Category: mental health

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talking with (god) retreat

I have two questions for you. Both are very important.

The first question is, are you ready for a life changing experience and the second is, would you like to discover answers to your biggest questions in life?

These are not idle questions. They are fundamental and potentially life altering, depending on how you answer them.

I am offering a retreat, the details of which appear later in the post, but for right now I want to share a few important things with you.

I have been having my own direct, intimate, personal conversations with spirit, divine, creator, or whatever name I choose for (god) at the time. After reading Neale Donald Walsch’s book, Conversations With God, I thought to myself, if he can talk with god and receive answers, so can I.

So, for the last 27 years I’ve been having my own talks with (god) and have received incredibly profound answers to my most challenging questions. During all that time, I’ve never experienced even one harsh word from god. The voice I hear is filled with love and compassion and as long as I quiet the noise inside my head, I hear answers to everything I ask. I need to point out, they are often not the answers I expected, but are always the answers I need.

If this sounds too fantastic to you and you want to stop reading, I’ll understand.

But if you’d like a deeper connection with god (or whatever name you use), please keep reading.

I am comfortable promising, that if you attend, you will be guided toward some insights you seek and feel a profound sense of love, as you work through the issues that challenge or possibly confuse you. This retreat will offer you opportunities to share your experiences with others, at your comfort level, and in a beautiful loving sacred space. Each attendee will have the freedom to explore their journey through journaling, conversations, meditation, music, art, walking and relaxation.

If this sounds appealing to you, I invite you to join us. The talking with god retreat will be held from Friday, December 13, 2024 (6:30pm registration) through Sunday, December 15, 2024 (closing at 11:30am) and will be held at the Dominican Retreat Center at 1945 Union Street, Niskayuna, New York 12309.

The cost is $295, which includes two-nights’ accommodations, four nourishing meals and a gift copy of my book, talking with (god) to the first thirty participants to register.

To register, please contact me (Rob H Geyer) at rhgeyer@gmail.com or call my cell phone (518) 469-8676.

I believe this is one retreat you will not want to miss.

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Nothing For Granted

I’ve been thinking about how often I seem to take things for granted. Maybe this happens to you too.

I began wondering why. Could it be that my mind is just too busy with other things or is there something deeper going on?

There was a somewhat melancholy feeling running through me and words started flowing onto a page in my journal. I thought I’d share them with you, so that maybe together we could remind ourselves to take nothing for granted.

Nothing For Granted

Life is precious,

Sometimes staying in one place,

Sometimes leaping head.

I want to remember it all.

I wonder to myself about things,

About moments I experience,

What if this were my last hug,

The last spoke word I’ll ever hear,

What if this were my last sunset,

Last long soothing shower I’ll ever have,

Last delicious meal I’ll eat,

Or song I’ll hear,

Or walk I’ll take,

What if it’s the last firefly I’ll see light up

On a hot summer night,

Last starlit sky,

Last new spring green explosion of leaves I’ll see,

Or the last brilliant colorful autumn extravaganza,

What if it’s the last time I’ll feel the warmth of a cozy blanket,

Or the sunshine on my face,

What if this was the last time I’ll feel my wife’s lips against mine,

Would it change what it means to me

To be alive,

Would I treasure it,

Savor it,

Breath into it.

Would I try to hold onto it for dear life.

I wonder,

What do I want my life to be like.

So,

I sit with all of this

And let it wash over me

And I know what I want,

I want everything

To mean something to me,

Every sting,

Every fall and rise,

Every illusive dream,

Hurt, hope, every breath,

Every face and heart connection,

I want the whole collection of life,

Because it all matters.

And what I want most

Is to feel alive

And connected

And

I want to take nothing for granted,

Ever

I am curious what things you’d put on your list. Maybe you are too.

Be well.

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Act of Kindness- Balloons

This is a story that I created for a contest submission about an act of kindness as told from a different perspective than my own. The part I played is true. I was the balloon man. The rest of the story is told from a small boy, Joey, and his mother, Janice’s perspective. The essence of the contest was to perhaps inspire the reader to perform their own act(s) of kindness. There part is up to you.

Joey looked up into his mother’s eyes and asked the question he’d been carrying around for a while.

“Mommy, why did this happen to me?”

She noticed the start of tears forming in the corners of his eyes, tried to smile at him and did her best to answer.

