Please enjoy this week’s spiritual service:
Undoing Conditioning
Just Say No!
Revealing the patriarchal wound in American institutions
Regardless of our thoughts on the Trump administration, we cannot deny the way this presidency is revealing the woundedness and corruption of long-cherished American institutions. This woundedness can be summed up in one simple way:
The Trump presidency is showing us how firmly entrenched American institutions are in patriarchy.
While this may be obvious considering that the vast majority of American institutions are founded on a patriarchal/hierarchical model. Patriarchal institutions favor the powerful few while imposing subservience on everyone else.
What has not been so obvious until now is the way in which these patriarchal institutions, and those within these institutions, have allowed themselves to become subservient to the system in which they exist. Patriarchy begets patriarchy with subtle layers of privilege imprisoning those within the very system. Let me point out a few examples:
- When the Trump administration ordered the elimination of DEI programs and initiatives, and then Universities and other institutions complied.
- When the Trump administration ordered the arrest and deportation of student protestors, and universities (and the Supreme Court) allowed this to happen.
- When the Trump administration threatened to deny universities of federal student loan and grant funding, and universities said and did nothing.
These are just three simple examples, all involving universities and colleges. These educational institutions DID NOTHING to stand up for equity and diversity programming, to protect the first amendment, to keep their foreign students safe, or argue against the deprivation of funding upon which they (and their students) rely. They did nothing. Instead, institutions who claim certain values appeared willing to forsake these values simply because someone who appears to be higher than they are on the totem pole of power told them to.
The burning question here is why didn’t they JUST SAY NO!?
The easy answer might be because of money. Each of these orders were accompanied by a threat of financial deprivation. The more subtle answer, and one even more significant than money, is the reality that every single institution who has complied with the president’s orders are patriarchal in nature and structure. The fact that they so readily bowed to threats proves that they are so entrenched in the system that they are willing to forsake the stated values of the institution and the rights of their students in favor of their own place within the system. “Yes sir, Mr. President, go ahead and deport our students, threaten their first-amendment rights, create an environment that deprives people of color, who struggle with disabilities, who don’t fit into “traditional” definitions of gender and sexuality, etc. with opportunities, etc. Go ahead and do all this and we will stand by and watch and do nothing.” By kowtowing to the demands of a bully, they secure their place within the system.
By remaining in a system that rules by threats and intimidation, they have made themselves the cause of their own demise. What is true of every oppressive system is true here. By letting the bully win, you have already lost.
The correct response to oppression, is and has always been to
JUST SAY NO!
On both an individual and macrocosmic level, the path to escaping oppression begins with one single word, and that word is NO. Just say no! To the universities and other institutions receiving orders from the current administration that are accompanied by threats, just say no! Say no to ICE raids. Say no to the elimination of your DEI programs (or maintain the programming and call it something else! DUH!). Say no to threats against the right to free speech, including the right to protest and peaceful assembly. When threatened with the withholding of federal student loan and grant funding, come together with other educational institutions and file a class-action lawsuit against the president. JUST SAY NO!
The same goes for each and every one of us. We live in a nation in which we have been given certain rights and in which these rights are said to be guaranteed. Stand up for those rights. Say no to threats and intimidation. Say no to those things that threaten the rights of others.
Escaping an oppressive system begins with one simple word, and that word is NO. Just say it!
Under patriarchy we lose:
- Access to our own inner authority.
- Freedom to discern our own truth and choose our own path.
- Belief in ourselves as loveable for exactly who we are without having to seek after acceptance or approval.
- The power of our own executive functioning as seen in our relentless search for a savior.
In this six-week course, we will explore the ways in which we have been imprisoned by the patriarchy and the subtle ways in which this imprisonment is experienced.
Freeing Yourself from the Patriarchy
On-Demand Available Now!
For over five-thousand years, humanity has been imprisoned by patriarchal rule. Under the rule of patriarchy, human beings have been conditioned by fear to be subservient to an outside perceived authority. Under the threat of punishment, and wrapped in a cloak of false promises, humanity has given over its power to a seemingly powerful few.
Under patriarchy, toxic masculinity is the ruling force and privilege is afforded primarily to white men of wealth. All other human beings are then divided into a hierarchy of servitude to the powerful few.
The patriarchy requires:
- · Blind obedience to a self-appointed outside perceived authority.
