Master Class: Lessons From The Edge

“To make a difference in someone’s life, you don’t have to be brilliant, 
rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care.” 
Mandy Hale

Every month I try and write a new article about what I am thinking about or experiencing – and last month I just couldn’t do it, so we used an article from last year. I was on overwhelm. Stressed out. I had no time for anything else other than what was right in front of me. I want to share with you the reason, and some of the gifts that came out of it.

For the past month-and-a-half I have been enrolled in a Master Class from which I didn’t want to miss one lesson, one moment, or have anything take my focus away. And my focus was my friend, Janet, and helping her along the path to her death. Even saying death feels harsh – we say “transition” a lot in our New Thought vernacular or “the end of her earthly body”…but the reality was that she was dying. She had been diagnosed with cancer quite a few years ago and it finally took over. She gathered ten of her closest girlfriends, her caregiver Lau, and her amazing ex-husband, and asked us to help her walk down this final path in a conscious and loving way. She had always been an amazing teacher of spirituality, and this “class” was no different. 

I learned quickly, in a humbling way, that my gift was not in the cooking or nursing departments but in the ability to soothe her with my music. I would sing to her, sometimes bringing my keyboard into her cramped bedroom and having us all sing songs, including a bunch of Beatles tunes that had her dancing in her bed. Watching the joy on her face validated for me once again the healing power of music – and reminded me that healing is not always about curing, but about transforming. Yes, you can be healed even in the midst of dying. To have her declare that her pain went from a 6 to a 0 after we had sung for a while was the greatest gift. I sang a new song written for and about her with the lyrics, “Do you know how much you matter? Do you know that you are loved?” and she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Yes! Yes! Yes! I really get it and now I know how much I am loved!” Oh, what a healing!

I had to go away for a few days to facilitate a women’s retreat, and on Monday when I got home I drove to her house not knowing what to expect. She was still breathing but clearly going between the worlds. Her son came in to be with her for a brief visit and then the three of us who were caring for her went in to check on her. In that moment we could tell that something was shifting.  For some mystical reason I got the sense to put the CD on of her song; “I Am Love Revealed” – a song that Janet wrote the lyrics to and I composed the music. The three of us started singing this song to her and by the end of the song she was gone. What an honor and a gift to be there to sing her out of this world with the words that she declared for herself:  “I am love revealed! All that was separate is now healed.”

And now as I think of her passing, I give great thanks for the creativity she has left us with – two amazing CDs of her beautiful meditations, the many YouTube videos she made for me of my songs, and the years of memories of being a prayer partner and friend. All of us in her “Master Class” said how blessed we were to travel this road with her and how we were transformed by the experience.  Janet IS love revealed and will forever be in my heart.