Sometimes I seriously wonder if I'm from another planet. I am SO out of the mainstream. I know I'm not the only one, and I'm not disturbed about it at all. I yam who I yam, it's OK. The way I think and conduct my life is more or less harmless, at least I try my best. Also, and maybe this is equally significant: I am not interested in trying to convince anyone else that my way is the right way. God, no.
At times I've wondered how it was I moved so far off the societal path well marked and followed. All my sibs married well, have kids (well, most of them), and live within the consensual hallucination called ordinary reality. And then there's me. Hmm...
Only during the holiday season am I ever this focused on how different I am than Jane Q. Citizen. Today I'm thinking about it because I attended a birth yesterday, always an experience of awe, hard work, focus, and teamwork. I spent the day around people whose lives I can hardly imagine: the doctors, nurses, midwives and such. They're healers, as am I, but their points of view are vastly, hugely, monumentally different than my cosmology. They come at it very differently - very. Can't use the word VERY often enough here.
Every one of the professional healers I worked with yesterday was WONDERFUL, let me say - super heroes. No one was surly or impatient. There was professionalism, yes, but everyone was compassionate and competent. However it was very clear that if I had taken my rattle out of my purse and started dancing in shamanic alignment with the energy of labor and delivery, I would have been politely escorted from the room. Hey, I know better than to do that. But I thought about it, tried to imagine how my shamanic behavior would be received. It was clear that no matter how groovy labor and delivery have become in hospital settings, it's STILL a hospital. Such strange environments, hospitals.
OK, yeah. I'm a freak. My sister hates it when I use that word but it is not an insult, it's just how it is.
Walk your walk and talk your talk today, people. Let there be light! Shalom.
18 comments:
What freedom you have given yourself, just to be who you are. Wonderful gift. We are lucky you walk your own, uniquely wonderful, path.
Thanks, Jeanette. I'm good with who I am, but sometimes when I'm around normal people, I see just how different I really am. It's slightly alarming!
I wish I were more comfortable with being different. Your oddness is probably the reason you're one of my heroes :)
I feel just the same about you, Dana.
You are not a freak. You are a unique individual and you are quite outstanding at photographing the shadows of beings from another planet, or at least that's what I'm seeing today.
Cyndy, cool! Must look at the pics again.
Freak, from wikipedia (so it MUST be right! Ha!!)
n current usage, the word "freak" is commonly used to refer to a person with something unusual about their appearance or behaviour. This usage dates from the so-called freak scene of the 1960s and 1970s. "Freak" in this sense may be used either as a pejorative, a term of admiration, or a self-description[citation needed]. It can also denote a strong obsession with a particular activity, e.g., "He's such a neat-freak" or "You're a singing freak". The term "freaky" can also apply to a person who is sexually adventurous, or by itself as in "that person's a freak" (in bed).
reya - yeah how do we arrive at this waystation - which isn't the end of the journey at all - so how much freakier is it going to get? i think it's important to be understanding of how much you share according to the circumstances. i really do!! and it's good to be as much of you as is possible at all times otherwise you remounce the gift the universe has made of you. steven
Steven you will not be surprised to hear that I agree with you completely.
DC is very rigid in some ways. If you lived in Pocahontas County, you wouldn't be all that freaky--there are plenty of people living out unusual life patterns, and a lot of the "normal" folks have unique internal lives that you'd never guess at unless you got to know them really well.
Solitude, mountains, and plenty of nature in your face--it's easy to go your own way in a place like this.
DC is lucky to have you, IMHO.
Thanks Rebecca. But I often ask myself WHY AM I HERE? Why??
i love the 'consensual hallucination called ordinary reality'; how great that you could take part in this momentous occasion even without the dancing and rattles x
oh yeah. ordinary reality. how is it that we can be part of the consensus that makes it be and stand outside of it at the same time. I've always stood on the edge myself. tried to join on occasion but just not me. I like me different, probably why I like you so much.
You keep rattles in your purse, and that is so terrific. How dull I feel, with my keys and crumpled receipts!
I think DC is the perfect place for you, the center of power in the US. What better place for a shaman?
quack!
Women usually say "I'll just rattle around in my purse" when they are trying to retrieve something from its depths. You take it to a whole new level Reya!
i've taken to hanging out with freaks lately. tree loving, wine guzzling freaks. it's all good.
Actually, a lot of hospitals have embraced so-called "alternative" methods of healing, such as acupuncture. I wonder what their reaction would have been to a shamanic dance? That's a really interesting question!
Post a Comment