Leslie is a Heartfulness practitioner and trainer living in the US. A retired editor, she knows that words—as hard as she may try to find the right ones—are inadequate to express our most treasured experiences and connections. But she keeps trying!

large_Leslie-Blair.jpg

Leslie-Blair.jpg

thumbnail_Leslie-Blair.jpg

Leslie-Blair.webp

Leslie Blair

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">LESLIE BLAIR went from seeing death as a tragic endpoint to valuing the ongoing relationship with a loved one and the ongoing journey of the soul. She shares that journey with us here.</h4>&nbsp;For a long time after my mother passed away, I continued to struggle with difficult emotions surrounding her loss. I wrote to my spiritual teacher, Chariji, whose reply gave me a path forward at what seemed like a dead end. He wrote, in part: “Now you must pray for the peace of her soul. In this will be your true service to her.”I was struck by the thought that I could actually be of service to someone dear who was no longer alive on this Earth. I had no idea how to pray for the peace of a soul, but Chariji had given me a task—both challenging and promising—something useful and positive to focus on and incorporate in my daily meditation practice. It was the start of a journey in prayer that would, over time, come to include the remembrance of other loved ones.At some point along the way, my feelings of bereavement and bewilderment began to take the shape of a song. Searching for the right words became a seemingly endless process, one that defied completion, but it has yielded a growing assurance that love is stronger than death, and that our connection with those who have moved on continues to grow—no doubt in a different way and perhaps in a different realm, one that awaits us with open arms.The song was written in the first person, but I’ve always wanted it to ring true for others as well. May it resonate with your own songs of comfort, connection, and healing.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/here_hereafter2_4d6b235d1a.webp" alt="here-hereafter2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_here_hereafter2_4d6b235d1a.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_here_hereafter2_4d6b235d1a.webp 801w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/here_hereafter2_4d6b235d1a.webp 801w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;<h3 style="text-align:center;">Wherever We Are</h3>I will reach for you, I’ll remember you,&nbsp; and I know I’ll find your touch everywhere. There’s a part of you in everything I do,&nbsp; but the smile I knew no longer waits there.They say there’s a road to where you are—&nbsp; it’s not on the map, but it can’t be too far. If you’ve gone to stay, there must be a way to where you are.In a hidden world, hard to see or touch, another life is calling you home. So I send a prayer to see you safely there&nbsp; as your soul returns to its own.They say there’s a guide where you are,&nbsp; to show you the way like your own shining star. There must be a friend, true to the end, where you are.We reach for a hand, gentle and strong, to comfort and mend us and shepherd us along&nbsp; a well-traveled path crossing the night, where storms of the heart make way for redeeming light.When a sudden shower washes the earth and sky&nbsp; and a brighter world shimmers through, heaven reaches down, hovering all around, and I know its promise is true:&nbsp;Love is the way to where you are— &nbsp; it comes like the rainbow, spanning far, out of thin air, connecting us, wherever we are.A shower of light, a rainbow of tears,&nbsp; will shine through the night to quiet our fears. The love that we share embraces us&nbsp; wherever we are.Our love is a prayer, blessing us&nbsp; wherever we are.&nbsp;

From here to the hereafter

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">LESLIE BLAIR shares the profound nature of a dream, which she almost missed. How often do we receive these gifts without realizing it?</h4>The dream caught me napping on a sad Sunday afternoon, the kind of dream you can count on one hand even after seven decades of dreaming, the kind that maybe wasn’t a dream after all, but a visitation.I almost missed it—a choir of voices, celestial music already receding, my consciousness hurtling through space, away, back from the dream and the voices—my mind trying desperately to slow the return and capture the unspeakably beautiful melodies and harmonies.In the instant that was left, I realized the music would be lost. But there were words! I hadn’t noticed them before, and I caught the last ones I could hear.Coming back to wakefulness, I hurriedly reached for pen and paper and wrote them down: “Let thy soul be couched in merest gladness.”Not being accustomed to this kind of language, my rough interpretation went something like this: “Let your soul be hidden in the least bit of gladness.”In no way did this match the exquisite beauty of the music I had heard. Feeling terribly disappointed, I went to the dictionary in hopes of finding something better. It did not disappoint.These are the definitions I found: Couch—to express, to reveal. Mere—pure, unmixed.The celestial code was cracked. The message read: “Let your soul express itself in pure, unmixed gladness.”A message from a heavenly realm brought down to earth by an everyday dictionary. Who can say where help will come from?&nbsp;

Dream choir

<hr class="vertical-space1">
Take the love in the touch, it doesn’t matter very much 
if the hand is perfect or the skin is rough.
Take the laugh in the cough and the drenching of the rain, 
there is humor in our troubles and it serves to keep us sane.
Take the rest in the night, leave your worries in your shoes. 
In the morning shake them out and don’t listen to the news.
Take time with a neighbor, she’ll have news enough to share. 
You can ruminate together and find contentment there.
Take the lesson from the error, without carrying the past. 
Keep the best it had to give you, nothing more was meant to last.
Take heart: When everything you tried seemed not to be enough, 
your part was matched and multiplied if love was in the touch.
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Poem by LESLIE BLAIR</h4>
<hr>