Return to Lake Leelanau

Family, and some thoughts on a certain someone...

Apologies to my dear subscribers for the long absence. Last week, I returned home from a trip to Michigan to spend time with family and friends. Like my turtle animal spirit guide, I can be slow getting back into the writing groove. But here I am, and hopefully, all will go well!

I had not traveled since August 2020. During what my sister called “The Covid.” Crazy times.

You might remember me writing about road-tripping from Jersey City to Michigan after not driving a car for 16 years. I wanted to do a road trip with Willow again (my trusty Subaru), but common sense won over. Instead, I took two buses to the Boston airport and flew into Detroit. Mercury was Retrograde. 😳Actually, MR was pretty kind to me. Only my outgoing flight was slightly delayed. Everything else was smooth.

Oh wait, the box I mailed myself with miscellaneous items I couldn’t fit in my carry-on (I'm so proud for only bringing a carry-on!) seems to be stuck in a USPS Georgia facility. One last Mercury Retrograde joke. Ha!

When I set out on my journey, a friend shared this quote:

If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a week with your family.

—Ram Dass

I kept this quote tucked away the whole time I was gone. I also tucked away the knowing that my proselytizing (mostly about health) wouldn’t change anyone’s mind. It’s not my job. Sometimes, it’s better to let things be and focus on what I need to be healthy. Frankly, to mind my own business.

I love my family, and it had been too long since I’d seen them. I spent one of the weeks (at the lake) in a house with 13 family members. The house is plenty big, but remember that I have been living in solitude all these years, with the trees, the bears, and a chipmunk named Chip.

I have a policy of not talking about family members or sharing their pictures without permission. It feels wrong to me, and let’s be honest—there are always two sides to every story. Not that there was anything salacious to report. We’re a pretty average family and get along remarkably well, for the most part.

All three doshas were represented - Vata, Pitta, and Kapha types. And every combination in between.

Ditto, lots of different astrology! It’s fun for an Ayurveda and astrology nerd to observe all the various characteristics and habits. It makes things easier to understand people (myself included!) and gives us all a bit of a pass.

I did pretty well - I think. Something did fly out of my mouth when I was asked to go to the store and pick up a 40-ounce bottle of canola oil! 😨

Oh no! Do you all not know about seed oils yet?

I spent one week in a suburb of Detroit and am always horrified by the smell of chlorine emanating from the city's tap water. I can barely brush my teeth in it, let alone drink it. Apparently, it doesn’t bother anyone else.

I’m spoiled, I’ll admit, by getting my drinking water from a spring just down the road or from my well. Perhaps I’ve become a bit of a water snob.

I was horrified by the amount of processed food being consumed and fast food restaurants frequented.

I mention these things, knowing I did them all myself back in the day. And so, again, I check my judgment at the door.

I weakened at the sight of my sister’s mountain of homemade cookies and ignored my body’s pleas to stop eating so much sugar. Her peanut butter cookies were especially delicious, made from a recipe by one of the nuns at our Catholic high school. We even went on a memory-lane trip to visit the scene of eating warm out-of-the-oven cookies for breakfast: Immaculata High in Detroit.

I survived. The cookies…and a Catholic school education. :)

Last year, I wrote about being born a lake girl and how much time spent at the lake means to me. I wasn’t just missing my family; I was missing the lake.

Traveling is difficult for me, and my Taurus moon especially seems to tremble at it. But I proudly managed to stay grounded by doing qigong most mornings, with the sunrise - barefoot with my feet on the ground, and going to bed early—despite my late-night rowdy game-playing family. Every light in the house burned brightly as I donned earplugs and an eye mask and closed the door to my bedroom.

Yes, I’m the family party pooper.

Have I mentioned how important sleep is to me?

Each day, I paddled my kayak down the shore to revisit a secluded spot I named “Lily Pad Cove.”

Where trees seem to sprout right out of the water alongside the lily pads.

We had perfect lake weather, and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. My daughter was there, along with two sisters, two brother-in-laws, a niece and a nephew, their spouses, and their children—all adults now.

There’s our family, and then there’s our soul family.

Another person I hadn’t seen since 2019 was my friend Mary, whom I’ve known for over 40 years. When our children were young, we would beat a path to each other’s doors. Later, her family moved onto the street behind us, so we would meet in the back of our garages to steal some alone time. We can share anything, and Mary has been a lifeline to me many times over the years. Hugging her, her husband, and her daughter and meeting her little granddaughter were a precious part of my trip.

Last but most definitely not least, there was Jamie Lynn.

The only social media I’m on is Instagram. As much as it has become creepy and predictable with its algorithms and fake AI voices, I have met some true soul sisters and a brother via this platform. Go figure.

When you meet soul family friends, it seems like a whole new dimension of relationships opens up—a portal into a world where people seem to effortlessly and deeply understand you—and you, them. Whether they live down the road or across the globe doesn't matter. We all seem to feel a past life connection.

This is one of the good things about the Internet, and it’s the only reason I haven’t completely ditched Instagram.

Jamie Lynn is one such soul-sister. I don’t remember how we first met, but we’ve been communicating for a few years. At some point, I realized that she lives in Michigan, outside of the Detroit area, and I knew we would meet in person when I finally made my way back to the mitten state.

It was the sweetest meeting/reunion ever! We didn’t go out to eat or do anything other than sit in her car by a shady tree in a park and talk and talk and talk—heart to heart. Hers is a huge, beautiful one.

And now, my thoughts on a certain someone.

Yes, I’m going to go there. I’m going to talk about Rfk, Jr.

That’s Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in case you’ve been living under a rock lately.

I’d much rather write about my walks in the woods and time spent by the Pond than current events or, God forbid, politics.

But sometimes, that little Voice in my head won’t leave me alone.

