Moments D651: White Daemons

Today I created my own mythical creature. White daemons.   Why not?  I'm creative.  I like to think out of the box from time-to-time and today I needed some help.

Now, I know most think of angels fighting demons.  Partially to be different (and admittedly less religious, though I suppose that could be debated) and partially to have a mythical creature that had a lot more positive oomph, I created white daemons.  

Without further adieu, please allow me to introduce you to white daemons:

a divinity or supernatural being filled with the power of light and love.  A creature borne with the essence of spirit and human with the ability to fight their dark daemon/demon cousins with the positive power of their light and love.  

The way I see it, these light filled white daemons are much better able to fight the darkness of their cousins (demons) than angels. Borne from the same family, the yang to the yin, white daemons know the intimate secrets and fears of dark demons.  Oh yes, demons do indeed have fears!  This is a white daemon's secret weapon along with the fact that white daemons will grow stronger the more you feed them.  Their nourishment comes from you - your positive energy.  The more strength they have, the better able they are to shield you from the torment of your dark demons.  Not only will your white daemon act as protector to you from the very beginning, your white daemon will grow ever stronger as you continue feed it your confidence in its ability to torment your tormentor.  Circular? You bet.  The inverse is true as well.  (let's not invoke that!)  Feel it.  Feed it.  Believe it.  

Simple, right?

From that perspective, today I decided that the key is to consciously create a white daemon for every dark demon encountered within.  I liked the visual of my white daemons kicking some serious ass of my dark demons.  And, you know what else?  It is actually quite simple to create a white daemon.  All it requires is awareness and a moment to stop and create a positive energy to counter whatever negative energy torments you.

Many people do this naturally.  Others, at times, struggle to do so.  Others yet fail to ever protect themselves from negative energy. Today, I was inspired to create a manifestation of this process because sometimes seeing your light fight your darkness can be as powerful as other visualization techniques.  Why not visualize my light (white daemons) beating out the dark (demons)?  

Here's my example:  

Fear of abandonment.  Oh, dark demon of mine, I will not purposefully feed you any more negative energy.  No, no!  I may fear you and be tormented by you, but watch out!  Today, today, I create my white daemon to counter you:  I will not be abandoned.  I am surrounded by love and light.  The love and light of my family.  The love and light of my dearest and truest friends.   In times of this fear being activated, dear white daemon, I will look to you to shield me from this tormentor and his pull.  White daemon, I fill you with light and love to protect me from this fear and allow me to grow away from this old demon. 

In my opinion, if you need to build a little white daemon army to fight your dark demons, so be it.  Let them help you fight your dark demons.  Visualize your white daemons winning.  Feed them.  Believe in them.  

You are not alone.  You are never alone.  

Moments being (crazy) creative.

Moments realizing just how deep this could go.

Moments D582: Whispering Ghosts

We all have a past and stories that have shaped our present and make us who we are today.  Some of those experiences are beautiful, joyful moments.  Some are nothing short of horrific.  Everyone has ghosts.

Sometimes the ghosts become our guardians.  Those ghosts give us a sense of self, a sense of security and bring a smile to our faces.  On the other hand, there are also ghosts that haunt us.  Ghosts that whisper to us and convince us (sometimes without being aware) to act in ways that we later question our own behaviours and who we really are.

Today my "big sister" shared with me how she finally looked her whispering ghost in the eye and told it that she was going to fight back.  Over 18 years of trying to ignore the ghost haunting her and how its whispers affect her perspectives on parts of her life, she is now ready to work on ridding herself of the constant taunting.

She shared with me how this past weekend shared the story with her children.  I know only too well how hard it was for her to share this part of her past.  An unpleasant part of her past that bore this particular ghost.  I couldn't be more proud of her as she walked me through her story from the weekend.

Admitting that you have a whispering ghost taunting you is really only the first step.  I know that there will be many a challenging day ahead for my big sis as she faces her daemon head on.  It will be a challenge, but she is not alone in her battle.  Awareness brings her solidarity.  She is surrounded by the love of her family.

Moments hearing a story that warms your soul because you know just how big a step forward was taken.

Moments surrounding those you love with bright positive energy so that they can fight against their whispering ghosts.

Moments D581: Fighting to grow

In life there are people I consider fighters.  My definition of fighter does not include the type of angry person looking to pick a physical fight, nor the person who likes to be contrary or enjoys bullying others just to be argumentative.  No....those sorts are just insecure persons unsure of how to better themselves.  No, the type of person that I like to label a fighter is someone who pushes themselves beyond their own boundaries.  I respect that, for it's not easy to get outside of one's comfort zone.  It's not easy to fight against the rhythm of others and find your own beat.