- · Subservience to this authority.
- · Expectations of duty.
- · Dependency based on false promises of provision and protection.
Under patriarchy we lose:
- · Access to our own inner authority.
- · Freedom to discern our own truth and choose our own path.
- · Belief in ourselves as loveable for exactly who we are without having to seek after acceptance or approval.
- · The power of our own executive functioning as seen in our relentless search for a savior.
In this six-week course, we will explore the ways in which we have been imprisoned by the patriarchy and the subtle ways in which this imprisonment is experienced:
- · In our own lives
- · In our relationships
- · In society
- · In the workplace
- · In our underlying sense of shame or guilt
- · In our conditioned sense of duty
- · In our search to be saved
We will then explore ways in which we can free ourselves from this conditioning.
Six-week online course
This course consists of:
- · Inspirational readings
- · Lessons
- · Contemplation and Reflection
- · Discussion
Hell ‘N Back
I’m writing today’s missive as part affirmation, part validation and a big heaping of THANK YOU to all the wayshowers, pioneers, first-wavers, shit-disturbers, and revolutionaries who have endured untold suffering and loss and who now live to be witness and guide to those who are coming after us (not as in pursuit, but in chronology).
Indeed, we have been to hell and back!
My journey into hell began in early 2000 when the universe I had been building for myself began to crumble around me. Mine was a journey that began with great optimism and hope but eventually turned into one devastating loss after another. Loss, of course, is relative. For me, the losses included the ending of several significant relationships (including a marriage), the death of a career, the loss of perceived community, the experience of poverty, brief homelessness, bankruptcy, and a pile up of chronic illnesses that have negatively impacted abilities that I once took for granted.
In the midst of these losses, many good things happened as well, the greatest of which is a deepening knowledge of who I truly am including the calling to embrace a more deeply monastic lifestyle rooted in sacred practice, solitude, and quiet service to humanity.
Somewhere in my journey into hell, I set aside the conditioned belief that our value is defined by what we do and that success is determined by how hard we work.
Now, I prefer a life of ease – one in which being takes priority over doing, and if doing is called for, it is only that which comes forth out of a deep state of being. As such, I no longer seek after things to do, causes to take up, or a humanity to save. Instead, I sit in quiet observation of the unfolding of human evolution and wait for those moments when humans seek me out for guidance or support.
I know I am not alone in this because I am surrounded by individuals who have been through their own version of hell and in that journey have been remade. No more are they imprisoned by the conditioning of western culture. No more are they tempted by the pursuit of shiny objects. No more are they willing to exist within the hellscape of late-stage capitalism, but have chosen a new way of being that defies what we were once told was required for our survival.
No longer are we subject to the rules of an outside perceived authority but have discovered our own truth – that which can only be found within.
For generations humanity has been raised on lies. These were the lies created by the ruling classes to imprison us in servitude.
The time of lies is coming to an end, but in order to uncover the truths that have been hidden by these lies, we first had to die to what we were taught to believe and believe in. Every single thing that was imposed from outside of us had to come up for review. Those things we took for granted were wrestled from our grasp. We were made to confront our attachments to money, power, fame, familiarity, control, the status quo…and let them go…kicking and screaming as they were pulled from our cold, dead, hands.
And we had to do this over and over and over again until there was nothing left of our conditioned selves and all that remained was our Truth.
This is the journey we are now called to witness for others. Having survived (likely exhausted, gasping, and bleeding) our own journey to hell and back, we now have the experience and wisdom to be of support to others.
Lest you are tempted to believe this is a call to action, IT IS NOT. It is not our job to seek out those who might need our support. Instead, we are called to tend to ourselves. To support ourselves in our continued healing. To live quietly in our truth. To bear witness to humanity’s evolution and to wait for those who may one day seek our support.
Thank you for all you have endured in your own journey to hell and back. I see you and I acknowledge the sacrifice, the suffering, and all you were made to leave behind. My hope is that in that journey you have come to know yourself more fully and have made yourself free of what previously imprisoned you so that you can enjoy the inner freedom that comes when we successfully find our way out of hell.
With the deepest gratitude and love,
Lauri
Falsehoods Being Revealed
As for … all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,
which is the second death.”
