I started my first web site on Silcom.com in February of 1998  - and this site Joy2MeU.com in February of 1999.  Even before starting Joy2MeU.com I had started to do some processing about my issues in writing for the web site.  I had already gotten enough of a taste of the power and promise of the internet to recognize that it was a vehicle which could allow me to share my recovery in a way which was helpful to other people around the world.

"I guess it is pretty weird to be processing here on my computer and then sending it out for the world to read - but that is what I do.  The Truth is so powerful and wonderful and by doing the process work we get to start being allies with the Spirit where Love lives instead of with the disease where fear rules." - Update - Joy to You & Me November 1998

It was interesting to me, that in my latest Intensive workshop (March 24th 2007) I ended up talking about the challenge that I issued to the Universe in that November 1998 Update Newsletter.  I hadn't talked about that in depth in any of the previous Intensives.  I am going to include - and reread for myself - a long excerpt from my August 2004 Update that includes that challenge that I first issued in November 1998 - it was, as you will see, a challenge that the Universe answered immediately the first time I issued it.  And it answered it fairly quickly on the other times I will mention that I stated my intention and commitment here in writing on my site for the world to read - which meant to me, shouting out loudly and clearly for the Universe to hear.

(I am going to intersperse a few comments within this quote from that August 2004 Update (and within several short quotes that follow it within this table) in this colored text - to make note of things that are significant to me in the processing that I am doing here.)

"My priority for many years now has been my work - what I believe is my mission as a mystical messenger in this lifetime.  My brief romantic adventure at the end of 1998 - where I got to experience that I could do a romantic relationship without my self worth being involved - taught me that it was possible for me to Love and lose without being devastated by shame and blame and feelings of failure.  I even said in that article, that now I know I have nothing to fear from intimacy.

"I have learned:

That when I know who I am and have my self-esteem rooted in my Spiritual connection then I have nothing to fear from intimacy.  I can be hurt for certain because I will be choosing to give some power away over my feelings - but hurt is part of life and well worth the adventure of Loving and Losing.

That it is Truly possible to do enough healing to be able to open my heart to someone and then not take it personally when the other person "rejects" me - because I Truly know in my gut that she is just reacting to her wounds not to some inherent flaw in my being.

That I can have my worst fear of abandonment and rejection appear to come true and not give it any power because I do not have to buy into the disease telling me that it is my fault - that I did something / said something / am something that is wrong / a loser / a mistake / unlovable / unworthy.  This is such a gift - to know that I can keep the critical parent shut up and out of the game is Truly an Amazing Miraculous reward for being willing to do my healing." - An Adventure in Romance - Loving and Losing Successfully

Knowing that I have nothing to fear from intimacy and getting past my fear of intimacy turned out to be two entirely different things.  I did not come close to a romantic relationship for over 4 years after that Adventure in Romance ended.  I kept chipping away at my fear of intimacy issues whenever the Universe prompted me to look at them, but I didn't take any action to put myself in the arena.

The Universe started prompting me while I was writing my October 2000 Update when I did some processing about something I had responded to a friend of mine as I was leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.  What came up in that Update processing scared me so much I went into denial about looking at my intimacy issues until the Universe pushed me into more processing while I was writing my May 2001 Update.  That led to 3 pages of Newsletter processing, followed by 3 more pages in my journal within the Journal.  That processing caused to a major breakthrough in my process.  [On the morning of August 31st (2004), in the course of writing . . . . I realized that I had misspoken in this paragraph.  It was actually the May 2001 Update that was sparked by my response to a friend after an NA meeting.  I have not actually read over that October Update in it's entirety in some years because it still scares me.  I will be reading it over while doing the journal processing I mention below I realize I need to do next.]

"One of the things that I am realizing in the processing that was set off by this latest breakthrough in my process, is that I seem to just now be reaching - on a personal level - the level of consciousness that my book was written out of.  It has been over 10 years now, since I wrote the core of what was to become Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls - over a period of 48 frenzied hours of writing, to be able to give a talk that I had scheduled months before." - Joy to You & Me and Joy2MeU Update - August -2001

That was followed with more processing about my fear of intimacy issues in my journal in June of 2002 (This is a misstatement.  It was June 2001 that I did that Journal processing following up the May 2001 Update.  I was then able to avoid dealing with those issues directly until the fall of 2002 - in part because I was focused on writing my online book about the terrorist attack of 9/11 in the Fall of 2001 and into 2002.) - and then in November of that year.  It was in that November 2002 processing that I got in touch with how comfortable that I had become with being alone and isolated.

