A Single Hour

My Uncle David saw an ending to his roughly 81 years on the planet last week. He was struck by a car and killed while crossing the street on his way home.  He had just left the evening prayer service at his Synagogue where he served daily for most of his life. The irony of that does not get by me.

I freely admit, I did not really know much of the details of my Uncle’s daily life. I had moved far away from home when I was just 23 and missed out on a lot with my family over the years. My uncle was just 20 years older than me, the youngest of his 2 other siblings, my mother being the middle child and my other Uncle Hyman being the eldest. With David’s passing, it leaves my mother as the only surviving family member of her nuclear family.

Neither David, nor the rest of our family saw this coming. I can only describe it as a sucker punch to our collective gut. A huge cement block that made up the foundation of our family, just got kicked out from underneath us, and now we’re all feeling a bit shaky and unstable. We could not have predicted this either.

This has really hit us hard.

Uncle David was an orthodox Jew. The rest of us are varying degrees of observant, with me being the least, and by least, I mean not at all.

I was the black sheep of our family. I gave up Judaism long ago and in my late 20’s began exploring my Spirituality through a trans-denominational Spiritual Center in Los Angeles called Agape, which means Unconditional Love. I attended services weekly and ultimately studied and became licensed as a Spiritual Practitioner. 

On the surface, Uncle David and I could not have been more different. I am a lesbian married to a woman who is not Jewish and every year we celebrate Christmas. In addition, I met Jesus in my 30’s, became a healer, and for 25 years now have conducted all my sessions with my clients with Jesus on hand. So, naturally when it came to my relationship with my Uncle, I kept my beliefs to myself. 

A day after he passed, the funeral was held at his synagogue. Most of my family had to participate by zoom as there was a blizzard that day, and it wasn’t safe to travel. My brother and sister-in-law were also out of town visiting my mother at the time. They were the ones who delivered the news to her. I can’t help but feel that was divinely ordained. My mother is turning 92 in a few weeks. I was glad she didn’t have to get that news over the phone or be alone afterwards. God’s mercy was obvious.

So my mother sat at her kitchen table huddled with my brother and wife watching the funeral for my Uncle on a 13” laptop.  I was 3000 miles away on the other coast watching at my desk, as the Rabbi began speaking about David who just 20 hours earlier had helped him facilitate the shabbat prayer service.  In orthodox Judaism, you don’t drive your car on the Sabbath, which is why David was walking home when he was hit by the car. 

The Rabbi began to speak and three words in, stopped. A moment later, he started again, and again he could not continue. He was overcome with grief. 

Another sucker punch. After several attempts, he was able to get through it. There were no assurances made. No Spiritual takes on the situation. Just a simple assessment of the man that David was to so many who knew him. 

The service lasted just an hour, one hour to sum up a man’s entire life. 

A handful of people spoke, one of his elder sons, 2 grandchildren, a couple colleagues at the synagogue; one who read the heartfelt letter that my brother had written that morning about my Uncle. They ended the service with Prayers recited in Hebrew. 

And in that single hour, I learned more about my Uncle than I ever knew about him in all my 60 years on the planet.  

My perception of who he was was a lovable oddball of sorts, different, old-school, devout, and somewhat un-relatable for me. For instance, Uncle David kept kosher and the rest of the family didn’t, so he often missed out on family events when food was involved like family cook-outs or Thanksgiving. That was hard, but over time we learned to accept it. His choice to be religious, sometimes kept him separate from the rest of us, and that didn't feel worth the price we paid for it in the big picture.

But after that single hour, I walked away with a much fuller picture of who he really was; a holy man who spent his entire life in service to others, with little to no thought for himself, who showed his love and concern readily and consistently to everyone he knew, and even to those he didn’t know. Uncle David was the definition of selfless. We knew him as the family historian who never forgot to remind  each of us when to light a yahrzeit candle for someone who had passed, who kept track of how each remote cousin was related, and called to congratulate each of us on happy occasions or check in when someone was ill. In my fragmented perception and my disappointment of not being closer to him, I neglected to appreciate the sacrifices he made daily for the sake of God. 

