~ healing the heart through the hands ~
by Lori Suzanne Holetz
“Grandma, how do you cope with pain?”
“With your hands, honey, If you do it with your mind instead of relieving the pain, it toughens even harder.”
“With your hands, Grandma?”
“Yes, our hands are the antennae of our soul. If you move them; knitting, cooking, painting, playing, or sinking them into the ground, you send care signs to the deepest part of your and your soul lights up because you’re paying attention to it. Then signs of pain will no longer be necessary.”
“Hands are really that important?”
“Yes, my daughter. Think of babies: they start to know the world through the touch of their hands. If you look at the hands of old people, they tell you more about their life than any body part. Everything that is done by hand is said to be done with the heart. Because it’s really like this: hands and heart are connected. Masseurs know well: when they touch someone with their hands, they create a deep connection. It is precisely from this connection that healing comes. Think of lovers: when they touch their hands, they make love in a more sublime way.”
“My hands grandma…. How long I haven’t used them like this!”
“Move them, my love. Begin to create with them and everything within you will begin to move. The pain will not pass away. And instead what you do with them will become the most beautiful masterpiece and it won’t hurt anymore. Because you have been able to transform its essence.”
~Elena Bernabe, translated by Takiruna
It is said we are made in the image of the Creator. I believe to an extent, this is true… at least when it comes to creativity. I personally have always been creative in one way or another. I have always had my hands into something that basically started from nothing but bits and pieces, gathered and collected, eventually assembled into something to delight the senses… be it food, artifact, costume, or dance. It’s truly in the creating time, where one experiences a trance like state, where time doesn’t seem to exist; we become lost to the process.
I have always felt that creativity, at least for me, was something so essential, no different than the need for food, water, to sleep or breathe. It is in our inherent nature to create, and although it might not always be recognized, we all do create on a constant basis. The simple act of making a meal is an act of creation. There is great power, joy and pleasure in the creation process.
It is spring and it’s “GO time” in the garden. The winter’s generous rains have brought a super bloom to California’s parched earth and Mother Nature is richly and gloriously renewing and recreating life in gem colored blossoms profuse. The urge to plant our gardens is unrelenting; the bees tell us so… go time! It should be a good honey year, but that always remains to be seen; certainly the bees have a smorgasbord of wildflowers to harvest from. Creation of sweetness and pollination, in action.
The sweetness of the season brings fond memories of my own Grammy Teddy making pies of apples and blackberries harvested in the yard here in Boulder Creek. I remember her sewing, swimming suits for us cousins of her own design, matching, so we could swim at the Junction. Creation with intention can create wonderful healing memories to last beyond lifetimes.
So simply, go out and use your hands to create your life. Thoughtfully choose each piece and parcel and make it your own. Most of all, enjoy the process and by this conscious choice, you will transform your life, surrounding it with an air of joy, joie de vivre, the colors of nature a bit brighter.
Celebrate Mother’s Day all spring season long and give thanks for the creation of renewed life. Abundant springtime blessings upon you all. And as nature, pay it forward into the generations with joy and the love by which you create.
