“Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.” – Ancient Native American Proverb

DreamBlogger – Ken Sheetz

Night’s sleep on the ranch was filled with incredible pre-vision dreams for the big meditation the next day.  In one dream I saw the spirit of Jesse James, who stayed on this ranch once back in the day, riding a ridge, gunning down addiction spirits with his six-shooter.  I was up with the birds and morning sun as it dawned over Lee McCormick’s Spirit Recovery Ranch, about 40 miles west of Nashville.

Sneaking for the kitchen not to wake the other DreamShielders, I looked over the new recovery home which we were the first guests to ever stay here.  Lee told us the day before that he hand-picked all the furniture for the cozy place that sleeps 4 with two full baths.  The first one up, I made some coffee and sat out on the porch on one of the beautiful white rockers that overlooked one of Lee’s many cattle fields on the 2000 acre ranch.

As the sun rose above the tree line i thought back to a painting I’d done from my imagination back in college of a sunrise.  I’d know before getting out of bed that this would be that same sunrise that I’d had painted some 30 years earlier.

My ex-wife hated the painting and it spent the entire 18 years of my marriage in the basement.  After the divorce, and the painting coming back into my life, I noticed it had fine cracks from all the years of exile in the damp.  When I painted over those cracks they revealed amazing symbols that remind me of a past life as a Native American and the great spirit of Kokopelli.

Here’s the Kokopelli painting featuriing a lovely woman named Amy who dropped in and out of my life in a single day.  Amy was lost in Agoura Hills and asked for directions when she passed me on the street in her white Lexus.  Amy looked like she had perhaps enjoyed a few to many drinks over dinner at the nearby Mexican restaurant and so I invited her into my place for coffee until she was fit for the road.

Amy loved my Kokopelli painting so much that she asked to take this picture front of it. What are the odds that a buzzed stranger would wander into my life for a blink and be in a 30 year old picture of a painting to end up in this blog about healing earth of addiction?  I used to say these things were “weird” now I say they are “perfect”.  A perfect example of the precision of the universe.

As I sipped on my perfect coffee at Lee’s ranch, I thought back on last night after dinner.  Sometimes I think the angels picked me for this work because I am a Hollywood comedy writer ,when I am not helping usher in a gentle 2012 or working in my day job as a social media dude.  It’s hard for me resist an easy joke in a funny situation.  This part of me grew from having a lovable dad who sadly was also the classic “mean drunk”.  My job as kid, I somehow felt, was to keep Dad laughing.  Long as he was laughing the mean stuff was kept at bay.  And thus Ken the family joker was born.

My Dad’s recent passing had reawakened my trickster self.  So when I saw a chance for a prank in the form of a noisy trapdoor that popped open whenever you opened the door to Bradley’s room I could not resist.  I selected Dr. Larsen as my prank target and told her something strange was happening in the closet she had to see!  When I sprung the little trap door Sarah nearly jumped out of her skin.  Imagine my surprise when instead laughter and a playful swat, my usual family comedy result, Sarah shot me hurt look and burst into tears.

Bradley had sensed in advance the joke was too scary.  Now I regretted not following his advice to forget pulling the prank.  Bradley shot me a “Told you so” glare as he gave Sarah a warm hug until she calmed down.  I felt like a heel.  I wanted laughter but here were tears.  We talked it out.  Sarah Larsen forgave me.   But it would take me a couple of days to forgive myself for unintentionally scaring her so much.

My prank had fully awakened Kokopelli energy and the rest of the trip was filled with funny moments.

Kokopelli’s topper happened on a ride back from the medicine wheel with Lee.  No sooner had the other Sarah on this trip — Sarah Wellborn of Mt. Shasta ,Califironia, who it turns out is a fellow prankster — kidded me that we should rename DreamShield to Light Pranksters, than Lee’s truck hit a huge spike in the field!  Pow!  Flat tire!  Ba-dum-dum!

Enjoying these amazing spiritual adventures?  Make a PayPal donation today at DreamShield.org.