{"id":4723,"date":"2013-02-18T22:45:14","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T03:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=4723"},"modified":"2013-02-20T07:21:05","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T12:21:05","slug":"wings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/02\/wings.html","title":{"rendered":"Wings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-snc6\/c0.0.270.270\/p403x403\/285664_10200556816341059_1218455335_n.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Marking the passing and honoring the life of Debbie Ford. Prayers and healing for her family and those of us who have had the privelege of knowing her or her work. www.debbieford.com &lt;3\" width=\"403\" height=\"403\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This afternoon I received a group email from Arielle Ford that read<strong><em> Debbie Ford Gets Her Wings<\/em><\/strong>. I wondered what brilliant thing Arielle&#8217;s younger sister had done to earn them and I made a mental note to read it when I had time. It wasn&#8217;t until I was sitting at my desk at my job as an addictions counselor, that I\u00a0opened it. All of a sudden I wasn&#8217;t in Lansdale, PA, but instead whisked cross country to California where Debbie&#8217;s family was immersed in their private grief that was simultaneously being shared by thousands of others. Tears flowed as my visceral reaction kicked in. I could only imagine what the journey from a\u00a0gloomy cancer\u00a0diagnosis a few years ago to transition last night, was like for Debbie and her loved ones.\u00a0 My guess is that she faced it with what Ram Dass would call &#8216;fierce grace&#8217;. After reading Arielle&#8217;s message that directed folks to go to another site that was set up to honor Debbie&#8217;s memory, I knew that this blog entry needed to be written.<\/p>\n<p>Like most people, my intro to Debbie was through her writing. I had the joy of interviewing her when\u00a0 her groundbreaking book: <strong><em>The Dark Side of The Light Chasers<\/em> <\/strong>was released. It was a revelation to this light chaser who was (and still is) a perpetual optimist, refusing at times to look at anything remotely shadowy. I was sorting through\u00a0back copies of Visions Magazine to locate the one in which it was published before writing this and couldn&#8217;t find\u00a0it , so I will have to go from memory. One thing I recall was a story Debbie shared about being at a personal growth training and the facilitator called her a bitch. At first she was taken aback with what I imagine was a &#8220;who me?&#8221; reaction; much the same as I might have. And then she recognized the grain of truth in the woman&#8217;s perception of her and the ways in which pretending that she wasn&#8217;t a bitch ran her life and was her M.O. Of course, there were times when she was bitchy, as are we all. Then she came to understand that being a bitch came in handy at times when otherwise she might have been emotionally pushed around by others and needed to stand her ground. Did that ever ring true for me!\u00a0 I was as if I had permission to be more fully expressed, set boundaries and be assertive rather than remain the starry eyed idealist who was like a dishrag at times and an emotional contortionist who would often bend over backward to please people.<\/p>\n<p>She went on to elaborate that what we most attempt to hide about ourselves, is eventually revealed and can become our greatest strength. These days, while I don&#8217;t quite embrace my shadow, at least she and I are on cordial, nodding at each other as we pass by, terms. I learned through Debbie&#8217;s work that even though I have what I call &#8216;cave thoughts and feelings&#8217;, judgements and mental &#8216;nasties&#8217;, I am still loveable.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight as those who knew her best both mourn the loss of her physical presence and honor her place in their lives, I offer my heartfelt love and prayers to them\u00a0and say Kaddish with them.<\/p>\n<p>Rise up on those wings, Debbie and soar~<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/UKYgA2JaufY\">http:\/\/youtu.be\/UKYgA2JaufY<\/a>\u00a0Om Shree Rama, Fly High-Deva Premal and Miten<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.debbieford.com\">www.debbieford.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; This afternoon I received a group email from Arielle Ford that read Debbie Ford Gets Her Wings. I wondered what brilliant thing Arielle&#8217;s younger sister had done to earn them and I made a mental note to read it when I had time. It wasn&#8217;t until I was sitting at my desk at my&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,41,1246,94,3,29,37],"tags":[2179,1489,1358,2871,2864,1127,2863,632,2865],"class_list":["post-4723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-death","category-faith","category-family","category-gratitude","category-women","category-writing","tag-arielle-ford","tag-debbie-ford","tag-deva-premal-and-miten","tag-fierce-grace","tag-fly-high","tag-kaddish","tag-om-shree-rama","tag-ram-dass","tag-the-dark-side-of-the-light-chasers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wings - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/02\/wings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wings - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; This afternoon I received a group email from Arielle Ford that read Debbie Ford Gets Her Wings. I wondered what brilliant thing Arielle&#8217;s younger sister had done to earn them and I made a mental note to read it when I had time. It wasn&#8217;t until I was sitting at my desk at my&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/02\/wings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-19T03:45:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-20T12:21:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-snc6\/c0.0.270.270\/p403x403\/285664_10200556816341059_1218455335_n.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wings - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/02\/wings.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wings - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"&nbsp; This afternoon I received a group email from Arielle Ford that read Debbie Ford Gets Her Wings. 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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