VA logo 2009
When Trajectories Meet: 3 Stories  
Trebbe Johnson's Newsletter

February 2014





   

 
I the past few weeks, I have heard several inspiring stories about how a few people reached a major turning point in their lives. Almost without knowing it, they seem to have come to a fork in the road and known, with some deep part of them, that something needed to change. I had asked three of these people, all women, to write their stories for the newsletter when I had a conversation with my friend Krystyna Jurzykowski and she gave me a wonderful image of how what we think are parallel, even conflicting paths in our lives, are really twin trajectories that just need nurturing and patience to come together. I hope these stories will remind you of the trajectories that are currently unfurling in your own life!

 

To those who are receiving this newsletter for the first time... welcome! Here you'll find news of upcoming Vision Arrow and  Radical Joy for Hard Times events, writings by us and about our work, reflections, profiles of  people doing extraordinary things, and stories of transformation that occur when we accept in small, bold, startling ways, the invitations the world is always sending us.     

 


CAREFULLY TENDING THE TRAJECTORIES   

 

 

There have been so many times in my life when I have wished for a wise, benevolent, far-seeing oracle.

 

Just tell me, please, I would have asked the oracle: Shall I break up with this guy? Who's the one absolutely right person for me to call to get my next freelance writing job? What's more important for me to do on that particular date, Event A or Event B?

When I was 26 and living in an old stone cottage in England, subsisting on £5 a week, with a visa about to expire and a plane ticket back to the U.S. that had to be used soon, I urgently needed to decide what to do next. I couldn't make up my mind, so one day I decided that I would take a long walk and not return to my cottage until I knew what to do next. I did it, but given the stress I forced on myself, I've never been convinced that it was the right decision.

The other day my friend Krystyna Jurzykowski and I were talking about how the major decisions in our lives often seem to entail making a choice between two options. Often the options seem equally weighted. Is there one cosmic right one? Are both right? And if I devote time and attention to one path, am I automatically forsaking the other?
 
Krystyna said she'd recently had an important insight on this matter. She was currently tracking two paths in her life, either one of which she might end up choosing. And she had realized that she'd been picturing the relationship between these two paths as parallel, whereas in fact they were simply on different trajectories and would one day meet.

Thinking of of your choices as trajectories, rather than competing pathways, seems to me to shift our attention instantly into a more open, more permissive, more trusting relationship to the whole. And to the now. If we can see our choices as trajectories, we can tend them both, carefully monitor them both, because the outcome will depend in part on our relationship with them. We also tend the faith that, at some unknown moment in the future, the two will meet and the decision will come clear.

So here's to tending carefully to those important trajectories in life. Be patient. They will cross and you will know exactly what to do!

Photo by Aaron Kohr, Shutterstock

"I WANTED TO BE AN ARTISTIC NURSE!"

by Joanna Burgess      

 

When I was three years old I was diagnosed with a rare form of bladder cancer. The doctors told my parents that they didn't expect me to survive. However, due to massive doses of radiation and a urostomy, an artificial bladder, I overcame the odds.

 

From the time of my first stay in the hospital, I never wanted to be anything but a nurse. To get ready for my grown-up career I had my own little hospital in the basement of our house. Wearing the nurse's costume that my parents got me and my grandmother's Red Cross pin, I took good care of my dolls, with all their ailments and broken bones. As a small child I read Nurse Nancy and Johnny Goes to the Hospital. Then in my middle school years I devoured all the Cherry Ames books and longed for a long blue nurse's cape.  

 

After high school I started working toward my BS in nursing, but because of the intensity of the radiation treatments I'd had, it was very hard. My blood vessels had been damaged and I had necrosis of the bones. Even though I went to a small college, it took me a long time to walk across the campus from one class to another. I had a couple of surgeries during that time, but I was able to graduate with the rest of my class.

 

At last I was able to say with pride, "Yes, I am a nurse." (continue) 

 



"I VOW TO BE THEIR VOICE"
by Carolyn (Carrie) Field-Pandis
N 

 

Three relevant facts from my childhood:

1) I loved and identified with animals to an extreme degree.

2) In our house, animals were treated with care, and humans were always kind.

3) I was frightened of the butcher shop.

 

I never connected the dots, but instead succumbed to the Great Disconnect: whatever your mother serves you for dinner is appropriate. Don't think about where it came from or if it had its own life. Do notice if it tastes good, because that is all that matters.

 

Fast forward to 1996. I start a book called Diet for a New America by John Robbins. I am thrust into a world so harsh that I am shocked: the inhumane treatment of farmed animals. There are pictures of the horrors that these gentle creatures must endure. Sometimes the animals go crazy and attack each other, desperate for space and air. Some spend their lives in individual cages so small that they cannot turn around. "They are treated like merchandise with no respect for the fact that they are living beings." (John Robbins)

 

In tears, I close the book partway through. I will not contribute to this nightmare. I will not let an animal suffer for my dinner. For the next 16 years I am a quiet vegetarian. I care about the animals, but I rarely talk about them;  my family and friends seem uninterested .