“I don’t know, honey. Sometimes there aren’t good answers for why things happen to one person and not to another.”

“Is this hard for you, sweetie?”

“Kind of,” he responded, clearing away the tears as they ran down his cheeks.

She was awed by his gently courage and sat next to him remembering the moment in the doctor’s office when the word was first spoken. Cancer.

From then on, it was a blur for her. She was so relieved that Daniel, her husband, was there to pay attention. It’s not that she didn’t want to know, especially since she’d be the one taking care of Joey, since Daniel had to leave again. He’d gotten his orders and had to report soon. Even in a situation like this, wars went on.

“Mommy,” Joey said, interrupting her thoughts, “How long will I be in the hospital this time?”

“Oh, Joey, I’m sorry but I don’t know, The doctors hope it will be shorter than last time, but they’re not sure yet.”

***

After several weeks went by Joey was released from the hospital. His mom, Janice, held his next appointment card in her hand and they left unsteadily for home.

***

“When do we go to Dr. Richard’s office?”, Joey asked.

“We leave in fifteen minutes. Can you go find your stuffed dog, Patches, so we’ll be ready to leave?”

Janice noticed how Joey held his body, hunched forward slightly with his eyes staring down at the floor.

“Are you feeling upset honey?”, she asked, already anxious about his answer.

“A little”, he said, trying to hide the fear he felt inside. Joey smiled crookedly at his mom and turned to look for Patches.

As they headed to the car, Joey tipped his head up and asked, “Mommy, could we do something special after the doctor?”

His eyes pleaded for her to say ‘yes’.

Janice tried to keep from crying, knowing how worrisome this appointment was from both of them, after all the test results were supposed to be in.

She’d promised to call Daniel as soon as they left the doctor’s office, but she wanted to give Joey something to look forward to, if such a thing was possible.

“I hope so, sweetie”, she finally responded.

***

Janice parked the car, helped Joey out of his seat and walked slowly up the staircase and into the medical building. They rounded a corner in the hallway and Joey shrieked with excitement.

“Balloons, Mommy! Can I have one? I really want one, please Mommy?”

The man holding the string of balloons turned toward Joey and smiled.

Janice knelt down next to Joey to be closer to him and said, “Honey, those aren’t our balloons”, She’d hoped to divert his attention and continue to their doctor’s office for his appointment.

Instead of continuing to walk in the opposite direction, the man turned and approached Joey and Janice. He noticed how Joey’s face brightened and how the light in his eyes radiated with the simple pleasure of seeing the balloons, and the possibility of having one for himself.

The man held out the bouquet of balloons and asked, “Which one would you like, if it’s okay with your mom?”

The man held Janice’s eyes, assuring her that he wanted Joey to have his pick.

“The blue one, no, the purple one, oh, I don’t know, they’re all so beautiful”, Joey answered, with unsuppressed joy.

The man smiled and pulled on two strings, releasing them from the bunch and held them out to Joey.

“Let’s make this easy”, the man said, “how about both?”

Joey screamed with delight, took the balloons, then looked at his mom, silently asking for her permission.

Overcome by this simple act of kindness, Janice nodded to her son and quietly thanked the man.

“You have no idea what this means to both of us”, she said.

“I think I do”, the man responded knowingly.

He turned, walked down the hall and entered a Pediatric Doctor’s office where he joyfully released the rest of his bouquet.

End

Note: This was one of my sixty-three intentional acts of kindness that took almost a month to complete. I did this in appreciation for my sixty-third birthday.

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One More Day

Have you ever been in a rainstorm that was so hard you had to use your fastest wiper blade setting and even then, it was difficult to see?

I was in one of those recently. Usually, I’m not overly concerned but I found this storm a bit nerve wracking. And then I came upon a section of the road that had high walls on both sides. Despite the drainage built into the road, all of the water from the heavy downpour was trapped and flooding the highway.

There was nothing I could do except to keep going.

The car next to me hit a wall of water and splashed it up and over my minivan, burying me inside the wave. I couldn’t see anything but water cascading over me. One second, two, three. Nothing.

I held on to the steering wheel in hopes that I would come out the other side and still be in my lane. And that there wouldn’t be anyone there. And that the car behind me wouldn’t run into the back of me when it appeared. And that the car to my left, that began the shower, wouldn’t veer over into my lane.