"Because it is not a simple issue, because my road truly has gotten much narrower, because I have been busy in my life, it was easy to slip into just accepting isolation - and not take any action to change that condition of isolation.  I have actually been quite happy and content with living here in isolation, able to devote my time and energy to my work. ;-)" - Joy2MeU Journal  My Unfolding Dance 17 November 2002

"I had slipped into a black and white place of just accepting my isolation - a very comfortable rut. . . . . I am starting to take some actions to change it - some risks that involve peeking out of my comfortable rut." - Joy2MeU Journal  My Unfolding Dance 18 November 2002

I did start taking some action to stick my toe into the arena at that time.  I took some actions to sow some metaphysical seeds out into the Universe affirming that I wanted a romantic relationship in November of that year.  One of those actions was to join an online personals service - not because I thought I would meet anyone that way, but as a metaphysical exercise in putting my intention out there.  Nothing really came of joining that service for over a year until November 30th 2003 when I discovered the profile of my Twin Soul and sent her a message.

During the time between the brief relationship in December of 1988 and March of this year - over 5 years - my number 1 priority in my life was my work.  I was totally focused upon, and somewhat obsessive compulsive about my writing.  The result is the huge web site that you see.  I wrote some wonderful stuff during that time - and it was a perfect unfolding of my path and mission to be so focused on my writing for that time. I am very proud of the body of work on this site.  And everything I wrote was in some way related to what was going on in my personal growth process and recovery - was a part of my gradual peeling away of the layers of my fear of intimacy issues.

As I said earlier, it had never even occurred to me that anything but my work would be the first priority in my life.  I was quite content with living in isolation with my writing in a place I love - living Joy-fully relating to nature without any messy emotional intimacy in my life.  The transformation I went through in February of this year, after breaking up the relationship I had with the woman whom I believe is my Twin Soul, led to me opening my heart to her and changed my life - "changed my relationship with life and Love forever" as I said in the quote from my March Update that I used above.

I was writing furiously for my journal during this transformation time - trying to sort out and get clear on what is happening.  I was going through a rapid and intense transformation that was revealing new facets of the "new me" almost daily in March of this year.  On the morning of March 18th I realized that the relationship was now the first priority in my life.  This is what I said in an e-mail to her that day.

"In doing that however another shift occurred in my perspective.  My number 1 priority has always got to be myself, taking care of myself, doing what I need to do for my recovery and healing.  And part of the commitment to myself is to my mission, which is an inseparable part of my recovery and Spiritual Path - an internal thing not an external thing.  My mission isn't some external thing I have to be committed to - it is part of being committed to myself, it is part of me.  I think maybe this new level of compassion for myself has made me more whole - more integrated than ever before.

What I realized the thoughts about wanting to be there for you this morning meant - what on one level I called wanting to be your sanctuary - is that Loving you has become my number 1 priority externally,  That you have first call on my time and energy any time you need it." - Joy2MeU Journal My Unfolding Dance 32 March 2004

One of the things I realized then was that I have plenty of material written already - more than most of you will probably ever read.  That doesn't mean that I won't keep writing - I have enough writing projects in the works to keep me busy for the rest of the year - but I will never again allow my writing to be an excuse to short change someone I am in relationship with.  I did that when I was actually in a romantic relationship with my Twin Soul from December until the beginning of February when I broke up with her.  I will never again let my work damage a relationship! (My priority since getting into my present relationship has been the relationship and taking care of the family that came with it.  The only real writing I have done in the last year and a half has been for my Update Newsletters.  I am okay with that - as I said there is plenty on my site for people to read.  My life is much more complicated now, but also richer and fuller - more grounded in the reality of the human experience, in experiencing life.  It is much simpler and easier to live in a beautiful isolated place writing about metaphysics and intellectual theory about how to relate to other human beings than it is to actually relate to other human beings.;-)

One of the reasons that I had been so comfortable in my isolated rut is because I had gotten so good at accepting whatever the conditions were in my life and making the best of them by choosing to focus on the part of the glass that was full instead of letting my codependency cause me to focus on the part of the glass that was empty so that I felt like a victim.  I had really gotten very good at acceptance - and at letting go - which was what allowed me to have a lot of Joy in my life no matter what areas of my life I was experiencing deprivation in.  I was able to learn to Truly be present in the here and now and be happy with what I had.