David’s body was transported to Israel later that night and buried the next morning. He was wrapped in a shroud and laid to rest in a simple shallow grave on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. Just the way he wanted it. It was somehow befitting for a simple man with a singular intention to love everyone he met, to pray unceasingly and to be of service to God. 

In a single hour, I learned everything that really mattered about my Uncle David. It’s hard to believe that your whole life can be synthesized down to an hour.  But in his case, it could have been one word; Holy.

When your hour comes, what do you want people to say about you? How will people say you spent your time on earth? What will they say was important to you? What will you want people to remember or to take away from having known you?

Uncle David’s sudden passing and my new fuller understanding and appreciation for his life, has caused me to reprioritize where my attention goes. Instead of worrying, instead of trying to fix things we judge as being broken or get things or earn things, or spending time wanting things, instead of spending precious time focused in the wrong ways, maybe the best use of all of our time is simply to show up with love in every situation and every relationship despite our human perceptions. 

In whatever time I have left, l am committed to being more like my Uncle David; keeping it simple and being simply about the business of love.

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,

Donna Gershman

PS. If you need support in getting into alignment with your life purpose, releasing fear and resistance and living a life of meaning and Joy, please contact my office at (818)904-6840 or email me at youwillheal@aol.com for a free consultation. Life is short. Don't waste another minute feeling unfulfilled.

Are You Settling For Crumbs?

The mind thinks an average of 70,000 thoughts a day, almost all of which have nothing to do with God's Truth. If you're gonna use your mind, why not start thinking like God thinks. 

God's thoughts will align you with the field of possibilities. Your thoughts (from the linear mind) will only limit it...

God sees no limitations anywhere, and that includes in YOU. God knows that you have everything you need within you right now, to create and experience whatever you want. You are Unlimited! You have infinite potential. No-thing is actually stopping you. Why think small?

It's like having a giant buffet in front of you with everything you could ever want and it's all paid for. You get to decide what you want. It's unlimited, and it's all yours. Sadly, you are off in a corner eating the crumbs off the floor! Why would you ever settle for crumbs??

The universe needs you to take your power more seriously. Please stop listening to your fear-based, limited, scary thoughts and use the power of your mind to think Bigger. Know you can have anything on the buffet. It's okay. The universe wants you to have it and then tell everyone you love that they can have it too. 

Think Big, Believe, Keep Believing, Then Believe a little more. Stay Focused on what you want on the Buffet of Life, and lastly (wait for it......)You guessed it: "Don't Stop BELIEVIN!!!" Soon enough, you'll be going back for seconds and thirds, only with a much bigger plate.

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,

Donna Gershman

PS. If you need help creating what you want and are willing to bring a bigger plate to the table, please email me at youwillheal@aol.com or call my office at (818)904-6840 to schedule a free 15 minute consultation.

Manifesting Made Easy

As a Spiritual teacher, I am a believer that our thoughts matter, that the thoughts we hold and give power to, how we focus our attention in other words, lends towards creating our human experience. If you hold an idea in mind long enough and believe in it wholeheartedly, the likelihood of it manifesting is good. That's why its important to hold onto our dreams with passion and a commitment to them.

Everything we see in the human world began with a divine idea. The chair you are sitting on is the result of someone, somewhere having an idea of it first, holding onto it long enough, being committed to it, likely through various challenges, until it came to full fruition. A lot goes into creating something we want to see. It takes a firm belief for something to manifest. The thing is, the better you are at holding an idea without buying into fear and limitations, the better the chances are you will create it. The more faith you have, the better. The more passion you have for it, the better. 


