THIS IS MY LIFE
Sunday, 10/14/2001
Copyright (c) 2001, Michael Dickerson. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction or quotation is strictly prohibited without
permission.

Hi, y�all ~

I love living in Santa Fe! Just thought I�d let you know that.

First of all, the most important thing: Will you all please pray for, treat for, hold positive thoughts for, send Reiki to, or whatever you do for Doug Atherton�s health and healing? He lives in Seabeck, WA, and is the new husband of my friend Barbara. You could do some of that for Barbara Gentlemoon�s peace of mind, too. Thank you all.

As I�m writing this, I�m listening to Leslie Temple-Thurston on a Santa Fe radio station. For any of you not familiar with her, she�s a spiritual teacher, author of The Marriage of the Spirit, and a resident of Santa Fe. She�s been to Bellevue Unity a number of times, and I experienced her work there. I really resonate with her.

This is going to be long. I have a lot to say, and I haven�t had time to write much on this all week until now.

I received my first mail in my new mailbox! (I don�t mean e-mail; I�m talking about surface mail.) Unfortunately, it was from Qwest about my telephone service. I�m still waiting for my first noncommercial mail in case any of you wants to be first. And the race is on.

I also got my first voicemail via my computer from Nancy in Anchorage. It was just like listening to it over the phone, but I was listening to my computer. It really works, folks. Feel free to use it. If area code 206 is a toll-free call for you, it�s free for both of us. (206-350-5131)

I�ve been chuckling to myself lately about all the people who�ve made comments about how hot they think it is here. I�d like them to visit right now and see how comfortable they are in their shorts and short-sleeved shirts. During the day it�s usually been in the 60s or low 70s, but when clouds come up and hide the sun, or when the wind blows (as it does sometimes), it can get downright chilly. I was very comfortable yesterday wearing a sweater all day. And when the sun begins to go down, a sweater or a jacket is definitely in order. I may have already told you this, but the temperature often varies 30-40 degrees in a day. There�s new snow on some of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east.

My life has been filled with truly amazing serendipity and synchronicity this week. I�ll write about my meeting with Stephen Furrer below when I talk about visiting churches. Here are some other examples:

I got an e-mail from Brendalyn on Thursday morning that they were having a meeting about the labyrinth at Unity of Santa Fe in 55 minutes. I hustled and made it. It was fantastic. I met some great people, including Len Meserve, who has helped build 70 labyrinths and who will be presenting at the upcoming Labyrinth Convention about his own design for a labyrinth (more in a moment). Our primary task for the meeting was to consider the different possible designs of labyrinths and to choose one for Unity of Santa Fe. We decided to build 2 instead of one (which was my idea, by the way). Right next to the church building, we�re going to build a traditional Chartres design labyrinth. Then, over beyond the parking lot, behind some Pi�on trees (I�m learning about the foliage here), we decided to build a Relationship Labyrinth (Len�s original design). It�s sort of a gourd shaped labyrinth with 2 parallel paths, one representing the male (either physically or the male aspect of each person) and the other representing the female. I really felt like a contributing part of the team.

After the meeting, Brendalyn told me that the staff had talked about me the day before (I like being talked about this way), and she wondered if I�d be willing to be the person who �championed� Leslie Temple-Thurston�s workshop at the church on November 18. It turned out that I won�t be able to do it because of my trip back to Bellevue, but I liked being asked. Brendalyn said there will be plenty more chances to do something, and I�m sure there will be.

Thursday evening I went to choir practice, thinking mostly that I might meet some people who would be valuable as members of God Only Knows What. I had a great time. It�s really loose in comparison to the choirs I�ve been in before, and consequently, it was more fun. But we got a lot done, too. Once again, I felt like I contributed with some suggestions for arrangements.

On Saturday (yesterday), the labyrinth team had plans to begin to clear the space for the Relationships Labyrinth. When we got there, there was a meeting going on in the church entry/bookstore/meeting room (sort of a multipurpose room, I guess) and Brendalyn suggested that we come in while we were waiting for more people to see the video. It was a meeting about Energetic Balancing, which I had never heard of before. What serendipity. It looks very interesting. It�s being touted by Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith (R.S. minister), Wayne Dyer, Linda Gray (the actress), Brendalyn, and others that many of us have heard of. I�m going to learn more about it. If you�d like to look into it, there�s at least one practitioner in Washington. The website is http://www.energeticmatrix.com.

Eventually, we headed out to work on clearing the space for the labyrinth. After carrying some fallen trees from one place to another, we noticed a dog barking at us from one of the cars in the parking lot. One of the women mentioned that she has a petsitting business (called The Pet Nanny, which is the same name that Conie uses). I jumped on it, and we started talking. It turns out that she may have some jobs for me. Later she said that she and her partner want to sell the business and move to Reno. They�ve been in business for 13 years, have a large repeat clientele, and make quite a bit of money from it. Is this something that Spirit is giving me to give me a financial foundation to do my real work? We shall see.

Yet, despite all the serendipity and synchronicity that I�m experiencing, I�m still bouncing back and forth between faith and fear. And what is one of my traditional stimuli for fear? Those of you who know me well may know the answer to that: money. (And you may know several other answers to the question, too.) Despite everything that�s been showing me that I can trust Spirit and the process of life, I keep slipping into fear � sometimes almost panic � about money. And, at those times when I�m less conscious than at other times, I just want to avoid it, to go even more unconscious. Can I see a show of hands of other people who also sometimes do that about something � maybe not money, but something that�s a trigger for you? And then, somehow, I remember, and I breathe deeply, center, open, pay compassionate attention, turn it over to Spirit, and listen for my guidance. Asleep, awake, asleep, awake, asleep, awake � the process of living in this human form.

