any situation in which you had a relationship - job position, friendship, a move to a new city, a health change, etc. She talks about being in this zone called "the meantime" in which we are figuring things out, learning from our previous experience, and how we "clean house" to prepare for our next experience.
As I've discussed before, I am in a serious "meantime" as my mom battles renal cell cancer on the brain; her time with us on this Realm is limited, but as we wait for what is the inevitable, my family, as well as my mom, is challenged with this in the meantime. My father is her primary caregiver - seeing that she gets her meds, gets her rest, and is safely moving about the house as the tumors challenge her mobility and motor control. My brother comes and goes every other weekend to help out around the house, especially outdoors. I come in and out once a month, flying or driving into Kentucky for a 5-7 day visit. And then there's mom in the middle of it all.
We are all experiencing our personal "meantimes." For my dad, he's dealing with the impending loss of his wife of 45 years, and for the first time, living by himself in that same amount of time. My brother, well, I have no idea what he's experiencing in this meantime. He keeps all his emotions and feelings to himself. And when I ask how he's doing, he goes on and on with what my mom calls "rhetoric", ending with what I know provides him comfort and peace in the way he knows it, "We know she'll be received in the arms of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." For me, my "meantime" experience is grieving the loss of the woman as I've always known her - seeing her physical body deteriorate, the dissapation of her ability to do the things she enjoys, and watching her slowly come to the realization that her perceived expectation of "quality of life" isn't exactly as she'd pictured it.
Then there's the ultimate meantime experience - that of my mom's. One of the benefits in being an enlightened person is that I can separate myself from Ego and become an observer of the human condition. I say this, but do not misunderstand me; in this particular situation, I stumble, a lot, around being an observer, which is normal considering how close I am to this situation. But when I am centered in Spirit, I see my mom waiting, wondering and questioning. Waiting for the inevitable. Wondering what each day brings for her. Questioning if she did all she could in this lifetime. There are moments when she talks about what she meant to do in her lifetime; she still even talks about what she plans to do. For example, she ordered flowers for planting in her gardens this spring. She can barely walk a straight line, never mind have the strength or the ability to plant new flowers. I see her realize that what she thought would be easy isn't going to be. I see her realizing what a toll her illness is taking on my father. And I know she's realizing the grief I will, am already feeling, around her leaving us to move on to her next soul experience.
My mom speaks about how there is nothing she or any of us can do about it all. She has her moments when she's just simply frustrated that things are not as she thought they would be. She has always needed to have things look a certain way, especially when she expected them to. I see her realizing how much she has no control over this situation, and I know it troubles her.
For all of us, our lesson is living in the moment and surrender. I can't say that my father or brother understand this, and my mom does to a point. And as for me, I practice it as best as I can, for this is one of the biggest spiritual classrooms I've been in yet. I have my "less-than" moments, and I have my "rising to the occasion" moments which now and again surprise me. In any case, I am learning to shift my energy from grief to support when my mother and father need it most. I'm doing the very best I can, in each moment that I'm in. It's all I can do.
Love and Light,
Carolyn
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