"We need to be willing to let go of everything.

In my particular case: I need to let go of ever having very much money in my life; of ever having much success for the book; of ever publishing more books; of ever having another romantic relationships; of ever having the kind of nurturing, comfortable space I would like to live in; of everything that I want.

I need to let go of trying to write the script so that the Universe can give me what I need.

It may, and often does in my experience, turn out that once I have let go of something - let go of trying to dictate to the Universe my idea of what I need in my life to be OK - then the Universe says "OK, now that you have surrendered, you can have what you wanted."

Because when I let go, I also open up to receive.  As long as I am holding onto something, I am blocking the energy flow of the Universe. I have to let go and open up in order to allow the flow.

The catch is, that the letting go has to be real.  I have to accept on a gut level that I can be happy and peaceful and fulfilled without: money; a relationship; whatever.  There is no tricking the Universe into thinking I have let go when I am just pretending to let go so that I can get." Joy to You & Me and Joy2MeU Update 2-4-00

The thing is, that we can go out of balance with anything - including acceptance.  In one of the articles in my Recovery Process for inner child healing I quoted something I originally wrote for a question and answer page on my original web site.

"We can go out of balance with anything.  I can use acceptance as an excuse for not taking action or responsibility.  I can use forgiveness as an excuse for not standing up for myself - to avoid confrontations.  I can say I am taking care of myself when I am really isolating and indulging in instant gratification." - The Recovery Process for inner child healing - emotional balance

I was using acceptance to find serenity and Joy in my life in a really wonderful way - but I was also using acceptance as an excuse for not taking action to put myself in the arena.  I had given up on my dreams coming True in the name of letting go.  I was not taking responsibility as the co-creator in my life for doing my part in making my dreams come true.

"That is part of the paradox of recovery.  It is very important to know that it is Ok to have dreams, to affirm and visualize our dreams coming true, to take action and plant seeds to make them possible, to open up to receiving all of the abundance of the Universe - and then we need to let go of believing that we will not be Ok until, or if, those dreams come true.  We need to let go of the future and be present today.  And know that we are Unconditionally Loved today - and every day, rather we reach our goals or not." - Joy to You & Me and Joy2MeU Update 2-4-00

I had spent so much energy on learning to let go of the future, of not allowing my destination thinking to cause me to feel like a victim today because I haven't reached the destination - that I forgot to do my part in making my dreams come true. . . . . I have had huge deprivations issues in my life because of the relationship phobia created by my fear of intimacy issues.  I had to work real hard to learn how to stop giving those deprivation issues the power to pollute how I related to women.  In fact, in my journal processing of June 2002, I got in touch with some shameful behavior that manifested in my relationships with women after I got into recovery - because I was actually feeling the fear for the first time.  Because those deprivation issues had so much power, it was easier for me to go to the extreme of not getting involved in physically intimate relationships.

"It was so important for me to learn to let go of any wants of mine that weren't being met.  Certainly I want a romantic relationship, on some level I am starved for support and companionship, for affection and touch, for Love - but there is no one in my life today who can fill that role for me so I have to let go of the illusion that I am not OK today without it.

It was so liberating for me to learn to stop being the victim of not having what I wanted - and start focusing on being grateful for what I had.  Wishing things were different just made me a victim, and when I am focusing on the part of the glass that is empty I am creating a victim space for myself where I am generating feelings of self pity.  It was a miserable way to live life.

"It was wonderfully liberating in recovery to start learning that I could start to see life in a growth context.  That I had a choice to focus on the half of the glass that was full instead of giving power to the disease which always wants to focus on the half that is empty.  When I focus on what I have, and have been given, that I am grateful for - instead of just focusing on what I want that I don't have - it helps me to let go of the victim place my disease wants to promote.