So I�ve been preparing to promote my work. I�m organizing my informal (mini) resume (only 2 pages, instead of the 5 pages that my full, formal resume is) and my statement of projects to do in Santa Fe. Then I�ll begin talking with ministers, counselors, and organizations that sponsor classes and workshops. It�s time to start doing my real work. I keep getting spiritual directions that the time has come and that I need not to tarry.

Even more frequently than comments about how hot it is in Santa Fe, I�ve heard them about how expensive it is to live here. I checked it with the Money Magazine price comparison on their website and learned that Santa Fe, on the whole, is 10% less expensive to live in than is Bellevue. It may be more expensive than a lot of places in the country, but not in comparison to what I�m familiar with. So, the rest of you for whom this won�t seem like a big deal can now skip to the next paragraph. The rent on the houseshare that I got is only $340/month. I saw a few for even less (as low as $250/month). Some studio apartments down the street that look really nice from the outside are only $430/month � and they have immediate openings. I�ve seen 3 bedroom houses for as little as $900/month (and for as much as $4000/month with a guest house included). I�ve only noticed a couple of other comparisons so far. Roasted whole chickens are $1-2 more at Wild Oats and Whole Foods than at QFC. And Melissa said that her live-in petsitting fees start at $45/day, which is $10/day higher than in Belleveu. (But, of course, that�s income to me.)

On Wednesday I visited a couple more area churches to get on mailing lists, to find out what activities I might want to participate in, and to get a sense of how I might fit in as a professional: Religious Science of Santa Fe and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation. I also tried to visit Rocco Errico�s Noohra Foundation, but it was gone. I�m guessing that the report I heard from someone that he was moving to somewhere in the Southeast is correct.

While I was at the UU Church, the minister, Stephen Furrer, walked in, and we ended up talking for a while. It turns out that he attended Pacific School of Religion, which is just down the street from Starr King School for the Ministry (where I went). He took some classes at Starr King, and I took some at PSR. (They�re both part of the Graduate Theological Union, so that isn�t unusual. I took classes at most of the schools in the GTU.) Then we started talking about whom I knew at SKSM, and he knows some of the same people that I do. I even forgot to mention some people that he probably knows.

Here are some of the places I�ve visited this week that I really like: Sam�s Club (similar to Costco, but I like this store even better; I joined), the Plaza (it looks really different this time of year than in late summer when I was here last � much less busy), The Burrito Co. (New Mexican fast food � one of my favorite places from �97), Whole Foods (I finally found it. I like it even more than Wild Oats. It�s like a cross between PCC and Larry�s Markets, for those of you in the Puget Sound who know what that means.), and the Chamber of Commerce (which had all kinds of great information).

A tip for anyone who comes to Santa Fe, especially to live: get your hands on (and read) 3 publications: the Annual Manual (published by the Santa Fe Reporter), Welcome Home; A Guide for Santa Fe Newcomers and Residents (published by The Santa Fe New Mexican), and the latest edition of a book called Insiders� Guide to Santa Fe (by Anne Hillerman and Tamar Stieber). The first 2 are available at the Chamber of Commerce (and other places). The latest edition of Welcome Home came as an insert in today�s Santa Fe New Mexican (more serendipity). I�m finding all 3 immensely helpful for the kinds of things I�m interested in (and need to know).

One of the games I�ve played with visitors to the Puget Sound area is �How do you imagine ___ is pronounced?� (places like Puyallup, Issaquah, Sequim, and Dosewallips). Well, I�m experiencing something very similar here in NM. I�m finding that some of the place names are pronounced differently than I�ve been saying them in my head. For example, one I learned when I was here 4 years ago is that Chimayo (a town north and a bit east of here, on the High Road to Taos), which to my Spanish-educated mind looked like Chee-MY-o, is actually pronounced Chee-muh-YO. I think it�s an Indian word, not Spanish. And I learned a couple of days ago that Tesuque (a town just a few miles north of here) isn�t TESS-uh-kay (yes, I know that isn�t a Spanish pronunciation, but that�s how I was reading it anyway). It�s Tuh-SOO-kay. That�s a Pueblo word and also the name of one of the Pueblos. I can hardly wait to find out how the Jicarilla Apaches� name is pronounced. I keep pronouncing it, too, as if it were Spanish.

Okay, so what�s up with the Mariners? They certainly haven�t been looking like the team they were during the season. I really expected them to beat Cleveland in no more than 4 games. So much for expectations. At least they pulled it out today and get to go home (I wrote �come� and then changed it) for the deciding game.

And now as I�m writing, I�m watching the Seahawks game at Husky Stadium and seeing a view out across Lake Washington. I�m feeling some nostalgia. I don�t want to move back there, and I do miss a lot of things about the Puget Sound. How about those Seahawks, though?

I told you it would be long. Blessings to you until next time (and even beyond that).

Namaste,
Michael

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ABOUT THIS IS MY LIFE
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This Is My Life is my letters to my family, friends, and whoever
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