 

Fast forward again to June, 2012. My son says he is shocked that I buy regular (non-organic) cow's milk, so I decide to do internet research. I find exposés of milk and egg factories (I refuse to call them farms), and it's all so horrible that I stop reading. I am trying hard to find reasons to keep buying milk and eggs. (continue) 

 

 

"THE PRIMARY THING WAS TO FOLLOW MY HEART"
by Carol Iverson 
 

My present transition, and all prior transitions, actually began in the early 70s with the discovery of one of two extant esoteric bookstores in the country at that time, Yes! Bookstore in D.C. Yes! became my spiritual home. Of the many precious, instrumental treasures that I found there that directed the course of my life, one was the book Radical Agriculture, which enlightened me about corporate agribusiness and inspired me to get a college degree in Social Ecology--what would now be called Sustainable Living--and then in Community Economic Development.

 

But the primary thing I learned from the many wise authors I discovered at Yes! was to follow my heart. Following my heart entailed quite a few giant leaps of faith. But anytime I have followed my heart--the "road less traveled," strewn with rocks and deep chasms--the reward has been immense and I have never regretted it.

 

It would be a long story to tell you all the evolutions that brought me to the present leap of faith. So this is a very short version of an intricate and rather miraculous path.

 

Because of a number of unusual experiences and abilities that I've had during the course of my life, I was triggered in 2011 to begin some focused research on what is called, "Kundalini Awakening," a form of tuning in to our higher consciousness. Kundalini is a phenomenon that can enkindle many unusual abilities, such as clairvoyance, bilocation, and healing abilities. It was when I experienced some of those abilities myself that led me to begin my research. (continue)  

 


CHOOSING A RELIGION: A FLOWCHART  

   

 

















Somebody sent me this cartoon years ago, and I never get tired of looking at it. Finally, this newsletter about choices offers an opportunity to share it!

 

WRITING AND WORKSHOP NEWS

Book cover



My book, The World Is a Waiting Lover, with a foreword by Thomas Moore, author of Care of the  Soul, is available from Amazon.com or from your favorite bookstore. It's also available as an e-book!

 

 
UPCOMING VISION ARROW PROGRAMS
  

Youth Quest

(recommended for people ages 17-23) 
July 15-25 
In the high desert of eastern California 
Offered by the School of Lost Borders

To recognize and mark the moment when a young person turns toward adulthood takes great courage, especially in a culture that has all but forgotten the importance of honoring this transition. With the intention of finding and facing your deepest truths, your strengths and weaknesses, you then turn toward the critical questions: "Who am I to be in the world?" and "What are my gifts?" This opportunity is both a great challenge and a simple task, providing the possibility of returning home with a timeless memory in your bones and a profound connection to the Earth, ready to embark on the life-long quest of finding and making your place in the world.

Guides: Will Scott and Trebbe Johnson 
Tuition: $800-$1,200 (sliding scale)

Atlas Mts.
August 9-16 
Atlas Mountains, Morocco
NOTE: As of February 3, four of the 10 places for this program have been filled! Contact us as soon as possible if Lead Like a River calls to you!

 

 Lead Like a River was chosen by the Times of London as one of their "20 Retreats That Will Change Your Life"!   

  

In the lives of certain women and men there comes a time when garnering more successes and earning more money is not enough. What they long for is to undertake work that will contribute to the well-being of the planet. If you are a leader in the arts, community service, or business  this program in the Atlas mountains provides the ideal opportunity to reflect on your path, gain strength through connecting with nature, listen to what is important to you... and take the first big step toward shifting your attention to a truly meaningful path.

You'll stay at the beautiful Kasbah du Toubkal, just over an hour from the Marrakech airport. Perched on rocks with stunning views of remote valleys and the summit of Mount Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa, the kasbah is a remarkable venture between Berber and English owners, and has been named one of the top eco-lodges in the world. We'll spend five nights in the Kasbah and two nights high in a mountain lodge that we will trek to. You will have a dawn-to-dusk solo in a wilderness place of your choosing, where you will reflect on both the landscape around you and the landscape within as you mark your passage to a new height of personal leadership.

Program is limited to ten participants.

Guides: Eugene Hughes and Trebbe Johnson
Cost: €2,950 / $4,500 (includes all meals, lodging, and transportation to Kasbah du Toubkal Lodge; does not include airfare)   

   

Balinese dancer Seventh Annual Bali from Within
October 19-31
Bali, Indonesia

Bali from Within is a journey into the heart of one of the most beautiful places in the world, geographically, culturally, and artistically. In this trip, which is limited to only 4 participants, we work with Balinese guides who, over the years, have become friends. Together you will explore Bali in ways that tourists cannot do:

* visit the sacred spring Tirta Empul and receive a blessing there
* hike through lush forests to visit a great waterfall, a gigantic and historic banyan tree, and maybe drop in at the home of gamelan orchestra leader, Made Trip
*take a village walk and learn about sacred architecture and its role in everyday life
*luxuriate at Bali Botanica, a spa by a riverside in Ubud
*join a Balinese odalan, or temple birthday, where music and dancing are performed not for people but for the gods
*share reflections and responses each night in a Council with our own small group

Guides: Trebbe Johnson, Rucina Ballinger, A. Agung Detra Rangki, and Nyoman Sutarya
Cost: $3,950.
Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
phone: 570/727-4272
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~