What works for me is to remind myself of the difference between my wants and my needs.  My Truth is that every day that I have been in recovery all my needs have been filled - and there has not been a single day that all my wants have been met.  If I focus on what I want that I don't have then I feel like a victim and make myself miserable.  If I choose to remind myself of what I have and how far I have come then I can let go of some of the victim perspective." - Gratitude

A part of my Karmic mission in this lifetime was to learn how to not be a victim.  By not focusing on my wants that have not been met, I don't create victim feelings for myself.  I am OK today without those wants being met.  If I start thinking that I will never have a relationship, or about the future at all, then I am not being present today.  As long as I am present today, I can accept wherever I am at, and whatever my reality is by owning my power to choose where I focus my mind. . . .

. . . . . Human connection, companionship, affection, touch, etc., are legitimate "needs" - but I classify them as wants, because that is what works to help me find some peace and serenity today.  Different definitions for the same word in different context, from a different perspective.

I do not have to let go of wanting a romantic relationship.  What I learned to let go of, was buying into the belief that I am not OK today without one.  And I learned to not focus on the future and feel deprived about what might be - or might not be - going to happen then." - Joy2MeU Journal My Unfolding Dance 12 June 2002

I did such a good job of focusing on enjoying the journey that I forgot that I had some responsibility for making my dreams come true.  I had experienced having my hopes and dreams crushed so many times that it was easier to stop hoping and dreaming.  I made my mission my life - and accepted that I wasn't going to have the type of relationship I wanted in this lifetime.  I really accepted that part of the price I had to pay for being a teacher and messenger was to be deprived of a romantic relationship for the rest of this lifetime.

"My Truth is that I do believe I am a mystical messenger on a Divine mission - that is my reality.  How can another person really understand that?  It is a pretty hard thing to get one's mind around.  Why would someone want to live with a person who is either:  A. that delusional;   or B. an actual mystic?  Anyone who knows and sees me in person has ample evidence that this messenger is very much human - flawed, imperfect, learning and growing, a wounded soul in recovery.  How does one relate to a recovering codependent that is also a mystical messenger?

I have spent years working on peeling away the levels of my fear of intimacy issues.  The writing for this Journal and my site have been so valuable in that process.  I think that because of my mission the process has seemed to unfold very slowly for me - so that I would share it in my writing.  One of those good news bad news things again.  But I have come so far - I am now much more open to being a "receptacle for Love to flow into" as well as being a "channel for Love to flow through."

"Anytime I have a chance to speak my Truth, to share the beliefs and knowledge which I so passionately embrace, I get to touch the Divine.  I get to be a channel for Love to flow through.  (One of the things I want to talk about in this Newsletter is that it can be easier to be a channel for Love to flow through than a receptacle for Love to flow into.)" - Joy to You & Me and Joy2MeU Update10-20-2000

As I say, I think I have been, am being, successful in this mission of being a messenger, and that it will continue as long as I am in this body.

However, deep down inside, all I have ever really wanted was a simple life with a good woman - with a woman who I can Love and who Loves me." - Joy2MeU Journal: Miracles 2 Leap of Faith ~ Publishing The Dance part 2

NO MORE!  I will no longer accept that I can't have a romantic relationship in my life.  On August 18th, as I was getting ready to go to one of the CoDA meetings here locally that I started and continue to serve as secretary for, I had an insight.  It was one of those slight shifts in perspective that suddenly shine a new Light on some issue, situation, event, whatever.  This insight brought me great Joy - and some of that sobbing and crying again.

The insight had to do with realizing what the adjective is that most describes my experience of 2004 thus far.  That it has been a very difficult and painful time - perhaps the most painful time - in my recovery is something I have been writing and talking about for some time.  But, as I noted above in the writing I did a couple of weeks ago, it has not been the most difficult time.  I also could not say that it was the most Joyous - although there has been a lot of Joy mixed in with the pain.  And then yesterday the adjective came to me.

The year of 2004 has been for me, the single most EXCITING period of time in my life.  It was exciting because I was given the opportunity and gift of developing some deep emotional intimacy with another human being.  I opened my heart to another human being for the first time in my adult life - and though I got my heart broken, it was a glorious adventure.  It was exciting because I was Alive in a way that can only come with involvement in an emotionally intimate relationship with another being . . . . .

