Epiphany: How Adversity Can Be A Gift
Jun.17.11

“Amidst the messy carbon phases of life, adversity can polish you to be the shiny gem you were meant to become.”

For years I made collages out of magazine clips to express my creative side.  One of my all-time favorite collages had clock images.

When I got laid off of one of my first jobs, it took me two years to notice that the date in the image of a watch in this collage was the date I got laid off. Under it was a Bible quote that said, “God makes all things perfect in time.”

As a psychotherapist, this is what I often use to reassure those who haven’t had the hope injection of an epiphany yet ~ life is always in some stage of a process to evolve you. It helps to realize that in the midst of the messy carbon phases of life, adversity can polish you to be the shiny gem you were meant to become.

– Krista Sherinian, Naperville, IL

 

 

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How A Father’s Love Can Lead to a Calling: Barry Manilow’s Epiphany
Jun.12.11

There are many epiphanies that I have heard that relate to our parents and to our fathers in particular. Since today is my father’s birthday and with Fathers Day is approaching, I thought I’d highlight some of those stories this week. One of the most moving to me is Barry Manilow’s story from Epiphany about childhood, a loving and supportive family, a calling, and a very special father. In honor of all our fathers – no matter what form they may take – instead of excerpting the story, I’ve printed it below in its entirety. Here’s to all the Willie Murphys out there! Cheers!

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Your actions and words are always, always having an impact on another person—especially children.
—Barry Manilow

So, I looked up what the word epiphany meant. The dictionary defines the word like this: “a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.”

I’ve had a few moments like that in my life. But my first thunderbolt happened when I was thirteen years old. You would think it might have been my bar mitzvah, but it wasn’t.

It was Willie Murphy.

Willie was my mother’s second husband, my stepfather. They married when I was thirteen, and we all moved into this tiny apartment in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, where I was raised.

I had lived in Williamsburg all my life. Up to that point, I was being brought up by my mother, Edna, and my grandparents, Joe and Esther. My biological father left when I was an infant, and the three adults were raising me along with a neighborhood filled with relatives and yentas.

The three of them knew I was musical but didn’t really know what to do with me. The music business was a very faraway land, and besides, there was no money in my family for music lessons.

As I grew up, it became obvious that I had a lot of music in me. So the three adults saved up their money and rented me an instrument that all the Jewish and Italian kids were learning: the accordion. There wasn’t much you could do on the accordion, but damn, I was good at it. I picked up reading music very fast, and I actually played the thing so it didn’t sound like an old Italian baker outside his store. The only music I was exposed to in my young life was Jewish folk songs and awful pop songs on the radio. That was it.

So when Edna married Willie Murphy, he inherited a very musical kid who didn’t know anything about music.

Willie was an uneducated truck driver, but one of the smartest men I’ve ever met. I’d find him reading James Joyce’s Ulysses and watching public TV instead of Leave It to Beaver. But most of all, it was the music he brought with him that changed my life. He brought with him a record player that sounded fantastic to my ears, since I’d only been exposed to small AM radios. It was what he played on that record player that introduced me to a whole new world.

His record collection was stacked next to this little hi-fi player, and it may as well have been a stack of gold for me. Each album was more glorious than the next—Broadway scores like Carousel, The King and I, The Most Happy Fella; great pop singers like Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall, Sinatra and his gorgeous Only the Lonely album; musical arrangers like Nelson Riddle, David Rose, Don Costa; big bands like Stan Kenton, Count Basie, and Ted Heath; jazz musicians like Bill Evans, Chet Baker, and Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross; and classical symphonies that, I swear, I thought would blow my head off.

I had never heard music like this. I didn’t even know it existed! I tried playing the overtures of the Broadway scores on my accordion, and I did pretty well! But Willie knew that would never do, so he saved his money and bought me a spinet piano. Between Edna and Willie, they pooled their money and sent me off to piano lessons once a week.

Willie Murphy and his stack of gold was my epiphany. I wish that every kid had a Willie in his life. Willie and his music sent me on my way to the life I have now. I’ll always be grateful to him. Without him, I’d be playing my accordion outside a bakery in Williamsburg. I just know it.

