Preparation for winter. Prepare the garden for next year by cleaning up the dead material that smothers the living and keeps it from experiencing the light and warmth of the sun. Storing the dead and dried wood of past years to warm our bodies and homes this year. The value of darkness and cold.

A time to be alone with one’s thoughts and feelings.To go inside one’s self the direction most fear and avoid. A time to find what truly warms the body and soul is not an external source of heat but the warmth that comes from relationships.

Solitude and the source of warmth. When we come together as a family we warm each other. To be alone and warm requires the knowledge of your relationship to family, self, creation and our Creator. Sustaining the seeds of life during cold, dark times. We protect the seeds of life as a mother protects the fetus within her womb.

Buried in the dark new life lies waiting for the call to emerge. Only when we are buried deep enough do we survive the cold. There is a warmth deep within that sustains us all and our inner resources and strength. When the winter separates us from others we learn our true strength and of our will to live and resources.germinating and storing life for the coming spring.

The courage to live on and face the future winters and darkness. The will to live through the dark times sustains us. Determination, intention and desire create our future in dark times. The loss of life is a necessity to provide food and fuel for the living and remind us of our mortality and the gift of time. The time to do what we were sent here to do and the wisdom of nature and God’s gift, ice.

When you freeze a liquid it becomes denser and sinks except for water and ice. They are one of God’s messages of the intention, intelligence and love in creative energy. Ice floats to protect the life beneath it and continue to nurture it, in the womb of life, until we once again feel the warmth of spring and do not require the covering of ice to sustain life.

 

Bernie Siegel 2012

Bernie Siegel

Dr. Bernie Siegel, who prefers to be called Bernie, not Dr. Siegel, was born in Brooklyn, NY. He attended Colgate University and Cornell University Medical College. He holds membership in two scholastic honor societies, Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha and graduated with honors. His surgical training took place at Yale New Haven Hospital, West Haven Veteran’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He retired from practice as an assistant clinical professor of surgery at Yale of general and pediatric surgery in 1989 to speak to patients and their caregivers. In 1978 he originated Exceptional Cancer Patients, a specific form of individual and group therapy utilizing patients’ drawings, dreams, images and feelings. ECaP is based on “carefrontation,” a safe, loving therapeutic confrontation, which facilitates personal lifestyle changes, personal empowerment and healing of the individual’s life. The physical, spiritual and psychological benefits which followed led to his desire to make everyone aware of his or her healing potential. He realized exceptional behavior is what we are all capable of. Bernie, and his wife and coworker Bobbie, live in a suburb of New Haven, Connecticut. They have five children and eight grandchildren. Bernie and Bobbie have co-authored their children, books and articles. Their home with its many children, pets and interests resembled a cross between a family art gallery, museum, zoo and automobile repair shop. It still resembles these things, although the children are trying to improve its appearance in order to avoid embarrassment. In 1986 his first book, Love. Medicine & Miracles was published. This event redirected his life. In 1989 Peace, Love & Healing and in 1993 How To Live Between Office Visits followed. He is currently working on other books with the goal of humanizing medical education and medical care, as well as, empowering patients and teaching survival behavior to enhance immune system competency. Bernie’s realization that we all need help dealing with the difficulties of life, not just the physical ones, led to Bernie writing his fourth book in 1998 Prescriptions for Living. It helps people to become aware of the eternal truths and wisdom of the sages through Bernie’s stories and insights rather than wait a personal disaster. He wants to help people fix their lives before they are broken, and thus not have to become strong at the broken places. Published in 2003 are Help Me To Heal to empower patients and their caregivers and 365 Prescriptions For The Soul, in 2004 a children’s book about how difficulties can become blessings, Smudge Bunny, in 2005 101 Exercises For The Soul and out in the Fall of 2006 a prescriptions for parenting book Love, Magic & Mud Pies. Published in 2008 Buddy’s Candle, for children of all ages, related to dealing with the loss of a loved one, be it a pet or parent, and to be published in 2009 Faith, Hope & Healing with survivor stories and my reflections about what they teach us. Woody Allen once said, “If I had one wish it would be to be somebody else.” Bernie’s wish was to be a few inches taller. His work has been such a growth experience that he is now a few inches taller. His prediction is that in the next decade the role of consciousness, spirituality, non-local healing, body memory, and heart energy will all be explored as scientific subjects. For many, Bernie needs no introduction. He has touched many lives all over our planet. In 1978 he began talking about patient empowerment and the choice to live fully and die in peace. As a physician, who has cared for and counseled innumerable people whose mortality has been threatened by an illness, Bernie embraces a philosophy of living and dying that stands at the forefront of the medical ethics and spiritual issues our society grapples with today. He continues to assist in the breaking of new ground in the field of healing and personally struggling to live the message of kindness and love. Dr. Siegel appeared on the radio show “Healing the Grieving Heart” with Dr. Gloria & Dr. Heidi Horsley to discuss Finding Thanksgiving After Loss.

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