. . . . I believe what I said in my March Update - that I quoted above:

"What I believe has been revealed in recent days and weeks is that - though the mission of spreading the message will continue on some level as long as I am in my present body - the primary focus of my life in the future has shifted to Loving and experiencing being Loved in an the intimate union with my Twin Soul (or soul mate if that is to be - hopefully the Universe has not helped me open my heart without having someone in the wings waiting for me to Love.)  I believe, I feel very strongly, that I am finally ready for the life partner I have been seeking forever - and that my days of wandering in the wilderness in isolation on a personal level are about to end." - Joy2MeU Newsletter March 2004 - Opening to Love

It appears that my focus now is going to be finding the Soul Mate that I believe is out there.  I am going to do what it takes to find the woman who is going to be willing to explore emotional intimacy with me.  That is of course easier said that done because it cannot happen with just any woman.  It has to be someone that I have some physical attraction to for one thing - but even more important it has to be someone who I feel a strong vibrational connection to, an energetic attraction to/relationship with.  I don't believe that my Higher Power has arranged for me to learn to open my heart without having a plan to allow me to have the type of relationship that I have always wanted.  I want to be with someone who Loves me and cherishes being in relationship with me - who will give me the chance to be a "receptacle for Love to flow into" - and who has done enough healing that she will be open to allowing me to Love her.  I believe that one of my Soul Mates - (see The True Nature of Love - part 6, Twin Souls, Souls Mates, and Kindred Spirits) whom I have not yet settled all my Karma with - is in body at this time, and hopefully has been preparing to be reunited with me.  Finding her is going to be a priority in my life now.

personal sharing in this Update

While writing my March Update - in the midst of what I call one of my "writing frenzies" where I was processing through and trying to understand some of the crazy and insane stuff that was happening in my life during the very accelerated time of transformation in March - I kept vacillating between whether what I was writing was okay to share in my Update Newsletter or if it belonged in my journal. . . . (That March 2004 Update - with 2 extra Newsletter pages - included discussion of some levels of metaphysics - and involved some very intimate personal emotional processing - of the kind that I have most often confined to my personal journal in the Joy2MeU Journal.)

. . . . .  I was amazed at how many people wrote me to tell me that what I had written in the March Update was similar to something that was going on in their lives.  It seems that maybe the insanity that I was experiencing is happening in the collective consciousness of old souls on a planetary basis.  And as I said in the note I added to Dance 32 in May, it was a reminder to me once again to write what I need to for myself and trust the process. . . . .

. . . . . So, I am going to wrap up this Update now.  But first I am going to make a declaration about my future and the direction that I am heading in.  I am actually going to repeat a declaration I first made in my November 1988 Update.  The day after I published that Update I met the woman who I had the Adventure in Romance with in December of 1988.  (Who showed up in the matches sent to me on Match.com last week - my Higher Power's cute sense of humor again.;)

I then repeated this declaration in my November 2002 Update.  That was followed by a relationship experience in the Spring of 2003.  It was a long distance relationship that included two short visits by the woman to Cambria - and was about 95% fantasy and 5 % relationship. (As opposed to the relationship in 2004 with my "twin soul" delusion, which was about 80% fantasy and 20% reality.) It was very important however because it opened me up to being willing to take the risk of getting involved with someone who did not fit my "Dream Woman" image.  My "Dream Woman" image - of what I thought my Twin Soul would look like in this lifetime - was revealed in my processing in the journal the early part of this year, to be the biggest block / defense my ego was holding onto to keep me from getting into a relationship.

As I got in touch with how much of that long distance relationship was a fantasy, I repeated the declaration in my September 2003 Update.

"If the relationship adventure that is in my life now continues as one of the ways I am getting to learn about Love - that will be great.  If it doesn't, then I hope I do not have to wait 4 years for my next opportunity.  If my book goes out of print and I have to let go of this web site - it will be very painful and sad to me, but I am willing to accept my path as it unfolds with faith in a Loving Higher Power. Whatever it takes, however it unfolds - I Know a Loving Divine Plan is unfolding.  So I will paraphrase again what I said in those two November Updates:

Screw the fear, bring on the Love.  I once again reaffirm my commitment to being an ally with the Spirit where Love lives instead of with the disease where fear rules.  Whatever is in store for me on my path that will help me learn about - and reconnect with - Love, I welcome.  Bring it on Universe!