Rev 21:8
As we continue to move through the end of the world as we have known it, the burning of the empire, and the death of the patriarchy, I can’t help but be reminded of the Apocalypse of John (aka The Book of Revelation). While this book is indeed timeless and relevant to human beings at any and all times of our existence on this planet, the symbols, metaphors, and imagery used are appropriate for our times. Humanity is being asked to awaken out of the coma of patriarchal conditioning and into a consciousness that transcends separation – realizing and embodying the truth that we are one species on one world and in order for us to survive, we need to come together as one.
A significant part of that awakening (the meaning of apocalypse) is realizing the lies we’ve been sold and seeing the truth beyond the falsehoods.
To me, the truths are evident. Equally are the falsehoods behind which these truths have been hidden. For years I’ve used my voice to point out these falsehoods, “Look, the Emperor has no clothes,” but few have been willing to listen. Eventually I quit pointing out the lies, allowing the liars and deceivers to dig their own graves – because, in the end, they always do.
Truth stands on its own and will eventually reveal itself. Another way of saying this is that liars will always end up showing themselves for who they truly are. Further, those who seek to deceive will eventually find their way to the lake of fire – suffering the consequences of their lies – often by finding themselves deceived.
Deceivers will be deceived. Cheaters will be cheated. Manipulators will be manipulated. Thieves will become the victim of thievery.
I call this Karma. The human part of me relishes in the thought of watching karma mete out its own form of justice while cheering when seeing it done. I don’t feel sorry for the person suffering the consequences of their own actions, BUT I do have compassion for whatever wound in them caused them to be a deceiver in the first place, and my wish for them is healing.
We are at a place in the evolution of humanity where truths are being seen and falsehoods are being called to task. This revelation of truths and falsehoods has been increasing in frequency and subtlety for the past several years. Most recently, the revelations have become a constant bombardment that has left many of us feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and a fair bit overstimulated. As soon as we seem to recover from one truth-telling, another bomb is dropped on our heads. Right now, the battle between truth and falsehoods has produced a chaos that many are finding difficult to navigate, let alone manage.
The only way I can see for us to make it through the current deluge of lies is to get out of the way. Universal law tells us that the lies will be revealed, and truth will eventually emerge. Until that time, all we can do is bear witness to the battle, trusting that truth will win out and karma will find its way. The phrase I keep hearing is:
WAIT FOR IT! The truth is already here, the liars just need to dig a deep enough hole for themselves and the entire world will see them for who they truly are.
Indeed, the emperor has no clothes.
Foreseen and Forewarned
Wow! This has been a chaotic couple of weeks! In the midst of the chaos, I want to offer some words, if not of comfort, at least of perspective.
Everything we are seeing today has been foreseen and forewarned – by myself and by a whole slew of other individuals who have been able to read the sign of the times and have come to surmise where humanity is heading. All signs have pointed us here:
THIS is the death throes of the patriarchy.
As much as I don’t personally care for Donald Trump and the way he presents in the world (neither do I care much for his buddies), I clearly see how the actions he has been taking since his inauguration are those of clearing. Like a scythe, he is hacking away at all we have come to know as the foundations of governance and how a government provides for its people. Some might suggest his actions reflect those of a tyrant, oligarch, autocrat, or dictator. Perhaps. Beyond initial appearances, however, I see a greater work (beyond DT) at hand.
The clearing that Trump is attempting, provides us with an opportunity to examine what’s been cleared (or attempted to clear) and separate the wheat from the chaff. What in the hacking is legitimately excess and unnecessary waste and what do we want to preserve as a useful provision of federal governance?
In this, we are being given the invitation to step forward and claim what is ours. In order to do this, we have to use our own discernment, setting aside blind obedience to an outside perceived authority while collectively claiming what we consider important for the new world that is being born out of the dregs of the old.
Death is painful and the initial reaction is often shock. “How can he do this? Does he actually have this kind of power?” When we wait, and breathe, we often learn that no, he doesn’t have this power, like the cases in which the judicial branch has stood up and Trump has been forced to rescind his orders. In this, he is also learning. Like a three-year old, he is testing the limits of presidential power and (if the system works as it should) the other branches of government show him where he’s stepped over the line. When the system fails, then it is up to us – perhaps in the context of the Constitution of the United States – perhaps with a vision toward something better.
