Following Daisies – Chapter Five: Freedom Day

This is the sixth installment of a 17 part blog series launching my new book, Following Daisies – A True Story about One Woman’s Adventures Finding Happiness, Fulfilling Dreams and Becoming Herself. Each Sunday, I’ll be posting a new chapter for you to enjoy here on the Wild Daisy blog, up to Chapter 16.

If you’re looking to pursue some of your own life dreams, longing to learn how to follow your heart or just wanting a funspirational, adventure-filled read, then this book is for you!

If you are just joining us, you can catch up on reading by beginning at the Introduction and continue reading from there.

If you’d like to order your copy you can do so by clicking on the link on the right-hand side of this page.

Now, let’s continue Following Daisies!

© Copyright by Heather Pardon, 2012. All rights reserved.

In late spring 2009, I’d begun searching for a camper van of my own, the hippie within wanted a VW Westphalia. An inner voice however told me that I wouldn’t find my camper until the deal on my house had closed. I don’t know why, but I don’t think life allows us to hang onto two things at once. You can’t have the house filled with contradictory energy that caused so much turmoil and pain, and also have your new dream home. It just doesn’t work that way.

The rate at which I began to empty my house had also increased significantly. I was willing, ready and able to let go of much in life. I gave away, sold or donated items, emptying my house of possessions with the same ferocity that most folks reserve for Boxing Days sales. My neighbours loved me as every day I had new offerings at the curb, ready for them to take away to their homes.

Many of us find joy, or think we do, in the accumulation of possessions and stuff. Yet, I found even greater joy in getting rid of most of mine, except for those items that I treasured deeply which were headed for my storage unit. I heeded Grace’s advice on that. Many friends asked whether it was difficult to get rid of my things. It wasn’t. Most of my items went to ideal owners, people who would treasure them, needed them or couldn’t afford new. I found a friend who’d lost her job and was in need of a desk. Other items went to a woman who was recovering from an abusive relationship and starting over in life. A neighbour made a point to drop by and tell me how wonderfully my antique lamp fit into her surroundings. Some items went to a shelter for men rebuilding their lives in the wake of homelessness. I found people who would value my items more than I had or ever would. I was simply beginning to value different things in life.

On one hand, getting rid of my household ‘stuff’ was the easy part. It would be ridding myself of the large amount of unresolved emotional ‘stuff’ I’d gathered over the years that would be far more difficult. You can’t sell that stuff at a garage sale or leave it at the curb for your neighbours.

*

“I’ve recently sold my house, rid myself of most of my possessions and I’m going to buy a camper van and travel out west.” I said to my no-nonsense friend Pat as I had a brief meltdown on the phone. The day before I’d come home after dropping off the first load of my ‘must keep’ items at my storage unit. As I walked in the front door, I collapsed into tears, caught off guard by the watershed of unidentified emotions that had set themselves free.

“I’m excited about my adventure so why do I feel like an emotional train wreck?” I asked Pat.

“You need to go see Tony, he can help you,” she simply advised. I wasn’t even sure what I needed help with, but I always trusted Pat’s advice. She just seemed to know things.

*

Tony is a feng shui practitioner, vibrational healer and tuning-fork practitioner. He greeted me with a huge smile, wearing a bright Hawaiian print shirt and infused with such positive, electric energy that I wasn’t sure if his feet were actually touching the ground. Aloha! I’d met my healer.

Up until that point in my life, I’d generally considered forks to be a dining utensil. In this case, however, Tony would be using his tuning forks and intuitive powers to clear energy blockages, fix up my chakras, summon the help of my spirit guides, raise my vibration and hopefully make the crying fits go away. I like to think of it this way. Life is a bit like a dance floor and I was still being a wallflower, not quite ready to show the world my moves. Tony would help me bring my energy out onto the dance floor so that I could begin to do my own dance of life.

Our body stores the energy of our past experiences in ways and places that we aren’t even aware of. And if it’s not good energy, it’s like having party poopers right inside of you! Over the next few sessions together Tony would sound his tuning forks, holding them over different parts of my body as he let the vibration from the fork work on my energy and release some unwanted guests from my life party.

