Joyful Living
Eleven of us on the Illuminate Film Festival team went to a holiday celebration today at a local Winery and restaurant. We loved the food and the camaraderie which was highlighted by each person sharing with the group a personal story. We learned about some amazing transformational experiences such as a woman who saw an angel at the age of three. One other teammate went on a year long vision quest in the Eat, Pray, Love manner. Another hitchhiked across Africa for five months, when in her teens, with her boyfriend. Someone else was hiking the Appalachian Trail and got to the top of a mountain and ran down the mountain in the dark and experienced the essence of everything in life. One of us, who is Native American, had a grandfather who was a Medicine Man and she learned much about healing.
Another woman moved from back east and when she landed in Arizona felt an overwhelming connection to Native America, and has a sacred medicine wheel in her front yard. I shared the funny story of when I was a student at Hollywood High School. I had a Physiology teacher named Mrs. Vollmer who was quite eccentric. Whenever someone was caught talking in her class, she made them go to the front of the room and stand in the corner for two minutes. When you were caught eight times during the class year, your name was engraved on a plaque in that corner. My name is under Lana Turner’s! Nice place to be!
It might be fun for some of us to have this kind of sharing with our family, friends our associates. What happened today was our team becoming even closer. The next time we meet, we will be bonded at a deeper level. It is such a joy to be with a committed group of people who are giving of their time and energy to make a difference. It gives me hope in the face of all the news we are exposed to on a daily basis. From my hopeful heart to yours, Thomas