For too long, we have relied on and trusted in the government to have our backs – to provide for our needs, keep us safe, and ensure that we have equal access to the American dream. Herein lies the greatest lie – the government has never truly done any of this. When we’re really truly honest, we know and understand the lie for what it is – a dangling carrot for which we have been willing to give up our own power.
Now is the time for us to live beyond the lie.
The same is true of Robert Kennedy Jr. I think the man has a screw or two loose, BUT, through his efforts, he is shining a light on the shortfalls of the American medical system. In no world am I anti-vaxx, and I wholly advocated for masking during the pandemic. AND, corporate medicine is not serving us. In some ways it might be killing us. While RFK’s plan seems to be to decimate the current system in favor of wholistic medicine. I personally believe (and have experienced in my own life) there is room for both. RFK’s extremist policies may be the exact pendulum swing that we need to find a place in the middle where healthcare is truly healthcare, and not just the treating of symptoms at our expense and for the profit of insurance, pharmaceutical, and healthcare corporations.
This dismantling is what we’ve been waiting for. It has been foreseen and forewarned. In this, there is a strange kind of relief. The dying may be painful, and there will indeed be loss. And, I believe there is a greater work at hand. The greater work is the birth of a new world – no longer of someone else’s choosing, but our own. In this we are being invited to ask the questions: what in the old world needs to die and what do we want to preserve? What do we want to be part of the new world and what would be in our best interest to leave behind? And this choice is our own – not Trump’s, not RFK’s, but our own. But first we have to see beyond the illusion of fear and into the heart of the matter – an unsustainable system is in the throes of its collapse so that something more sustainable and equitable might take its place.
PS: you may find it helpful to seek out the loopholes in Trump’s executive orders. I believe these may be intentional – on the surface appeasing the certain audience, but looking deeper, ultimately unenforceable, thereby helping those the order seems to condemn.
To further support yourself during the dying of the patriarchy while clearing the way of something new, join us for this six-week LIVE (via ZOOM) course.
Wednesdays 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Starting March 5, 2025
Building Your Fortress of Peace
Because I have an overly active mind and one that is geared toward looking for how things could be better, I am vulnerable to the co-dependent compulsion to want to fix things and save people. This inherent and conditioned way of being has gotten me in trouble my entire life – most often because people either didn’t ask for my help or advise, or they don’t have the true desire to make the changes that would be necessary to better their lives or the unhealthy situation in which they find themselves.
The end result is that rather than being a help for others, I find myself haunted by wishes, hopes, and dreams for other people’s salvation, which are ultimately a harm to me as these thoughts increase my frustration and anxiety, and often lead to the resentment and depression that arises when our gifts are not being utilized.
Recently, I became acutely aware of this tendency in myself to focusing on other people’s pain and fixating on trying to fix it. The current political climate has only made things worse. In all of this, I have become aware of the fact that all I’m doing is harm to myself by continuing to engage in this habitual behavior, and that it was time to stop.
Stopping the compulsion of allowing my own energy, gifts, thoughts, and intentions to be drawn away from me and toward other people’s difficulties, fears, and pain is easier said than done. It takes diligent and focused effort to undo sixty years of conditioned behavior. I am, however, determined to end this cycle so that my gifts can be better utilized, and so I can return myself to peace.
The first step of this practice began with admitting the problem. Then, I turned my attention inward (to the Divine within) and asked for guidance and support in ending this behavior.
What first came through was the “sealing the jar” practice I shared the other day.
Then, it came in a focused mindfulness practice where I focused my thoughts and attention on a still place within myself – specifically, gazing within myself to a spot between my eyes, inside my skull.
Today, what came through was a deepening of that practice in which this focused attention began to build itself first into a castle, eventually becoming a fortress (I saw the fortress as a kind of Winterfell). This is a practice I’m happy to share here, trusting that you will find your own expression of a similar practice.
The practice, as always, begins with awareness. In this case, becoming aware of all the ways in which your energy, thoughts, desires, hopes, are dragged outside of you and toward another person or group of persons. You may recognize the energy being drawn off of you in your own feelings of worry, fretfulness, anxiety, or concern. (It’s not that concern for others is bad. It’s that fixating on other people’s concerns distracts us from what we need to be doing for ourselves to remain at peace.) Once you are aware of the energy being drawn off of you, instead of following the thoughts or the energy, draw your awareness and thoughts inward. As described above, I found it helpful to focus on a place deep in my mind, specifically to a place between my eyeballs, inside of my skull. (I know, weird image, but it worked for me.) NOW, hold your focus on that spot. WHEN you find your mind and attention drifting outside of you, bring it back to that focal point. Do this again and again and again (infinity), every single time you find your attention drifting somewhere outside of you. Over time, as you tend to this practice. you will begin to feel a decrease in anxiety and an increase in peace.
