I was born less than a 1/4 mile from Lake Michigan on Chicago's North Side in the late 1970s. Walking to the lake, a body of fresh water, was common for everyone in my neighborhood. The lake was always a space, and still is today, of healing and tranquility. It seems that no matter how life was treating me, I could always go to the lake to clear my mind and body. Whether I biked, walked or drove to the lake, the moment I left I felt more balance and naturally elevated to a state of harmony that consistently helped me feel I could face another day. Naturally there is a tremendous value in having access to a large body of water, whenever possible. Late night bike rides, early morning meditations or meetings with friends and colleagues were often most enjoyable, when they were at the lake. We're often told that, like the earth, we are 3/4ths water. So wouldn't one always feel called to water in some way? Being able to see, smell and feel the full spectrum of elements is an inherent human desire. At the lake you feel the grass, the sand, the water and the sun while often being cooled by the gentle breeze of the wind. However, many in the world don't have that luxury to connect to a large body of water and I feel it affects them deeply, and those that do cherish it, cherish it expensively. Often the most expensive real estate in the world is related to the proximity one can have to a large body of water. Few communities put their poor right by the water. Rio de Janeiro's largest favelas are the exception and with great power, they hold the title of being one of the most intense favelas in the world, who if destroyed would provide source for a brilliant land grab to any of the worlds largest developers. Creating housing that no sane person can afford. Is the violence and crime in the favelas somehow protecting this sacred land from becoming condos non residents buy for investment? With that, how was I so lucky to be born so close to fresh water? When did water become the world's most obviously valued real estate commodity, being clearly manipulated right under our nose?
I think we all subconsciously knew the day we started buying water in plastic bottles; being made to feel that the local water fountain was somehow contaminated, that our world and our access to water was now officially changing. Water is special, so special that its been commodified, significantly in my life and it's time to stop.
The picture above is the beach off the coach of Palestine in The Holy Land. It was the first time my husband and I were allowed access to visit the Sea and only the second time in his life that he had been there. It would be lovely if, like in Chicago, my husband and future family and I could walk to the lake each morning. My intuition tells me that one day my 'it would be lovely' wish will be granted. Currently, I'm living in RamAllah. Some, one hour and two - three extensive security checks away. Being born in Chicago, in mid-late 20th Century afforded me a unique opportunity to travel throughout the Holy Land with extensive inspection yet unearned freedom. Travel to and from the water, now, is a days journey and if I desire companionship in that journey, my partner is almost always required written permission to enter - just because I have a US passport. Are the real occupiers, The United Staes, and Israel is their colony?
Water has become so special people living with me in The Holy Land are systematically being blocked from seeing it. Imagine how special water is for life, if one group of people can block another group of people, their entire life, from ever seeing the water that lies right near them? The natural thought is to think "just leave then...move to a different part of the world and see another body of water!" That's the funny part, here in the Holy Land we are boxed in. Not allowed to see the water around us and not allowed to choose something different. It has taken me nearly 40 years to realize that any group or society that would openly punish random strangers for existing, is in need of serious healing.
Along our waterfront, we have some the world's most ill non-native patients currently residing by our natural water and coastline, inshAllah for their own healing. It's lovely to imagine that the water is their "Holy Hospital" healing patients from centuries of abuse and mistreatment by the world. I say patients, also, because the residents that live along the Mediterranean Sea now, that shapes the Holy Land, have violated and traumatized many to live there and often do not have a unified identity or religious practice anymore. It feels like the world's sickest patients have come here to reconnect to the land their ancestors left, but have forgotten the wisdom embedded in their sacred texts. Have you ever had a friend so angry and in pain that you knew they needed help? And you somehow forgive their outbursts of rage because you know they and their ancestors have been in pain for a long time? That is how I mentally cope with living in The Holy Land...occupied. The occupiers are a products of globally bullying. My occupiers are not well and need deeper level of healing than their own religion can provide anymore. My occupiers are showing the real sickness of their culture, what traumatized them and where possibility lies for transformative healing and evolution. My occupiers were predicted in the Quran, which somehow gives me peace that Allah hasn't forgotten us and instead is guiding us.
When I was 16 I realized just how traumatized my occupier's were through the last century. I refer to the trip I took as a teenage exchange-student to Dachau and walked through the remnants of the open concentration camp that systematically killed many. As American of Palestinian & British decent, raised in Chicago, I quickly saw that witnessing the trauma of my bully allowed me the ability to defuse all possibility of retaliation. It would be like hitting someone who is barely living. The pain of your enemy's memories is never about you but about their family legacy. It, oddly enough, explains their violence, random outbursts and totally destructive rage and inhumane behavior. They were treated like that, so what would one expect? The pain and trauma of your occupier is only more reason to heal them, not fear them. Because it was fear that got them this way. If a young child is sick and suffering from nightmares - they can only hurt you so much before they realize that they are taking their drama out on you. Especially, if you're still and allow them to abuse you verbally, emotionally, psychically and environmentally - they soon find themselves lost and off course from their original intention. They realize that, "wait...how did I get here? I just wanted to be happy and play but now I'm not only sick, but now I'm also abusive?" Therefore, after over 40 years of living and taking an extensive journey of self-healing and development I realized in my mind & body that there is nothing to fear from occupation; especially if you believe in Allah. A Creator who is pure love and always has a plan. Living here I've witnessed Divine miracles that is easily relatable and a fun evidence that the Creator is connected to us and we are connected to it. Seeing miracles in my life daily, allowed me to elevate to a perspective of understanding of how the Creator works that excites me everyday - even while living occupied. What is the occupation we are experiencing anyway - is this a job for someone? Can they even see God in the reason for being here anymore? Here in the Holy Land, miracles happen around me nearly every hour - however getting people to believe and experience their own miraculous life, seems to be the challenge.