So, this Update - and my Donations page - is my way of planting some seeds.  More will be revealed about what grows." Joy2MeU Update September 2003

That planted the seed for me to meet the woman I found in the online personals on November 30th (2003).  Because I was open to getting involved with someone who did not fit that image, I was able to get involved with the woman (who I would later realize - delude myself into thinking - was my Twin Soul) in December. That Dream Woman image was a major reason that I did not get invested in that relationship - and eventually ended it - because my Twin Soul does not fit that Dream Woman image in many ways.

It was letting go of the Dream Woman image - on one level by admitting to myself that it looked a lot like my mother when she was 19 and I was a baby - that helped me break through my fear of intimacy defenses and open up my heart to Loving her.  Letting go of that Dream Woman image - and  so much of the other emotional turmoil / insanity that I went through in 2004 - was the Universe preparing me for the relationship I am in now.  I would not have been able to even begin this relationship if I had not gone through the experiences I had in 2004.  (I don't mean that I needed to experience insanity to prepare me for this relationship - although this one has certainly had it's moments.;-)  What I mean is that working through my fear of intimacy defenses caused me to feel insane at times while I was being led to let go of various parts of the armor plating that was protecting my heart by keeping me unavailable to experience a relationship that didn't meet all the preconceived notions I had about what would be necessary for me to do that.)

So I have made this declaration 3 times - and it was always followed within a relatively short time with a relationship experience. I am going to make this declaration here today and have faith that the Universe will answer my challenge by either creating a miracle that causes my Twin Soul to open her heart to me and realize we belong together - or that the Soul Mate that I still have Karma to settle with will come into my life.  And I have faith that whichever of these things happens, this will be my last relationship of this lifetime and will last for the rest of this lifetime.

So I originally challenged the Universe in the Joy to You & Me Newsletter IV - November 22, 1998.  I then repeated it, using the same wording, in November 2002:

"So, I once again reaffirm my commitment to being an ally with the Spirit where Love lives instead of with the disease where fear rules.  I Joyously, with tears running down my cheeks and sobs of Joy bubbling up my throat, proclaim and declare to you;  to the Universe;  to my Higher Power;  to The God-Force, Goddess Energy, Great Spirit, Holy Mother Source Energy;  to all that is blessed and holy;  Fuck the fear I say - full speed ahead in the direction of Love.

I trumpet and broadcast proudly out into the Universe:  my commitment to my recovery journey;  to my Karmic mission;  to speaking my Truth;  and say: "Bring it on Bubba baby!"  Because it is so worth it!  Every second of suffering and pain, terror and loneliness, is worth being able to access the Truth of Unconditional Love.  Amen.  So be it.  So it is.  Blessed be.

Should be interesting to see what happens now, don't you think. ;-)" Joy to You & Me and Joy2MeU Update Newsletter November 2002

I declare here today, August 30th, 2004, that I am ready to meet any challenge the Universe wants to throw at me that will serve my quest to reconnect with Love.  I believe that the greatest service I can do to my own healing and recovery process - and to the Planetary Healing process - is to explore emotional intimacy in a Loving romantic relationship.  If it is part of the Divine Plan for my Twin Soul to awaken to our connection and decide that she wants to be my partner in this journey that would be wonderful and a True gift of Grace.  If however, it is not possible in the Divine Scheme of things for us to be reunited until our next lifetime, then guide me to the Soul Mate that is to be my next teacher and partner in this quest for Love.  Full sped ahead in the direction of Love is the theme and the direction!!!

Once again I reaffirm and declare my commitment to being an ally with the Spirit where Love lives instead of with the disease where fear rules.
Bring it on Universe!!!!  Whatever it takes!!!!
Screw the fear - I Demand to be Guided to Love!!!!