As you become familiar with this practice and chip away at the conditioned habit, you will begin to notice increasingly subtle ways in which your energy is being drawn off of you. Now it is time to build your fortress. Remaining in the practice of inward gazing, begin to become aware of the energy around you. The more we keep our energy to ourselves, the more safe and secure we are able to feel in our bodies. This increasing sense of empowerment over maintaining our own state of inner peace becomes like a stone wall surrounding us. In essence, as we remain with this practice we are unconsciously building a fortress around ourselves where we feel safe, secure, and protected. The next part is the fun part – taking note of what your castle or fortress looks like? Allow your fortress to blossom in your mind, taking on its own unique appearance. This fortress will be the touchstone you can return to every time you feel your peace disturbed by external people or situations.
The truest gift of this practice is empowerment for it is not someone outside of you who is providing this sense of safety or protection, it is yourself. You have always had this power, but have been conditioned to believe otherwise. As you take back your own power through this practice, you are saving yourself, and coming to understand that the only person that ever needed saving was you and that you are the only one who can truly save you. No longer will you be compelled to seek outside of yourself for someone to save you as you have saved yourself.
Patriarchal conditioning is partly to blame for our search for both an outside savior, and for the belief that it is our task or duty to save or fix others.
In this 6-week LIVE online course, you will learn to identify the patriarchal conditioning that continues to imprison you and learn how to undo this conditioning so that you might know a sense of inner peace and empowerment.
New Live Course: UNCHAINED
Six-week Live (via ZOOM) Course
(recorded for later viewing for those unable to attend live)
Wednesdays 6:30 – 8:30 pm Central Time
March 5 – April 9, 2025
Registration limited to 25 participants
(for people of all genders for we are all negatively affected by patriarchal conditioning)
Unchained – Freeing Yourself from Patriarchal Conditioning
For over five-thousand years, humanity has been imprisoned by patriarchal rule. Under the rule of patriarchy, human beings have been conditioned by fear to be subservient to an outside perceived authority. Under the threat of punishment, and wrapped in a cloak of false promises, humanity has given over its power to a seemingly powerful few.
Under patriarchy, toxic masculinity is the ruling force and privilege is afforded primarily to white men of wealth. All other human beings are then divided into a hierarchy of servitude to the powerful few.
The patriarchy requires:
- · Blind obedience to a self-appointed outside perceived authority.
- · Subservience to this authority.
- · Expectations of duty.
- · Dependency based on false promises of provision and protection.
Under patriarchy we lose:
- · Access to our own inner authority.
- · Freedom to discern our own truth and choose our own path.
- · Belief in ourselves as loveable for exactly who we are without having to seek after acceptance or approval.
- · The power of our own executive functioning as seen in our relentless search for a savior.
In this six-week course, we will explore the ways in which we have been imprisoned by the patriarchy and the subtle ways in which this imprisonment is experienced:
- · In our own lives
- · In our relationships
- · In society
- · In the workplace
- · In our underlying sense of shame or guilt
- · In our conditioned sense of duty
- · In our search to be saved
We will then explore ways in which we can free ourselves from this conditioning.
This course will consist of:
- · Inspirational readings
- · Lessons
- · Contemplation and Reflection
- · Discussion
*Content portion of sessions will be recorded and available for viewing within 24 hours of the live gathering for those who are unable to attend live.
No One is Coming to Save Us
One of the biggest lies of patriarchal institutions is that they are here to help and/or save us. As we are witnessing firsthand in yesterday’s flurry of executive orders, populations that once believed they had our government’s protection, no longer do.
Whereas we may be tempted to cast a finger of blame upon certain governmental officials for depriving us of what we once believed to be rights, the fault does not lie with them alone. In the simplest of ways, they are simply acting as patriarchal institutions often do – keeping human beings enslaved to the whims of the powerful (and fearful) few.