Similarly, becoming an Emotion Code practitioner and Shaman - I discovered where fear actually resides in the body and that by clearing the trapped emotion of fear, the body can vibrate different and heal itself in powerful, transformational ways that clear patterns that have developed as well as those that were absorbed or inherited. Meaning I could physically clear fear from my body and the bloodlines the fear that created me to live a life 'fearlessly.' Doesn't that sound amazing? Being fearless is what inspired me as a comedian to step on stage every night in front of strangers and open myself and my life to criticism and laughter. Being a stand up comedian so terrified me that I have "I am fearless" written on my forearm to remind me that I would not tattoo a lie on myself so I better get on stage! Living fearlessly became an obsession and a dream for me because of what I knew was happening to my family and ancestors in Palestine every day.
Traveling as a child to the Holy Land each summer reminded me the beauty and majesty of the land and its inherent healing powers. As an adult I feel the frequency of this land is so powerful that many don't fully understand what happens to their body in just one week of living here, let alone a year or generation. Releasing trauma from the past suddenly heals, patterns of confusion. Leaving more clarity of mind and intention for life. Living here now consistently, for over a year, I know that this 'land of prophets' is no mistake and is filled with nutrients that you can't even find in Whole Foods. The village I have been visiting since I was a child is over three thousand years old, and dates back to an era before Judaism even existed, yet embraced it when it came as well as Islam. The Prophet Jonah lived in our town and was probably just as stubborn as my family. Suggesting that waves of monotheism have breezed through here guiding people closer and closer to the Creator. In the little town that my father was born in, and his father and mother is a walking distance from the muslim side of the tomb of prophet Abraham and his family. So of course the society that surrounds this area would know intimately that nature of the Divine and the evolution of monotheism. But sometimes we dont. Which often explains why, in today's era, spirituality is extremely feared yet fully commodified. Prayer rugs, Islamic artwork and eating traditions have my community often feeling their smarter than Allah. Similarly, the country's tourist industry in this land makes total sense, given that we don't see much God in the west anymore. Instead we cherish the money that has God written all over it.
"In God We Trust" is written on every single US dollar we use, but do we? Do we really trust in the Creator to solve ALL of our problems or do we trust in the mighty US dollar to fix what feels broken? Do we really feel that our Creator has a plan for the universe or are we all out here just hanging out riding on the Earth just circling the sun? Can we see that the only way to heal a group of people who have been tormented throughout the world for the last two thousand years, is to force them home. To heal them with the Divine frequency that has always existed in the Holy Land, inspiring generations of warriors committed to its occupation or destruction. Our latest incarnation of occupiers explain a unique pattern of leadership that is no longer working here but carries old patterns that smells like a Roman era still dying. Is it possible to see what's possible when the healing is complete and the war ends and real holistic development begins? Before 1948, Palestinians looked and believed like you an me - interconnected with the people of all faiths - but hides. Can we visualize a calm and tranquil Holy Land now that the worlds occupier population have been heard, healed and released? You only occupy something you fear will leave. You only occupy something you don't really have control over. You only occupy something for a time and then get bored, or get wise and then you move on.
Can those patients living by the water finally heal and continue on their journey? Or is this just the end of systems of intolerance and oppression that has shaped humanity for at least 26,000 years and we await for the next phase of our humanity to be revealed? Have the some that have been chosen by God remember why? Those that are "chosen," are they here to show the world something about inherited patterns of abuse? If so, what are they showing us about it? How is God using us, really? What are we all supposed to see today when a group of patients create a nuclear bomb and house it in the Holy Land? What does God need a nuke for? What can be healed from a society that feels that their earthly weapons are more powerful than the weapons of their Creator, that inspired them in the first place? How could a group of patients come together to foster such destruction in the land that holds the seeds of their religion, and be stopped by no one? It feels that an abused indigenous society has gotten sick and confused they don't remember their own ancestral wisdom anymore. Will that happen to us? It feels pretty obvious that the time our beloved cousins spent abroad, spreading monotheism has so traumatized them that they don't see us anymore as their ancestors. Those of us that live in the Holy Land and have lived here for centuries are the seeds of the fruit of your societies in the west celebrate every Saturday at synagogue or every Sunday at church. We are the ancestors still alive, reincarnated century after century who hold the keys to your spiritual freedom - if you just ask. We in the Holy Land have been holding space for your history and connection to God, and we're done...so why kill us, when you're only killing yourself?!?
The Palestinian people, as you can see around the world, come is all shapes, colors and religions. Our seeds of life are; when not-occupied, terrorized or genocide, the earthy evidence of a long deep commitment to listening, honoring, praying and understanding the Creator throughout time. Slow down, tune in and a more beautiful connection to Allah can be possible. Providing answers to some of our oldest and deepest questions about the nature of life, history and humanity.
With that, by shifting my perspective and using inspiration from others who have been occupied and freed, can I feel the warmth of the weather and the beauty of the environment and majesty of the animals - honestly, I feel that I really live in paradise!
In every palm tree I see, and ever bird I hear I know that paradise is here and I just have to tune in to it.
Thank you for your time in reading my first blog. Writing this has taken me nearly a decade and I hope to provide a bit more insight into living in Paradis...occupied!