There were many to be banished. Some had overstayed their welcome. Some had snuck in the back door. Some were talking behind my back. Some I didn’t even know. Most I tried to ignore politely, hoping they’d quietly leave from a side door. They’d put a damper on my party for far too long, these unresolved emotions, false expectations, limiting beliefs, unjustified fears, feelings of not being forgiven and more. All of their friends and relatives seemed to have crashed my party too. One by one, Tony helped summon a few bouncers who escorted them out of my life.

*

The Day from Hell. Those were the words I’d used to remember June 24 for the past six years. It was, after all, the anniversary of my former partner’s arrest. It was a day I’d recalled as one of my darkest. I loathed its return each year, a reminder of a period in my life and an experience that I didn’t care to remember.

I awoke on June 24, 2009, and glanced around an empty house. I was leaving the home I once thought I’d never leave. I was letting go of the house I’d fought so hard for. I was abandoning all the sweat equity I’d put into it. It seemed surreal to leave, but I was not sad to go. After touring the house one last time, gathering the last of my belongings and bidding farewell, I was happy to close the door on that house and that chapter of my life.

I then headed over to my appointment with Tony.

*

“It’s no coincidence that the stars aligned to close the deal on your house on this day. Life is giving you a chance to see June 24 in a new light,” Tony began.

I had just closed one door and I could already feel the next one slowly begin to open.

“We’re going to work on your solar plexus, that’s the centre of control,” he said. I found that rather coincidental on a day that I’d long associated with a complete lack of control. The spirits were telling me something. Make June 24 your day, Heather.

I needed to let go, Tony told me. The weight of negative emotions from that relationship and the events of June 24 had burdened me all those years. I couldn’t move forward and continue to carry that load with me.

Tony worked patiently with me that day, slowly removing the piles of damaging emotional debris that had accumulated. As the tuning fork sent healing vibrations through my body, the spirits surrounding us offered messages. For two and a half hours, Tony gently coached me forward and yet I continued to feel stuck somewhere.

Help.

“What do you need to do?” he softly asked. A wee light glimmered beyond my slightly ajar door.

I need to forgive.

I hadn’t forgiven my former partner. I had never felt the need to forgive. And perhaps I’d never wanted to forgive. More importantly, I hadn’t forgiven myself for playing a role in such a dysfunctional relationship. I hadn’t known or understood that it would be through forgiveness that I would eventually find my freedom. It was so clear to me in that moment, but why hadn’t it come to me before?

It can be comfortable to hang onto things, even if they are no longer serving us. The alternative can feel daunting. It

was time for me to release the burden of the anger, negativity and guilt I’d carried with me for way too long. I visualized myself in a tug of war with this trio and at one point, I simply let go of the rope, releasing myself from my emotional captors. What a huge relief. I felt a huge internal void, one that I could now fill with great things, positive things.

A new day with a new meaning had dawned. I’d closed the door on a chapter of my life. I finally bid farewell to the June 24 I once knew and welcomed a powerful new June 24 into my life, ‘Freedom Day’.

And the very next day, I found my camper.

See you next time for Chapter Six: On Finding Miss Daisy

In the meantime, Be Wild. Be a Daisy!

Heather

 

p.s. If you’re enjoying reading Following Daisies, please tell your friends who may enjoy it too! One of the major reasons that I wrote this book is that soon after I’d made the decision to sell my house and adventure off in an RV, I began to hear the comments from many friends and others, “Heather, I LOVE what you’re doing and think it’s fabulous. But I could never do it…..” 

This book is for those folks and anyone else who wants to follow their heart, fulfill their dreams and live a life they truly love. I hope that those who may think “but I could never do it….” will read Following Daisies and find the inspiration to think of the possibilities and begin to say “but yes, maybe I could…..”

If you are currently nurturing some unfulfilled dreams, you may also wish to read this recent post, The Five Steps to Living a Fabulously Happy Life and learn about the Five Regrets. They provoke some thoughts that are well worth pondering.

If you’d like to order your copy of Following Daisies AND, click here now!

To receive the Wild Daisy newsletter, simply enter your email address in the subscription tab on the right hand sidebar.