Live on, Angeles

It is rare that we meet someone who moves mountains with no apparent effort at all, and rare that we be in the company of one who “sees” so very much, but only needs to “say” when asked.  
 
It is uncommon to meet one who is, by their very nature, sincerely interested in the nature of You: how you live, how you love, and from how deep in your belly your own laugh rises.
 
It is unusual to find the articulate, the kind, the learned, and the generous, all wrapped up in one Being; rare to see the giving, the sharing, and the receptive, all in check with beautifully deep wisdom, and with nothing motivating the moment beyond the simple promise of awakening to Love, Joy and Spirit.
 
Her name is Angeles Arrien. She passed this April. She was rare. And she remains a beautiful teacher of mine.  
 
You may have known her through my workshops. If you’ve been, then it is so.
There are more ways than I can list that she has impacted my, and—if you have been participating in my work for long—your life. But these are a few examples of her inspiration to our work together in what has become The Energy Codes:
 
Indigenous Cultures: Telling your “story” of life’s challenges only three times, and then the tribe “quickening” your view by hanging you over the cliff and asking that you only speak about the wisdom gleaned from your experience, rather than the pain. If you agreed, they brought you back off the cliff. If not, you were considered a liability to the tribe because it kept you from being present to help protect and contribute, so they just… let go.  🙂 We then proceed in the workshop to the circle/circle experience that has been so life changing for so many of you over the years. Thank you, Angeles, for your inspiration.
 
Heart and Meaning: The “Show Up. Pay Attention. Tell the Truth and Let Go of the Outcome” rule for living in harmony that has been shared as an Energy Man Moment, is another of Angeles’ gifts to our community. These were some of her gatherings from studying how groups of people lived together productively and in harmony in cultures all over the world. It has been a lasting guide for me personally and professionally over the 15 years since she first shared the idea with me in a lovely conversation I had with her in the desert of Arizona. In that conversation, she shared with me that I should allow myself to teach on a large scale and share more of who I was, as I was made for that. I did and I do. I am forever grateful.
 
Thank you, Angeles. You inspired my courage. When I saw how “open, full, clear and strong” you were, I knew it could only serve to follow in that stream of consciousness and pass it on. And here we are. If I can share only a fraction of what you gave me, I will have been in great service.
 
Angeles was about “walking the spiritual path with practical feet.” She loved mother earth and her amazing, resourceful intelligence. She invited us to spend an hour in nature everyday. I think of her every time I take a group into the woods near my home for some deep connection with the trees and waters, or into the deserts of Arizona in Sedona at our Lineage Retreat, or to the other far reaches of our amazing playground of a planet in our JourneyAwake excursions. She is there.
 
She passed unexpectedly from complications of pneumonia. And as a dear friend said to me, “She was a young 74, and yet her work was complete.” She will live forever in our hearts and minds as we move forward into life focused on possibility rather than pain.  
 
I stepped onto this planet as a child knowing I was a “bridger of worlds,” and I am blessed to have had a mentor who so clearly demonstrated what that could look like from an inclusive rather than an exclusive perspective in a real world with the real issues of life. She was focused on bringing people together by showing them common rhythms that flow through all people’s lives. By seeing it alive and in action through Angeles, I was able to find my own rhythm, my own Yes.  
 
So, Here’s to the Yes, with practical feet. Live on, Angeles, and I will do my part.
 
I invite you all to read more about her life and her work at her website angelesarrien.com.  I also recommend her books to you with a full heart. There are many. Where to start? The Four-Fold Way was my introduction.  It served me well. The Second Half of Life is equally beautiful.
 
Thank you once more, Angeles, for igniting our hearts, and for teaching us how to love one another through the discovery of the Self.
 
God Bless this Soul.
 
With Great Love,
 
Dr. Sue