Transformational Thoughts

By Jacalyn Bennett

For a Healthy Mind & Heart Connection …discovering our Internal Culture… Lessons for our life on Planet Earth!

“To be or not to be”; this is our eternal & internal question.  What makes us truly alive should determine the path we choose to live.  Many people have asked me why I would have chosen to work in such a demanding environment as the garment industry. My response has been consistent over the past 28 years. If we are to work and live in this world, why not make it an exceptional and enjoyable learning experience!

After my accumulated lifetime of travel and discoveries throughout a fascinating world of culture, art, love and philosophy, I have made a personal commitment: to be truly purely and deeply present.  This of course has set me up for a myriad of life experiences…..both positive and…. let’s say…not so positive.

With faith, I believe, comes living a life knowing miracles are possible. All things, even at the worst of times have important lessons for us. This is the path of growth intended for us; universal wisdom? All that is necessary is open mindedness and willingness to listen, learn and evolve.

At times I have felt as if I have been in a philosophical, psychological and emotional science experiment. I have tried my best to create the possibility to not take hurtful things personally. This is probably the most difficult place to find ourselves. It is a courageous choice to allow oneself to be in the middle of the blinding pain of the past – what may be known or familiar – or the fluid place of the painful exploration into the unknown territories of inner self.

Eventually growing into freedom, forgiveness, understanding and self-worth; these are the greatest treasures ever known!  Great faith and patience is necessary, as the concept of time is unknown in these inner environs.

My fantasy as a child was to be an explorer…. Jules Vern…my favorite! My Father was fascinated with the limitless possibilities of life all across our universe.  He was a member of the Society of Para Phenomenology; hence reading science fiction became a fun pastime for me. I was fortunate to have a father who believed all beings are equal. He was my confidant and inspiration to question everything, a perfect mentor!  Life, however, was not perfect. My mother was a beauty queen and more interested in the outer world of monetary wealth.

As I grew older, I realized that life was not making much sense to me.  An overly sensitive child, seeing war, violence and death, life became a question to me. I became interested in philosophy and spirituality, perhaps, because it meant survival for myself and the ability for my heart to survive in a world that was beginning to be very painful and lacking sense or reason. I was so fortunate that this was during the 60’s and 70’s. This was a time of questioning everything. Growing up in NYC, with the even further benefit of attending art school, I was not the only one at that time to question our existence and reason to Be….as these concepts were embraced by many. This was a very exciting time to be alive and question how we would live our lives.

When you let the world know that you want as much knowledge as possible, you can’t change your mind.

Since I couldn’t go to other worlds and escape, there was only one choice for me, to seek out other cultures, become an explorer searching for answers already discovered by others.  My travels involved reading all that I could find about the Near and Far East…India , and a brief experience in Persia and China.

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