 

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Epiphany: Patience [via Peru + Pepto Bismol]
Jun.3.11

“The course of life is not a race, except for the thrill of running. If I want or need to walk or stand still on the course, that’s okay.”

“You’re here to learn patience.” I heard these words in my head as I sat on an ancient stone altar in the ruins of Machu Picchu on top of the Andes in Peru. “Patience?” I thought. “I’ve come all the way to Peru for my out-of-body experience, and I get ‘patience’?” Okaaaay.

I was there with my boyfriend, Ken. Six weeks prior to the trip, Ken and I had talked seriously about breaking up. We’d been dating just over a year, and we had our fears about aspects of each other and our relationship as a whole. Talking about our fears had made us realize that we really loved what our relationship brought out in each of us, and that we wanted to stay together.

So, there we were, both sitting on this huge granite ritual stone in what had been a temple in the citadel (yep, we were bad tourists and climbed over the rope). It was late in the day, and the grounds were nearly empty. We didn’t speak.

I stared ahead, glancing upon a spiky sotol plant growing out of a wall about 15 feet in front of me and thought, “I’m ready. Whatcha’ got?” It was so quiet, and peaceful.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Sigh.

I couldn’t help staring at the sotol. The light was getting dimmer, but the sharpness of the plant seemed to stand out at me. Like an old Pepto Bismol commercial, the space between me and the plant seemed to close in while the surroundings blurred. Then I heard the message about patience.

“Well, shoot, I know I need to work on patience.” I thought, impatiently. But, okay, I got it. Anything else?

It was still. I was back from Pepto Bismol blurry world. I felt the breeze on my face. I felt Ken sitting to my right. And, I got an overwhelming reassuring feeling that Ken and I were okay. We were good together. Our choice to stay together was healthy, and there was no need to fret over our decision. I reached out to put my hand on his knee and felt a warm, tingly current go up my arm. We agreed we were ready to leave the grounds for the evening.

Early the next morning, Ken and I climbed up Huayna Picchu, the peak that towers over Machu Picchu, and he asked me to marry him.

I nearly fell off the mountain in surprise.

I felt a rush of fear.

What about X? And, we hadn’t resolved Y…?

I remembered the day before. The current up my arm.

I knew we were good together.

I took the leap, and said, YES.

It felt like I floated back down the mountain.

Later, that evening at dinner, I asked Ken when he decided to ask me to marry him. He said, “Yesterday, when we were sitting on that rock.”

An epiphany is defined as “an illuminating discovery, realization, disclosure, or insight.” In her book, Elise defines it as “a moment of sudden or great realization about life that usually changes you in some way.”

I feel I had two epiphanies at Machu Picchu: one more immediate than the other – I married Ken 14 years ago, a year after our Peru trip. Yay! And, to my chagrin and consternation, I continue having learning experiences about patience. Case in point, our journey with bringing indie movie, “Lost in Sunshine” to life. We’ve aspired and worked hard to make it manifest within defined time lines. The idea being, if we envision it and form intention around it, the Universe will bring the resources. But, milestones have passed without the fruition we’ve hoped for. My movie partner and I both trust that there are good reasons for that, but it’s really crushing sometimes.

Sharing the Peru story with Elise has been a blessing and perhaps a mini- or re-epiphany for me, because I’ve been reminded about the Patience Message. The voice said, “You’re here to learn patience,” and the implication to me was that my whole lifetime would be in service to that lesson. I’ve been reminded that there is no stopwatch I’m racing, and I can’t “fail the test.” I want to work on really feeling that. Living it. To quell the insistent internal voice that says, ‘there’s not enough time,’ and ‘you have to DO, DO, DO everything NOW to be given the “keys to the kingdom,” to be worthy of your desired outcomes.’

There is no race, except for the thrill of running. If I want or need to walk or stand still on the course, that’s okay.