Thank You for the Wonderful Relationship that is Manifesting in my Life Now!" - Joy2MeU Update August 2004

"A major goal for me in 2005 is to be more involved in life.  I have taken steps to be more Alive and involved with other human beings this year.  My time of living in isolation in a beautiful place I Love, focused on my writing, was a wonderful, wonderful chapter in my life.  But I entered this year knowing that I wanted to be more involved in the experience of living from now on, than in writing about it from an intellectual, theoretical perspective. . . . . 

. . . . . The woman from last year, that I believed was my Twin Soul is no longer in the picture in any way.  I don't know if she is in fact my twin soul or not.  I can't really know that with certainty. . . . . . .

I had gone most of the way to letting go of her when I wrote that article. (There are some articles that I wrote for Suite101 in 2004 that I have not yet transferred to Joy2MeU.com - including the December 2004 article I refer to here - those are listed on my New and news page and Suite101 articles page and I will be transferring some of them in the near future in conjunction with the page of processing that will follow this one.)  And then something happened that I have never experienced so powerfully previously.  A communication from her about that article - and an e-mail that she sent me on January 2nd (my e-mail response to that one was the last communication between us) - opened my eyes to some facets of the relationship experience I had not seen clearly before.  I read that e-mail through one time - and I was completely done with the relationship.  Instantaneously it was over for me absolutely.  In writing this today - because of the digression above - I realize that what happened in the moment of my reading that e-mail, was that any ties / chords of energy that were still in place from me to her were completely severed. (In that March 2005 Update, I had written about how there is a metaphysical level on which codependency causes us to be emotional vampires who steal Life Force energy from others - and how actual chords of energy exist on the etheric plane to people we are "attached to".)  Never before have I experienced such a clear and clean and complete closure of anything in my recovery process.  It was a blessed gift and a miracle.

And of course, it was perfect timing in the Cosmic Scheme of things.  Because 10 days later I was contacted for the first time by someone who just might be that soul mate I stated that I was going to be looking for in the August Update and December Suite 101 article.

The Universe answered my prayer / affirmation / challenge by bringing a new teacher into my life to help me do some more work on healing my relationship with myself - healing my fear of intimacy issues.  And my Higher Power arranged that I would be completely through with the last experience before this one appeared in my life.  Very cool.

Rather this person is someone / the soul mate, that is going to be in my life long term or not I do not know at this time.  It is possible that she is a brilliant flaming shooting star who is flashing through my world to illuminate some things / issues that I needed to see with more clarity - a catalyst of growth and awakening.  Perhaps I will get to once more experience a broken heart and the grief that goes with it.  I don't get to know that right now.  What is important is that I am willing to take the risk - and the Universe has brought a very special lady into my life to help me learn.  I am hoping that she is the special woman who will be willing and able to surrender to opening her heart to me, to surrender to the experience of Loving me - while I surrender completely to the experience of Loving her, to opening my heart to her.  More will be revealed about how this newest adventure is going to unfold.

So anyway, I thought this was going to be a pretty short Update - but as usual, I got a bit wordy.  Oh well.  It has helped me get some more clarity.  If it proved of value to you, that is very cool.  2005 is going to be another interesting and exciting year.  Hopefully it won't be nearly as painful as last year - but whatever it takes, wherever I am led, that is where I am willing to go in my Quest to experience Love." - Update March 2005

"During the course of the time we spent together that evening I got a glimpse of her True Self.  Because of her childhood wounding and life experience, she had developed a defense system that to me - in our communication up until that night - had already seemed to be waving a lot of red flags warning me not to get involved.  I was pretty stand offish despite the fact that I found her to be a very beautiful woman.  Once I got a glimpse of her True Self, I knew immediately that this was a woman that I had to get to know.

What I saw was a woman with a beautiful heart and soul - with a huge capacity to Love - underneath the defenses that she had been forced to adapt to protect herself in her life journey.  There was no doubt in my mind after that night, that no matter how many red flags I was seeing, I needed to surrender to experiencing whatever my Higher Power had brought her into my life to experience.

Her defenses were perfectly designed to push my buttons - to trigger some of my deepest wounds and reactions.  And of course, my defenses pushed her buttons as well.

That night I surrendered to whatever ride the Universe had in store for me with this woman.  That night I realized that I needed to ignore the red flags, let go of any preconceived boundaries or expectations, and go wherever this adventure led me." - Update June 2005