But those that do, those that find their own beat to walk to, those that question and ponder and find their own path, those are the fighters that I admire.  Today, I celebrate a moment spent with such a woman.

Some back story:  A couple of years ago, she was my next door neighbour.  We shared the front yard of a duplex and frankly, when I first moved in beside her our relationship was tenuous. As time passed and we interacted more, our mutual unease lifted and a friendship was formed.

Tonight was the second time that I've visited her since my ex and I sold the house.  It's a joy to see how she has become great friends with the new owner of my old house.  Every time I've seen her, she thanks me for choosing her over the "other guy" when we were selling the house.  My ex-neighbour asked her new neighbour to join us for a spell.  So she did and shared a glass of wine with us.

And you  know what?  I liked her.  A lot.  She's lovely.  She loves the house and the neighbourhood.  What more could I have asked for as a proud ex-home owner?  After all, I remember the last moment I had in my old home - I begged the powers that be to have someone buy the house that loved it.  I can see that she loves my old home.  And yet, I felt a twinge when she offered to have me walk through my old home.  No, I'm not quite ready to see the changes she has made to it.  Not yet.

But I digress.

Today's moment is not about the new owner of my old home, but of my ex-neighbour come friend.  She's fought through a double mastectomy last year, only to deal with chemotherapy and radiation.  Post treatment she's had kidney complications and found herself having to deal with yet another operation to deal with that.  It's been nearly 1.5 years of hospital visits and processing through her cancer and yet, she's as positive and light hearted as ever.   As I ponder it, perhaps even more so than she's been in the past.

She is a woman filled with life.  Filled with a passion to grow beyond who she was yesterday.  Perhaps a brush with death will offer that perspective, but on some level she's always had this light in her.  She is an inspiration.

And my evening with her tonight only reminded me of the good, grounded souls that are out there.  The fighters.  Those working hard to make this world and themselves a better place.

Moments celebrating a ex-neighbour now friend.

Moments understanding that there are good fighters out there in the world.

Moments D220: Surpassing Fears

Today had a nice slow start to the day, but it quickly became another adventure filled day within beautiful surroundings.

Today my “older sister” (as she likes to be called) and I went hiking. Now these trails are not your ordinary path trails in the woods. Each trail has been labelled as either EASY, MODERATE, or STRENUOUS. After doing a little research, we managed to pick one of the hundreds of trails in this area.

This one was labelled as MODERATE. Of course, we assumed “no problem”! Well….what we didn’t know is that, while the first part of the trail is quite easy to navigate, the mid-section of the trail is quite steep with approximately a 600 ft climb using footholds and “scrambling” up the rocks.

To back track: It was only recently that I learned that my “older sister” was afraid of heights. (In her words, it’s not about the height, it’s about the fall!) BUT, little did I know that this kind of hiking/climb was something she’s ever attempted before!

I didn’t realize this new tidbit until we were well into the steep part of the hike/climb. And yet, while I could see the trepidation in her face, my “older sister” was pushing through the fear. I helped her navigate some of the trickier spots and cheered her on through her uncertain moments. We celebrated along the way of her successes and in the end she made great leaps in how she tackled the steepness of it all.

And then, we hit a spot that required a bit of a leap of faith. It was a BIG step up with small footholds. It required confidence to believe that once you stepped up you’d find yourself on solid and flat ground. This was the breaking point for my dear sweet ”older sister”. She wasn’t ready to take that step and I understood that was the time to stop cheering and start congratulating her on such steps taken. She, of course, felt like she had failed. I completely (and quickly) disagreed with her - she DID NOT FAIL. She took BIG steps forward to surpass her fears and SHE ACCOMPLISHED SO MUCH.

We then walked another trail after that for about an hour. It was an easier one with less navigating to do. Eventually we looped back to the first trail *where the car was parked) and as we looked up to the steep climb my “older sister” commented on how surprised she was that she had made it that far into the climb. We took a moment and celebrated her success once again.

For the rest of the evening she lamented over the fact that she didn’t make it to the top. Each and every time I reminded her just how much she HAD accomplished.

(why is it that it’s so damn easy to forget the success and focus on the rest?)

It’s incredible that my “older sister” pushed herself so hard today and *I*, for one, am damn proud of her! As the night closes, I think she’s starting to respect her steps taken in surpassing her fear. That is a moment to celebrate.

Moments of digging deeper and believing.

Moments of celebrating the successes.