– Lorie Marsh, St. Paul, MN

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‘Hardbody’ Headed for The Great White Way…Are ‘Wiens’ Far Behind?
May.30.11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Believe in the what if’s…” – Kate Milliken, Epiphany

A producer of a radio show I was on the other day wrote me to tell me that Hands on a Hardbody is headed for Broadway with Trey Anastasio of Phish writing the music, and he wanted to know if the Wiens were headed for the Great White Way next! He was referring to my little movie, Lord of the Wiens, because it is touted as “Hands on a Hardbody” meets “Best in Show.” If you haven’t seen Hands on a Hardbody, you must. The documentary came out in 1997 and is incredibly funny and unique. I can’t even explain it. The quick synopsis is: contestants in Longview, TX are filmed and interviewed as they compete in a radio station-sponsored contest to keep their hands on a truck (aka Hardbody) for as long as possible and the winner keeps the truck. The film won all kinds of awards when it came out and Robert Altman apparently was developing a narrative feature film based on the documentary at the time of his death.

Back in 2004 when I was prepping to shoot the annual Buda Wiener Dog Races put on by the wonderful Lions Club Organization, I was told I should definitely watch Hands on a Hardbody. I can’t remember who told me to do that and I wish I could because I need to thank him or her. The film completely influenced me and I went in wanting a Best in Show / Hands on a Hardbody mix for my film, and I have to say, the filmmaking angels were with us. Hands is total guerilla, old-school, low-budget documentary filmmaking … Wiens isn’t quite as old-school just because it came out 8 years later and it’s only 25 minutes long – but it’s definitely in the same genre.

So will Lord of the Wiens have a shot at a Broadway deal by 2019? Who knows? Wrangling a bunch of dachshunds night after night on stage might make Spiderman look like a walk in the park for producers. But if what I’ve experienced with dachshund lovers is any indication, they alone would make it a Broadway legend.

For an interesting story about Phish frontman, Trey Anastasio, check out Epiphany Contributor’s Kate Milliken’s story about him on her website: “Visualize a Rock Star and He Will Come.” Because of her experience with this rock star, she knew she could reverse her multiple sclerosis and where her mantra, “Believe in the what if’s…” featured in her amazing story in Epiphany originated. Her story inspires me daily.

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What You Notice Matters: An Epiphany about Awareness & Manifestation
May.27.11

“What you notice matters.”

My “What You Notice Matters” epiphany came as the result of being observant, which is just my nature. Since childhood, I have always noticed informative and interesting things that have taught me truths and opened me up to ideal opportunities.

In my 30’s, I brightened up the gray world of my workplace cubicle by putting up pictures that gave me more pleasurable windows to enjoy. Soon I found myself in those pictured places without planning it! Later I noticed that the collages I intuitively created had significant, life-altering messages for me. Then I noticed that the artwork I bought had shown me aspects of my future. Finally all these clues suddenly aligned in my conscious mind and I understood…what you notice matters. It matters to one’s experience of daily life, it matters to what one is able to create in this life. What an electrifying moment.

This breakthrough insight put me on a new path from public relations to being an inspirational speaker and life coach. I use the concept of outer and inner awareness (ie: what you’re noticing) to help others discover their life purpose and to understand the worldly clues and symbolic messages from spirit that can help lead them forward in joy and fulfillment.

Other points about awareness I’ve discovered on this journey are:

Awareness is the basis for understanding who you are, where your focus is, how the natural laws of the universe operate, and how manifestation works.

Awareness is necessary to appreciating the world around you and your connection to all that is. You can’t appreciate what you don’t notice.

Awareness enables you to see the bread crumbs of guidance that can lead you easily forward in alignment with your dreams and goals.

When you notice the daily gifts being offered through nature, other people, the world, your intuition and your perspective you light up your awareness and expand the potential that exists.

Awareness births appreciation, wonder, curiosity, guidance, joy, compassion and a sense of trust and faith in the beautiful tapestry of life.

Training your awareness puts you in touch with the part of your consciousness that never ceases to BE.

– Melissa Wadsworth, Seattle, WA

 

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