My car was in the shop and my son, who was recovering from pneumonia, drove me to a workshop on his way to taking his son to the doctor. I was on edge because, as my son said, “You’re riding in a germ mobile.” The last thing I needed was to get sick. I mentioned how the girls (my granddaughters) would get irritated when I would try to lighten things up a bit when they were feeling poorly by doing the Healing Chant. “Um Gawa,” I’d begin and they would huffily leave the room. He said, “Yeah. You could do some reiki-like thing on me right now and when the car careens off the road, I could tell the officer that I was sorry, but I’m recovering from pneumonia and my mom decided I needed some energy work right then and since that involved placing her hands close to the affected area, in my case my congested nose, she temporarily blocked my vision, and this, alas, is the result.”

My grandson was delighted with this story and for a while even I forgot my worry over riding in the germ mobile. That, I realized is one thing story telling and other creative arts can do – they can start with the present moment and before we know it, we’ve entered the present moment more deeply and simultaneously been transported somewhere else.

JDG