However, this principle also works in the reverse. If we have a belief we hold onto that we don't want to see happen, our tendency to energize that thought with fear is counterproductive. If we believe in something with passion, it can manifest. Therefore, our fear of something happening, that we don't want to see happen is also powerful and likely to manifest if we're not intervening in those thoughts. Yikes!

In reality, we are very powerful. We can create what we want. We can create what we don't want, and it's in our power at any given time, to change our thoughts and create a different experience. This puts our human experience squarely in our own hands with the use of our free will. So the question we always need to be asking ourselves individually and collectively is, where do we go from here? What do we want to see happen? What belief am I holding around that idea? Do I believe in its fulfillment or am I in doubt or fear over it?

In addition, if we, as a people want to see something different happening in our world, we must collectively believe in the possibilities instead of fueling our fears. We must hold steady and firm to our vision and with every ounce of faith we can muster up, move in the direction of it. We can not let our worst fears undermine our ability to create what we really want and deserve.

Simply put, stay positive, believe in the good happening and keep taking inspired action each day towards the vision. As a bonus, there's literally a bible verse that says, "where two or more are gathered" meaning when you agree on the vision with just one other person, it will actually magnify it's likelihood of manifestation.

Let's use the power available to us in the Universe to consciously create what we want to see in our individual lives, our country and in our world. We absolutely have the power to do that.

To The Truth That Sets Us all Free,

Donna Gershman ALSP

Are you wanting to move forward on a dream, or to change something in your life? Do you feel stuck, and know you're in your own way? Let's move that boulder together. Feel free to email me at youwillheal@aol.com, or contact my office at (818)904-6840 for a free telephone consultation or 20 minute tune-UP! All sessions are conducted by telephone or Skype.

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Initiation Into Power

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." - Alice Walker

Several years ago, I had a horrible nightmare. I've never forgotten it. After it was over, I realized that it was much more than a nightmare, it was a profound spiritual teaching.

In the dream, I saw myself standing in front of my spiritual teacher. In front of me, was a dark threatening force that carried a powerful evil energy that was moving rapidly toward me. All I could feel was sheer terror. I had never felt that kind of terror ever in my waking life. In that moment, I looked behind me to see the terror on my teacher’s face, as well. This is a man of great wisdom and knowledge, a man centered in love and peace. I was shocked to see he was having the same reaction as me. I knew I had no choice but to fight this force. I knew it was up to me.

Suddenly, I gathered all my fear, all my rage, all my anger, and with all my power, I put my hands out in front of me and yelled, “Noooooooooo” at the top of my lungs. This was not a "Nooo" from dread or from a pleading place in me. It was a definitive, declarative and absolute "NO". It was a " No" that was not up for debate. This is what I would describe as taking my power back. The dark force then began to dissipate in front of me and disappear into nothingness.

I looked back at my teacher, and he had a look of awe and respect on his face. Just then, the nightmare began all over again, exactly as it had the first time. It was like being in an instant replay except is was twice as fast. I saw the dark force, I looked behind me to see my teacher’s face in terror, I turned once again towards the force with my hands stretched out in front of me, but this time, I simply said, “No” without any fear, without any anger without any rage. I just said "no". The force once again dissipated in front of me and disappeared.

When I woke up, I felt different. I felt as if I had been initiated into another way of being, one that showed me how powerful I really am, and that nothing and no one had any power over me. I was certainly as powerful as my teacher, and I was more powerful than evil. I would never again have to fight against evil in my life, I could just refuse to give it any power over me. I could stand face-to-face with it, and know it was nothing pretending to be something,

I have understood on a deep level that nothing holds any power over us unless we inadvertently, through fear for example, give our power to it. I have practiced this principle for many years now with my clients who come to me with so-called “terminal” illness, having been told that their illness will decide their fate. My job is to remind them of their own power and that their illness holds no power over them. That is the key to healing. That is the key to freedom. That is the key to true empowerment.