I kept my eyes open and said, “Oh, my God!” three times before the wall of water fly off my windshield.

Surprisingly, no other cars were on the road anywhere near me. I drove along, hands on the wheel, eyes starring disbelieving ahead of me to a clear wide-open road, as if it was any other day.

Wow!

I’ve never experienced anything like that and frankly, I hope I never will again.

I continued on, expressing my gratitude for coming through that experience safely. I tried to slow my breathing and take it all in.

A question formed in my mind.

How was it possible for all of the cars to make it safely through that dangerous place?

I’m sure there are a host of ideas and explanations, but what I really wanted to know was, would that experience change me? Would I reflect on it as a turning point in my life? A dividing line of some sort? A second chance?

I’ve been thinking about that lately.

I know there have been other times in my life where I skirted death. Maybe the same thing has happened to you. Maybe more than once.

Did it change you? Did you step back and wonder?

After considering this for a little while I’ve come to the conclusion that I can change my outlook any time I want to. Any time I choose to. I don’t need a hugely significant frightening experience like this to prompt me into action.

I can give myself a second chance any moment of my life. And so can you.

No matter what is happening, you have the power to choose your attitude. You can take one step, and then another. You can build a new you.

Every time you wake up, you have one more day. You can make it count. You can let joy fill you and overflow, if you choose.

Seeing the open road in front of me after the water fell away reminded me that I have more time and that it’s up to me to decide what to do with it.

So, I’ll leave you with a question…what are you going to do with one more day?

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Inspiration

If I gave you a minute and asked you to tell me the name of the first person who comes to mind when you hear the word, “inspiration”, who would it be?

Did the name come quickly to you, or did you have to stretch a bit?

Did fantastic memories of the person flood your mind and make your heart feel more alive? Or did it take several moments for the connections to happen?

Maybe there are a lot of folks in your life who jump into your mind, so it took a few minutes to see which one ended up topping your list.

And now here’s a twist of a question…are YOU on your own list?

I asked myself this question and was somewhat shocked to find that it was my name that appeared at the top of my list. I realize I risk something by saying this to you. You could think that I am self-absorbed or conceited or something else with negative connotations. But…

I’m saying it anyway.

The main reason is because I have (mostly) released the idea of being small in this world. I know that’s what the world tends to do to us. It wants us to submerge ourselves and not stand out. It’s one way of keeping us safe. But at what cost?

It forces us to look outside ourselves for everything, as if we are not enough or don’t count for anything.

I will not accept this.

I don’t need others to think I am important or to focus on me. I don’t need (or want) others to single me out or place me on any kind of pedestal.

But I do want to acknowledge my own inner worth and value. For me. Not for anyone else, as if this earth world is some type of contest I need to win.

I choose to speak what feels like the truth to me. I choose to shine as brightly as I can, to light up my portion of the world with brilliance. I choose to be on fire and to do all of the things that make me feel alive.

I choose to be inspired by my own actions and to give the best of myself to the world.

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Mistakes

I am curious about something.

Part of me wishes you were right here so we could talk about this. But from what I can see, many of you who read these posts, live on the other side of the world.

I strongly believe it doesn’t matter where any one of us lives when it comes to being human. We have such similar tendencies, one of which seems to be the idea that it is possible to make “mistakes”.

What I want to ask you is, what if we gave ourselves permission to accept and believe that there are no mistakes? What if we opened our minds to the idea that everything that happens, including our own actions, fits in a grander order, one we generally fail to see? What if, we extended grace to ourselves?

You might be thinking that I’m trying to give us a way out of the harmful, hurtful actions we’ve taken. I’m not.

Each time we do something that hurts someone, we can take responsibility, apologize and try to make amends.

These aren’t the mistakes I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the ones that weigh us down so heavily we can barely manage to move. The ones we keep hidden or camouflaged or blame others for. The ones that weaken us, hold us, harm us.

What if we shifted our perspective and believed in the grander scale of things, where we could properly fit everything that happens? What if we could see how beauty can come from any action, any “mistake” that is made?

I’m not saying it would be easy. It wouldn’t.

What I am saying is that it would be worth it.

Imagine if mistakes we’ve made disappeared, even if it took a minute, an hour, a day, a week for it to happen. Imagine how light we would feel. Imagine if every time you felt you’d made a mistake, you replaced the feeling with love and told others you were sorry if you hurt them. Wouldn’t all of the pain and suffering of our imagined mistakes vanish?

