Welcome to my new blog! I teach inclusive spirituality, which is spirituality that is inclusive of the experiences and needs of the disability community. My blog shares how I apply spiritual principles and practices in my everyday life and how you can too. I also share exercises that are accessible to people regardless of disability status. This post is about the spiritual practice of Shining Your Light.
When I was 14 years old, I spent two weeks at one of my favorite Easterseals Massachusetts camps: Agassiz Village. I had been going to this camp for years. One afternoon, a counselor asked, “Allison, are you going to apply to be a counselor here next year?”
Surprised and flattered by her question, I began to picture myself as a counselor. While I was excited by the idea of being a counselor, I had concerns. Would the kids have any fun with me as their counselor? Being a camp counselor is about helping campers to run, jump, go on swings and other activities that I couldn’t do. I couldn’t pick up a camper, or give piggyback rides or push them on a swing. How would I help my campers have a fun summer if I couldn’t do the fun physical things that counselors do?
Two years later, I took the plunge and became a counselor at Agassiz. Although I still couldn’t give a piggyback ride or push a child on a swing, I figured I could play cards with them, listen to their stories and, not to brag, but I am a bonafide master hugger! I knew I could give out hugs like no body’s business!!
About a week into my job as a counselor, I was on my way to the main office. It was Rest Hour for the campers, so the entire camp was completely quiet.. or so I thought.
As I drove my wheelchair to the office, I heard, “Cameron! Come back!”
I looked to my left to see a seven year old camper with cerebral palsy running around the courtyard outside of his cabin and an exasperated counselor running after him. I stopped driving my wheelchair, not quite sure of what was going on.
Cameron, who usually had a huge smile on his face, stopped running when he saw me. He looked at me for a moment and came running over to me. Only when he came close to me did I see the tears streaming down his cheeks. He lifted the armrest of my wheelchair, climbed into my lap and laid his head on my chest as he continued to cry quietly.
Once he was safely on my lap, I turned to his counselor and mouthed, “What happened?”
She shook her head and whispered, “He’s been trying to tell us something for a good twenty minutes, but we can’t figure out what he’s saying.”
Cameron’s speech was very, very hard to understand. I was one of the few counselors who could usually understand what he was saying.
I turned back to Cameron, who had stopped crying but still had his head nuzzled against my shoulder.
“Are you having a tough day?” I asked. I felt his little head go up and down to say ‘yes’.
“Have you been trying to tell people something and they just don’t get what you’re saying?”
His head nodded ‘yes’ again.
“I sure remember those days.”
He sat straight up, looked at me and said, “You? But, everyone knows what you say.”
“Now they do. But when I was little, no one, and I mean no one could understand me as well as they do now. My family and best friends could understand me sometimes, but even they had trouble.”
“What happened?”
“Do you mean, ‘why can people understand me better now’?” I asked.
He said, “Yeah!”
“You know the answer to that?” I said with a big smile.
He looked confused for a second and then a light came to his face as he said, “Speech therapy?”
“Yep! When I was your age I did speech therapy three times a week for a whole hour every time. I felt like I LIVED in speech therapy!” Cameron laughed.
“Do you have speech therapy?” I asked.
“Yeah. I go three times a week too. But, it’s kinda boring.”
“Yeah. It can be that way sometimes. But a few years after I was seven, I had speech twice a week. A few years later, I had it once a week. Now, I don’t have it at all.“
Cameron sat on my lap for a few more moments. Then, in a blink of an eye, he lifted my armrest, hopped off of my lap and gave me his trademark look.
I asked “Do you want to honk my wheelchair horn?”
“Yeah,” he said with a huge smile in between peals of giggles.
“Go ahead,” I said laughing, “honk my horn, Cameron!”
His giggles turned into full body laughter as he honked my wheelchair’s horn to his heart’s delight. Once he finished, he ran to his counselor, took her hand and together they began walking towards his cabin. After a few steps, he stopped, turned around and waved to me.
Had you told me when I was seven years old that my challenges with speaking clearly would comfort and empower another seven year old, I would not have believed you. But, when you let your light shine, you can’t help but to be a blessing. Anytime you share a story from your life to help another navigate their lives or you act from love, joy, kindness or generosity, you are shining your light. Your light is simply the Love that is your very being. As a 14 year old, I was so concerned about what my body couldn’t do that I didn’t recognize the most important thing I could do for my campers: share my light with them.
Share your light with the world that the world may know another face of beauty… yours.
Love and blessings,
Allison
Try incorporating this exercise into your week. If you need modifications to the practice, scroll down to the section titled Access Notes.
Affirmation
Everyday this week (or as many times as you can), hop in front of a mirror or an app that reflects your image back to you. Say the following affirmation three times in the morning(or three times at night) while looking into your eyes: “I am Light! I choose to shine my Light!”
After saying this affirmation, be attentive to opportunities to shine your light. Opportunities such as smiling at someone, or giving a stranger a compliment or holding the door open for someone might begin to appear more and more. Seize these opportunities to shine your light!
The following modifications are intended to create equal access to the spiritual practice above. These modifications are somewhat general to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible. Please feel free to further tweak the exercise as needed so that you can participate as fully as possible while honoring your body’s needs.
1. If you are blind or have low vision, memorize the affirmation or have the affirmation accessible to you. Close your eyes. Either place both of your hands over your heart or give yourself a hug as you say the affirmations aloud.
2. If you are d/Deaf or hard of hearing and communicate via sign language, feel free to sign the affirmation as you look into your eyes.
3. If you are Deafblind and communicate via sign language, memorize the affirmation or have the sentences handy as you do the exercise. Close your eyes and place your hands over your heart. Take three slow, deep breaths. Sign the affirmation three times. Place both hands over your heart and take three more deep breaths.
4. If you are Deafblind and communicate via speaking orally, memorize the affirmation or have the sentences handy to read. Close your eyes. Place both hands over your heart. Say each sentence.
5. If you are non-verbal or minimally verbal, there are two ways that you can modify this exercise. First, instead of verbally saying the sentences, say the affirmation in your mind while you looking into your eyes. Second, either have your communication device or another person speak the affirmations while you look at your reflection. If you have another person speak the affirmations, ask the person to say your name instead of saying the pronoun ‘I’. If you’re unsure of which method to try, try both and determine which one feels better to you.
6. If you can speak but saying the affirmation three times is not possible, say the affirmation as many times as is healthy for you.