Nothing and no one has any power over us. Our government, our leaders, our laws, nothing. Each of us holds a power equivalent to the entire universe and beyond. When we know that, we will no longer feel powerless to events or people. I believe we are here to remember the power that we hold, and to create fearlessly, knowing that nothing is truly against us, except us, and our own misguided beliefs.

We are more powerful than anything we fear. We are infinitely powerful. We must know that. If we want to access this power and demonstrate it, we can't be willy nilly about it. If you're in fear about something for instance, you've already managed to give some of your power away to it, by pretending it has more power than you.

Think about this for a moment. Everything is energy. When anything is reduced to it's most minute level, all that is left is energy, which never dies. It only changes form. So, if we all draw from the same energy source which is within us and all around us, how could someone have more power than you? They can't. All they can have is more belief in that than you. They might have more determination to use it, than you. But they can't actually have more access or more availability to it.

We can create the world we want to live in, by remembering how powerful we are, and by taking our power back from situations or people we have unconsciously given it away to through fear and false beliefs. There is no limit to what we can do with a mind and heart committed to good and a simple “No” to whatever fear or illusion of powerlessness that presents itself. Once you know how truly powerful you are, there will be no need to fight against anything. You will simply get clear about who you are, what you want, and remember who has the final say, you. 

At this time in humanity, I urge all of us not to give our power away to anything, including situations, a diagnosis or people in so-called "authority" or power positions. It is time to stand in assurance that all is possible with an unshakeable belief in your own ultimate power to create. You are the supreme authority in your life, Create whatever you can imagine, through the power of your belief and being undaunted by anything or anyone outside of you.

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,

Donna Gershman ALSP  

PS. Are you ready to start living the life you deserve but know you must get out of your own way to have it? You don't have to do it alone. Feel free to email me at youwillheal@aol.com or contact my office at (818)904-6840 to set up a free consultation or 20 Minute Tune-UP! All sessions are conducted by telephone and or Skype.

The House That God Bought (Part 1) (What You Believe, Matters)

                                                                 

 

Several years ago, I was working with a client on the law of attraction, teaching her how to manifest the things that she wanted in her life. At the end of one of our sessions, I suggested we put the law to the test. I asked her what she wanted to manifest. I reminded her that the “hows” were not her business, just the “whats”. In other words, her only job at this point was to be clear with the universe about what she wanted, and to stay out of trying to figure out how to make that happen or contemplating how it can’t. After some thought, she clearly stated that she wanted to own her own home. She wanted to live in West Los Angeles in a home she would love, that was in perfect shape, in a good neighborhood and one she could afford.

Just to give you a little background, at the time she was a young woman in her 30s, doing massage therapy on and off, and teaching some yoga classes occasionally. Her income was both sparse and inconsistent. She had no real work history to speak of, her credit score wasn’t stellar and she was self-employed. But you see, Universal law doesn’t care about any of that. It cares about what you really believe, what you say yes to having, and having the faith the size of at least a mustard seed  that you can have it.  Before our session ended that day, I reminded her of that. I said, “Now, get all of your fears, doubts and reasons why you think you can’t have this out-of-the-way, just say yes and let the universe present it to you”. She agreed and I proceeded to pray out-loud on her perfect home, declaring throughout that the Universe was for her, already knew where her perfect home was and how to give it to her.

A month later, she returned for her regular session. She told me she had big news and I should sit down. She proceeded to tell me that a friend of her father’s, who she did not know and had never heard of, had apparently died. She had just found out that this man had left her father a house in West Los Angeles in a beautiful neighborhood, and the house was ready to occupy. Her father already owned a few properties so he decided to give it to her, along with a good sum of money the man had left him, so she could paint it and decorate it the way she would like. The house was fully paid for. There was no mortgage or rent to pay.

God certainly works in mysterious ways, we know that. But did you know that there is a little man who sits at the Universe’s order desk that waits patiently for your order, then once you decide what you want, takes your order and with a little rubber stamp, stamps your request with a “Yes” every single time? Well, it’s true!! More or less, anyway.

