Once Upon a mind

Once Upon a Mind:  An Endless Sea of Miracle

By Shaun Thomas Villafana

I've had one heck of a life.

It's hard to tell.  And it's just as hard to listen to.  And it's nearly impossible to say it and be heard, I've always assumed because it sounds so far-fetched, that I sound hard to believe.  This hurt me in a million ways before I just accepted - it wasn't that I wasn't being heard, or believed - it was that I couldn't reach sollice within me to come to the place to just, accept.  

I've been questioning God my whole life.  The following is my letting-go of my past, by offering it up to the world, in confession of my shames, my sins, and my forgiveness and love.  Everything within I swear as true to the best of my knowledge, experiences, with only some of the names here-and-there changed to protect certain identities of certain people.  

I hope you can gain from my story,

through empathy.

Photos by: Dmitry

 ONE

My parents had very spiritual backgrounds, not by "religion", but by living life.  As I learned, that's the difference between "religion" and "spirituality"

One is a belief, the other is an experience.

My father had alot of siblings.  Twelve brother's and sisters, my dad - second to youngest of them.  Wally.  Probably one of the strongest people I ever met, yet I spent most my life just disrespecting him and not giving him the appreciation he deserves.  I treated him like he was dumb all my life, while in denial of how wise he truly has been.

When I was old enough, he told me a story from his childhood about Popo, my Great-grandfather, his Grandpa.  

Popo was extremely old by the looks of what photos I have of him.  All I know is he was over a hundred years young when he died, but I think I vaguely remember the number being 111.

My dad was a young teen around the first time Popo was supposed to die.  My uncles, aunties, and dad were all gathered to him around his "death bed" as he was expected to be leaving along his way soon.  

He was supposed to pass along the gift.

He was a medicine man, a "witch doctor", and an energy healer from Siquijor - a polynesian island around the Philippines as I was told had been a forbidden and taboo place, the neighboring islands would restrict visitors to.  Now of course that was ages ago, the videos online show it looking like a gorgeous tourist vacation spot, and these are stories a Dad told his teenage boy, mind you, but by the stories my family tells of witnessing just -in general, as well as what I've been through in life - this is nothing.

Wally (he always felt being called "dad" makes him get older) and all his brothers and sisters had gathered around Popo that specific day, probably nervous, sad, confused, and possibly even a tad-bit excited to be given "a gift", as Popo looked up at all of them to crush twelve childhood fantasies by telling them "I can't pass it down to any of you, you have too much evil in your hearts".

I know right.  What a thing to tell your grandkids. 

Popo then as it seems - decided to just heal himself and keep on living another twenty-plus years.

Dude was a savage.  Definitely my Great-grandpa.

Lives bloomed, the kids grew up into adults, my parents met and had me.

And I am shy saying this, and infact maybe I shouldn't even bother, but I don't think it's fair that everyone can talk about their lives and histories but when I do - they get insecure and blame me for having "ego", or ideas of grandure - and it's just a story I was told about my family history.  In any case.. when my Great-grandpa heard I was born, he took the first plane-ride of his life to come visit baby me.  He met my mother, told her and my dad to "take off, go watch a movie or something", and he baby-sat me.  

My dad likes to tell me that Popo came over to give me "the gift", but I have never known any "lightworking" gifts I've been capable of.

In anycase, sometimes I wonder - isn't it that one only has the capabilities and life-force-drive in anything - when he/she takes the responsibility to own it?

I write a lot about this, and other personal fundamentals in my book "Patterns in the Rain".

To order yourself a copy, click the link below!

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