“Go on,” she kept saying. “Talk about Bobby.”

@lukekohen on Instagram posted this recently:

I’ve never been interested in politics much, although, at one time, I proudly declared myself a “bleeding heart liberal.”

2020 changed all that when I realized how much I needed to start paying better attention to who was pulling the strings in our country. And in our world.

I’d been listening to Rfk, Jr. for decades - long before he entered the presidential race last year.

I admired him for loving this planet and actively doing what he could to protect her, living the life of a true environmentalist.

"When we destroy nature we diminish our capacity to sense the divine."

-RFK JR.

I admired him for speaking out against Big Pharma, especially regarding the lack of safety testing on vaccines. He did this reluctantly at first, but then he was all in—for the children.

(Speaking of Big Pharma, check this out!)

I admired him for not being afraid to go against the Covid narrative.

Rfk, Jr., is a Truthteller. When he announced his candidacy for president, he said,

“I’m going to tell the Truth.”

I was fortunate to see Bobby when he came to my part of the country in New Hampshire. He was just a few miles down the road from me, not far from the spring where I get my water. He stood in front of a barn where we gathered. It seemed more like a picnic than a political event. He had no notes, no teleprompter.

Usually, I shy away from events, but at the last minute, I decided to go. I wanted to feel his energy, to see if I sensed the authenticity I felt whenever I heard him speak.

I did. His energy field reached far and wide. It felt clear and strong.

Yeah, it’s still me here. Always thinking and talking about energy. :)

Later, I saw this post by Nick at Sacred Nectar Sanctuary, which is next door to the neighbor who held the event:

“Just another casual day changing the world at SNS. No big deal. #yeahthat’sbobby.”

I imagined millions of fellow Sagittarians jumping up and down with Truth-loving glee when he talked about telling the truth.

We live for Truth. And a fellow Truthteller is precious to us.

Honestly, though, I don’t know many people, Sagittarians or not, who could withstand the amount of scrutiny, scorn, and humiliation Bobby has endured for telling the truth. I know I couldn’t.

Time and time again, he tosses aside the hatred. He’s on a mission and seems driven to accomplish it.

He wants to heal chronic diseases in our country, especially for our children.

“We need, in this country, to reach a point where we love our children more than we hate each other.”

—Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

After listening to Bobby that day, I began watching video after video about his campaign. While many still don’t realize he’s been in the race (hard to believe!), millions of people were drawn to his words like a moth to a flame.

And then last Friday happened. As I was in the process of writing this post, one of my favorite writers here on Substack posted this:

Why RFK, Jr. Makes Me Cry

If I could have given Mary’s post ten hearts instead of one, I would have. She gets it. She gets Rfk, Jr., and I could not have said any of it better myself. I encourage you to read her post and watch Bobby’s epic speech. He made me cry, too.

As I was watching his speech, he started talking about processed food and a plethora of other things, leading to our sick country. I glanced at the live chat and saw this comment:

Jesus! I’m waking up here!

Bobby is waking up our nation to the reasons why we have the sickest population in the world.

And the powers that be don’t like it.

Over these past months, something powerful stood out as I’ve read posts and watched videos about him. His supporters are not just disillusioned Democrats or Republicans. Much like Bobby himself, they refrain (for the most part) from rude, hateful comments.

I see comments from people in my holistic health world and people who deeply love our Mother Earth. They are eager to see some of the systems harming our planet and ourselves broken down. They see hope in Bobby helping to dismantle them.

And then there are those who dismiss him:

“He’s a Kennedy.” Fill in the blank for whatever that might mean.

They’re usually negative comments by people who haven’t taken the time to listen to his interviews.

It seems to me that Bobby is living his purpose. I recently watched this video of an astrology reading of his chart.

I may sound naive, but trust me, I’ve been down the rabbit hole. I just don’t like to stay there so long that I get stuck in the dark. I’m happier being an optimist rather than a cynic.

@soulsofamovement on Instagram left this comment on one of Bobby’s posts:

“The lies, the propaganda, the manipulation and the gaslighting are so explicit, grotesque, and obscene right now, that we are being forced to wake up from our trance and realize how things have always been handled in the world. This darkness is not new, but it's coming out in droves because its vastness can't be hidden anymore. Things are becoming obvious for those who are willing to see. The system is imploding. And there's no going back.”

Bobby Kennedy is a profoundly spiritual man. A vital complement to his incredible intellect. I found this clip from an interview he gave last year:

Thank you for bearing with me if you’ve made it this far.

I want to end with these words by Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle via @thesanctuary.angelldeer on Instagram:

”This moment that mankind is experiencing now can be considered a door or a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or walk through the door is yours.

If you consume the information 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, then you fall into this hole.

But if you take this opportunity to look at yourself, to reconsider life and death, to care for yourself and others, you are walking through the gate.

Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of everyone else.

Don't underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader eye. There is a social question in this crisis, but also a spiritual question. Both go hand in hand.

Without the social dimension, we fall into bigotry. Without the spiritual dimension we perish in pessimism and meaninglessness.

You are ready to endure this crisis. Pack your toolbox and use all the tools available.

Learn the resistance from the example of the Indian and African peoples: we are and still are being extinct. But we never stopped singing, dancing, building a fire and having joy.

Don't feel guilty for feeling happy in these difficult times. Being sad or angry doesn't help at all.

Resistance is resistance through joy!

You have every right to be strong and positive. And there is no other way to do this than by adopting a beautiful, cheerful and radiant attitude.

This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). This is a resistance strategy.

When we walk through the door, we have a new worldview because we have faced our fears and hardships.

That's all you can do now:

–Calm in the storm
–Keep calm, pray daily
–Make it a habit to encounter the sacred every day

Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.

—Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle

Much Love,
Barbara

P.S. Make America Healthy Again!

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