The law of the Universe will respond without judgment to what you really want, what you believe you can have and are truly willing to receive. This sounds simplistic and it is. What makes it challenging, is our belief systems. We get in our own way with our over-use of the mind. With our linear limited thinking, we decide that something is impossible, or improbable, or difficult, we don’t deserve it or it’s just not in the cards. We have all kinds of reasons why something can’t happen for us. And unfortunately, the Universe will respond to all of that too. Your beliefs are powerful, and they are either working for you or against you. What’s the order you are actually submitting? Is it, “I CAN have what I want,” or “I CAN'T have what I want”? Are you a YES or are you a NO? Here’s the trick. Say yes, get your negative thoughts out of the way….and then let it happen. 

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,


Donna Gershman ALSP

PS. Are you ready to create something new in your life but aren't seeing the results you would like? Feel free to email me at youwillheal@aol.com, or contact my office at (818)904-6840 for a free telephone consultation. All sessions are conducted by telephone or Skype.

Why Are You Here?

Have you ever really wondered why you're here on planet Earth?  What is your purpose for being here?  Was it just a random act that led you to be here right now at this time on the planet?  Other than the obvious explanation that your parents created you, why else are you here?  What are you here to do? What are you here to learn?  What are you here to bring?  These are some deep questions, right? And yet, without the answers, you could spend a lot of time spinning your wheels, and a lot of time unsatisfied.

It's important to know why you're here.  It's important to know what your gifts are. And most importantly, it's important that you're in alignment with your purpose, that you’re living your purpose. How do you know when you’re in alignment with your purpose, and how do you know when you're not?

It's simple. Are you fulfilled or aren’t you? Are you living a life that reflects all of the goodness that you are? Have you exceeded your wildest expectations of yourself? Are you a shining example of wholeness on planet Earth? Do you genuinely feel good about your life? Do you genuinely feel good about you? Are you fulfilled?

Or……

Are you going to a J-O-B every day, coming home, exhausted, just to pay the bills, and do it all over again tomorrow? Are you in a relationship that is painful, but have resigned yourself to being in it because the alternatives seem overwhelming? Does your body seem to be breaking down a little bit more and more all the time? Are you sick, in physical pain, emotional pain, unhappy, unsatisfied, and feel stuck? Have you given up on your dreams or worse yet, never attempted to pursue them? Do you feel blasé at best, or lack enthusiasm for your future? If so, then chances are you’ve strayed from your lesson plan a bit…and it may be time for an intervention.

In the end, the only thing that matters is how YOU feel about YOU. That’s it.

Did you accomplish what you were here to do? Did you become the person you were always meant to be? Did you love you?

When you are in alignment with your life's purpose, when you know who you are and what you're here to do, and when you take steps towards that vision, your life begins to fall into place, in a way that is most satisfying to you.  You start to live your dreams.

Unfortunately, until you are willing to move towards your vision, you will continue to spin your wheels, and feel unsatisfied with yourself and your life.  The key to being in alignment with your purpose is pure, unadulterated willingness. You have to really want it. You have to be willing to risk for it.  You have to be willing to do things differently.  You have to be willing to change. You can't fake willingness, when you do, it's simply “resistance” dressed up in disguise.

Today, search your soul.  What would you need to do differently to be in alignment with your deepest heart's desires? What would you need to let go of?  What would you need to embrace about yourself?  Even if you're not willing right now to make the changes, find the willingness to be willing. That's a good start, and really all you need, to take tiny steps forward towards being in alignment.  After all, that's what you're here to do, live your purpose and be fulfilled. The story ends well, that starts with willingness.

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,

Donna Gershman, ALSP

PS. You can heal and you don’t have to do it alone! If you or someone you know needs support in healing an issue whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual, please feel free to email me at youwillheal@aol.com or contact my office at (818)904-6840 for a free telephone consultation.