Snow At Night With Lamp Posts Guiding Our Way Down The Street To Home
They say home is where the heart is. I see myself on the corner of the street where I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. I feel a sense of hot chocolate and unwrapped presents from my mom and dad to myself, two older brothers, and the oldest my sister.
The odd thing about my relationship with my sister is we rarely spoke until the 40th year of my life. She was 6 years older than me.
I remember her having a basement bedroom when we all slept upstairs. She was the oldest. She had an orange shag carpet in her bedroom. She was the one and only one of us who got braces. I still remember quietly borrowing her shoes and her getting upset when I was 11 and she was 17.
She went to college when I was 12. I was always amazed at her style and her knowing it all. So I thought. She was an artistically gifted person. She later was an assistant curator of the Chicago Museum of Modern Art.
When I was living in San Francisco, I knew Art Gallery owners and I asked her if I could try and get her some art shows. She sent me slides that I still have that showed some paintings and had some articles and reviews about her from Chicago.
I remember I asked her what she classified her art style as. She called it WASH OUT MODERNISM WITH MINIMALISM. I could not figure that out until I saw her work.
I recall when we had emails for years.......she would say that she could only write a little, and sometimes would not respond at all. Phone calls were very rare and she was not able to talk to me.
I was the age of forty and she came to San Francisco, where I lived. For some reason, she was able to meet me at a Yoga class that I frequented. With a teacher named Diego Del Sol, we started our relationship in that class. It has slowly been building for 15 years now as I write this. In my imagination, it is still quite different from maybe many sisterly relations ships.
She and I are Modernism with Minimalism. I love her so much and wish we had more communication and interaction of any kind. Two summers ago -I spent six days at her place in the Berkshires and I saw her for one meal at a restaurant and one dance performance. I commented that her new house, which had several beds in 3 rooms for kids and grandkids for the previous owner….had the original mattresses which were not comfortable. That for her future guests there were new mattresses that were reasonably priced and told her the name of the company which sold and delivered them. She jumped to the idea that I was criticizing her. I had the intention of helping her and it felt to her like criticism.
Some of my clients rarely talk to their sisters as well. Not the same as my sister, yet in a way the same. One client feels judged by her sisters and that her life choices are looked down upon. Her health concerns and the ways she has handled them including working with me in my Medical Qigong Therapy practice have caused some raised eyebrows from an over 40s years nursing career sister. My client’s perspective of being criticized may be different than that of her sisters.
I as a mother work at helping my daughters and it comes to them as criticism. My mother died in 1996 and my brother and I had a conversation about how when my mother was visiting she would often tell them better ways of doing things. Which would drive my brother crazy. Now he tries not to do that with his grown kids.
Think that anyone who loves someone is trying to make the other person feel bad. They are trying to help.
Maybe my sister did not or was not able to connect with me for years. I know we both loved each other. My daughters have a better relationship. They both try to handle my "help and advice" as much as they are able. It is a practice, not perfection for me to try to just keep my mouth shut when I want to give certain kinds of advice.
My youngest takes many things I say personally. So it's very important to me, to be careful and limited to what may be very important--and even then- consider the 3 treasures.
Is it necessary, kind, and true? If it’s not, don't say it. I think most of us would rarely speak if those 3 treasures were adhered to.
Holidays bring challenges for many to be around a family who we may not have the best or smoothest relationship with. The new year and the start of a fresh calendar give us hope.
There is Hope that the versions of us keep growing and evolving in good ways. That our relationships are teaching what we need to learn if we are open to seeing it.
The snow-covered street where you live can be cold and beautiful at the same time. If we see each experience with a curiosity and fascination of what is this trying to teach me..........or what is beautiful at this moment. If we can slow down and see the small photographs of more than just what we are thinking we are experiencing and instead be present with all that is in that moment, rather than our minds jumping to thoughts of judgments or emotions, then accept the wow. The wow of the beauty of snow coming from a dark sky pasted your streetlamps.
I invite you to a Free Workshop to learn the Art of Being in the Moment: The Art of Manifestation 101. Tuesday, January 3rd, 5 pm to 6:30 pm Eastern. Register for the Zoom Link -------------- the new years a great time to plan on and intend, imagine, feel and focus on your goals, dreams, and wishes for a wonderful 2023.
Bio:
Dr. Amba Dryg is fortunate to have graduated in the last Doctoral class under the guidance of Abbot Sifu Professor Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson the founder of the International Institute of Medical QiGong and Senior Abbot at Tian Yun Gong (Temple of the Celestial Cloud) Daoist Monastery, in Monterey, California. 
She also studied child development, psychology, medical sciences and holistic health at several colleges and universities including San Francisco State University. As well as Chinese medical theory, acupuncture from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco and the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in Oakland, California
She also is a 400-hour plus- Certified Yoga Teacher from Green Path Yoga and The Bhramanada Ashram also known as the Yoga Society of San Francisco, where she studied the Sanskrit language and Vedic and Yoga philosophy with Dr. Ram Karan Sharma and the teachings of Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati Udasina (Ramamurti S. Mishra, MD). And has a second yoga certification from Integral Awakening Yoga
Dr. Amba Dryg is also a Level 3 Qigong Instructor and Workshop Facilitator of Sacred Geometry and Food Based Healing with the Supreme Science Qigong Foundation based in Florida. Within the Foundation is where she also studied with Wim Hof in Tummo Meditation, which later he renamed it "the Wim Hoff Method"