It seems to me that what we perceive as mistakes are in fact golden opportunities. We can be right with the world. We can feel light and be the light.

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Worry

I have an idea for you.

It’s something to try next time you find yourself worrying about something. I’m going to assume if you are reading this that you are now or have in the past, worried about something. I feel this is a safe bet.

I tried this recently and it actually worked, so I thought I would pass it along to you. I know at first glance it is going to seem pretty simple. But I believe the best things in this life of ours are simple. We’re often the ones who make them complicated.

Here it is.

The next time you are worried about something (fill in the blank), ask yourself this question:

“What can I do about it right now?”

Here comes the tricky part. After you ask yourself the question…take action. Do something productive.

The trap I can fall into, and it may happen to you too, is that I focus all of my energy in unproductive ways and rarely move forward with any action. Silly really. Action is the only way to change the present. When I shift my perspective and choose some form (any form) of action, I see the whole world differently. And it changes my sense of worry into hope. Maybe it will work for you too.

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Life Plan

This is going to be short, but don’t let that fool you. If you give it a moment you may find something truly life changing. I say that because that’s what it is for me.

What if the plan was always to leave with what you came here with…nothing.

I sometimes get caught up with what I possess here on earth and the truth is I leave empty handed, except for one thing…my spirit. That I take with me.

I arrived on earth open and ready to be filled. But I don’t think my purpose was ever to be filled to overflowing with the ‘things’ of this world. They take up too much physical space.

Rather, I believe I came to create and experience connections, deep relationships with others and the world. Those things fill me without taking up space.

There is freedom here. A liberation. A detachment from the weight of the ‘things’ I own (or that own me). A shift in perspective to realize I am going to leave this world with nothing…except what my spirit brings with me…which is the love I found here.

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Complaining Or Not

This is what I was thinking recently.

I need to release my complaints in a different way. I feel justified about expressing them, which ultimately hurts me, because the way I live and express my life either supports and enhances my life OR it creates suffering for me.

I recognize it is my choice.

I am in charge of my attitude and reactions, not a victim or a bystander.

If I truly wish to live a joy-filled life, which is what I say I want, I have to ask myself, how is this going to happen if I fill my time by finding constant fault with the world?

If I looked at my life as having limited time, say 85 years, why would I want to spend any of that time needlessly suffering by choosing to find fault with it?

Every moment I spend complaining is a moment of suffering, and it is something I am doing to myself.

It would be such a wise decision to shift my perspective based on what I really want.

What I really want is to create and experience the maximum amount of joy during my life. This means releasing my need to complain and find, discover, and reveal things that enhance my sense of wonder, curiosity, peace, and joy.

The constant choice is up to me.

Today I’m going to let go of all things that cause me suffering and embrace those which create and enhance my joy.

Today I’m going to be my own best friend.

I invite you to join me, if it feels right to you.

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What If Today…

I want to share something that I wrote for a dear friend of mine recently. It was intended to provide a spark to ignite a different way of viewing life. It was something that I needed. As with all of my posts, the thoughts and words arrive for me and then moved outward into the world.

The post is a dream in a way. Of a richer life. And of course, as it is in all cases, it depends on what we choose. I wonder to myself what will I choose, I wonder too, what will you choose?

What if today…

What if today…I choose to believe…to truly accept and embrace…that every single thing that happens to me is here to benefit me. What if I choose to see beyond appearances and all of the things that blind me. What if I give myself permission to believe that I am loved and cared for and know that everything I experience in my life is there to offer me something of value. That no matter what the world tells me, I can choose my own path. What if I embrace that my heart and spirit are the ones that set me free.

What if today I release any need to control the uncontrollable. What if I spruce up my ability to yield and let go of all the things that weigh me down…to set them aside and feel the precious liberation and the expansive freedom that choice creates.

What if today I collect all the most lovable parts of me and hug them and ask them to spread their joy throughout my body…my life.

What if today I allow every sorrow, pain, challenge, and concern to take the day off…to rest…what if I placed them all gently in the ocean of bliss that is my true home, where they can be washed clean.

What if, for one day, I give up needing to be in charge of anything and allow life to flow gently through me.

What if today…I breathe in peace and breathe out love.

What if today…is that day.