Power, as we see it in patriarchal institutions, is not built on strength. Instead, their power is based in fear – fear over losing what they value the most – money – measured both in wealth and possessions. In order to keep or grow their perceived power, someone else has to suffer. Like hungry locusts, patriarchal institutions gobble up everything around them with no thought for the survival or thriving of others.
In our culture, patriarchal institutions include: governance, banking, corporations, healthcare, education, technology, and religion. All of these exist to manipulate and control the general population for the sake of their own selfish needs. They do this by keeping us afraid while also promising that we could not survive without them. We need them for our wellbeing and in exchange for our servitude, our needs will be provided for, and we will be safe and protected.
Bullshit! Not a single one of these institutions actually has our highest good in mind. Instead, they seek profit over well-being, and power over advancement of the species. To this end, they want to keep us ignorant and unaware of the deceptions behind the mask of their false promises.
No one is coming to save us. In fact, the only one who can save us is ourselves. It is by facing the lies of the dying patriarchy that we will find our salvation. Once we see past the lies and stop waiting and expecting our government (for example) to have our highest good in mind, only then can we begin to save ourselves. We save ourselves by freeing ourselves of these expectations, grieving the loss of our former dependency on the outside “savior,” and then doing the work of caring for ourselves. In caring for ourselves, we are free to be who we are made to be – unique, special, courageous, and authentically/inwardly strong. It is here where true power resides. From this place of inner power, we are able to step forward as our own savior and gather with others who have also saved themselves and who are now ready to help others find the way.
Neither governance, religion, education, healthcare, or any other patriarchal institution is here to support or guarantee our highest good. It is for this reason (among others) that we must do the work of saving ourselves.
Hope in the Perceived Darkness
Donald J. Trump has officially been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Across social media platforms, the reactions have been either silence or sentiments of despair and hopelessness. I haven’t yet seen celebration, but I’ve definitely seen grief.
As for myself, I have spent too many years and too much time in deep prayer over the role Donald Trump is playing in the unfolding human drama to get upset. Once I got over the initial shock in 2016 of his victory over Hillary Clinton (let’s be honest, Hillary was less than a perfect candidate), I prayed, “Please help me understand the larger purpose at work here.” I’ve shared before what I was given to understand, but I’ll share it again in case you missed it:
Donald Trump is playing the role of the Angel of Death.
Biblically, the Angel of Death arrived at crossroads times to bring liberation to the enslaved by destroying the power of the ruling class. The Angel of Death is perceived as benevolent from the perspective of those being liberated, and malevolent by those who are losing their power.
In the short term, it may appear as if a Trump presidency will deprive some of freedoms they once had while elevating the status of the ruling class, but there is so much more at play here than what is in our immediate sight.
Stepping back……way back…..away from the media propaganda, political rhetoric, and those who benefit from creating (perceived) division….is a 10,000 year old human experiment coming to an end. This experiment began with fear and ended with patriarchal power. This experiment has reached its limits and will result in the extinction of humankind if equilibrium is not restored.
Donald Trump is being called to play a role in the restoration of that equilibrium. In the short term, and through eyes conditioned by division, we may not like what we see. To see evidence of this restoration we will have to look at things through a new set of eyes. Some of this evidence we may already see. For some, we will have to look beyond what is right in front of us to a time that we do not yet know.
Hope and Trust are two words that may prove helpful as we navigate this transitory time.
Hope – not in that which is outside of us, in some person of perceived authority and power – but hope in ourselves. A big part of the dying system is the savior complex – the idea or illusion that there is someone outside of us who is going to save us. Instead, we are here to save ourselves. We are the hope we’ve been looking for.
Trust – in a bigger story at play. In the natural unfolding of the universe story. In a higher plan. In God (if that is your thing). But most importantly – Trust in yourself. Trust in the Love that you are. Trust that this Love has the power to not only transform yourself, but also has the power to transform the world.
As the Angel of Death, Donald Trump is helping to facilitate the destruction of all the institutions and systems that have benefitted from the conditioning that has left us feeling powerless. On the other side of this destruction, should we accept the invitation, is a world in which all of humanity is empowered to come forward with our own unique giftedness for the sake of our own fulfillment, and in service to the good of the all. This can only happen, however, if we have hope and trust in ourselves and believe in the power of Love.
Lauri Ann Lumby 