The Dalai Lama and Me

I recently asked Brenda Harley, who is a writer and energy healer in our local community, to share some of her experiences, insight and inspirations with DesigningTransformation.com readers. She immediately responded by sending me some of the pieces she has developed over the past few months. She suggested that I pick one that “calls out to me”. There was no question, one certainly called out to me. The post below not only is well written, discussing a variety of important issues, but it takes place on the day my husband passed away. That date will be etched in my mind forever. Coincidently, at that time a friend had asked me to attend the Dalai Lama event, but for obvious reasons I could not. Here is Brenda’s inspiring account of that event.

By: Guest Blogger – Brenda Harley

4/10/09

Sitting in the Bell Centre and feeling the energy of all those who earlier had wrapped the entire building in a ribbon of shared humanity; I realized the enormity of the moment. It had all been orchestrated so peacefully. We had already taken part and received the message. I felt such a wave of gratitude for all the pieces of my life that had brought me to this point, sitting beside my partner who had been the one to suggest the idea.

It had all come together perfectly and now we were there and the Dalai Lama was entering to thunderous applause and we were all up on our feet, to my surprise there were tears streaming down my face. I can still feel that moment. I will be grateful for this gift for a long, long time. I will remember this day as a very good day, one shared with friends and the wisdom of a very wise and compassionate man.

The message shared with all was a simple one filled with the new hope of every new day, one that resonated deep within as a message of truth.

There were no distortions between the man and his words. Often he paused, chuckling as he remembered the moment that he was choosing to share with us. Unlike the religious experiences of my youth, I had no sense of unrealistic rules made to be broken, the hell waiting as a form of threat to keep us in line. Always, as a child I understood that this in itself had to be a form of hell; our God promising us damnation if his rules were not followed. None of it could make sense in a child’s mind.

Now here I sat, an unlikely follower of the Dalai Lama, a girl from the Maritimes who had rejected all forms of structured religion and had stumbled along her own personal spiritual path until she found something that made sense to her. And she had found it deep within herself.

Long ago she had recognized that her truth spoke through her experience of motherhood and that only her children spoke of life in a way that made sense to her.

They taught her about respect, as they stomped their little feet informing her that she was not the boss of them. They were right. She was there only to guide, to love, to pick up the pieces when asked and above all to do no harm. Surely and slowly this young woman learned about compassion from the master teachers on the planet. She was lucky. There were three. She learned how to listen and from there her life began to open in amazing ways.

Twenty years later and again she found herself saying “yes” to life; to the opportunity presenting itself to listen to the teachings of the Dalai Lama. Here she sits and recognizes herself and understands the immense opportunity, as each one of the 15,000 participants has the same opportunity to receive this gift of themselves. For beyond the message of peace and compassion, was the message of our shared humanity.

We were all one as we laughed together at the failure of the advanced technology supporting the microphones. We shared relief as a solution was found; we recognized parts of ourselves as the Dalai Lama shared himself more as a human being than as a world leader. In short, we took part in a magical experience where the hope for our planet shone so brightly that no one could have been spared, all of us partaking in the moment will forever be affected in some way.

From the young woman given the great honour of the welcoming and closing address, to the performers sharing their Tibetan culture, all will take away this moment in time, this moment of peace and harmony, where not one, not two, but three cultures, three languages came together and remembered their shared humanity. The gifts bestowed on this day will continue to reveal themselves I am sure.

For now I am able to honour this path of motherhood and partnership that I have chosen more easily, for it has everything that I need. As each one of us embraces the life that we are living more fully and becomes more aware of the others in our life, we can all shift from getting more to giving more and this will surely set us upon a different path.

The message given in Montreal on this day was given from one man’s heart and received by thousands. We need to merge intellect with heart. As parents we need to start leading by example and stop expecting our schools to deliver what we are not delivering ourselves. The time of duality is over, no more two faces of morality. Our children expect us to be who we are all the time, standing for something of value. If we cannot be peaceful within our own homes and relationships than no matter how much we preach and protest against war, peace can never be birthed on our planet.

The Dalai Lama stated quite clearly that we are solely responsible for our own happiness and that our actions cause joy or suffering: our actions not the actions of another. It is a powerful message and it’s time has come.

It is time to listen more to our children. Watch the affect that your actions have on them and if you do not like what you see, know that you are the one with the power to change; you. It is time to listen to your heart’s leadership. Allow your mind to soften and hear the voice of your spirit, for it always comes through your emotional field. Your soul’s song is a harmonious one and it calls you to become your authentic self.

We who shared a moment with the Dalai Lama were blessed to have witnessed one who is at peace with life. He is who he is, in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. That is what we all shared in Montreal on Saturday. That is what it feels like to be in communion with an authentic human being. It feels good. It feels safe. It feels as though we can relax and trust the messenger and we all have this same message to give. It starts with us, within our families and is shared with the community in which we live. We need to become peaceful in order to create peace, to practice compassion in order to be in a constant state of compassion and be compassionate. It starts with us.