Laura Lehaff
2010-09-01

Just a Heads Up
Beautiful Matt My thought and prayers are with you through the 31st at the hospital in Boston and then on. You are AMAZING. You must be experiencing this in order to go even deeper than what is normally humanly possible. Maybe it is because your soul is so deep and true that God is 'using' you to highten the light of the world. You are amazing. I wish for you to have a healed and healthy body for you have gone deeper than anayone I have ever known. AMEN and LOVE from Denmark Laura Lehaff

Karen Mason
2010-09-01

Just a Heads Up
Good Morning Matt& Gregg, You are now already in the hospital a few days. I read this and it made me think of you Matt, your pass few emails to me and others come close to reflecting the inner peace this woman is conveying in her story. We all know none of us are perfect, what ever that even means at this point, but I am thinking of you both, praying these days for all of us. Strength and happiest is so close at hand, yet we run around like a monkeys in a cage most of the time instead of just picking up the banana and simply enjoying it, no matter what the situation we might be in, may peace and love surround the both of you. Thank you both of being in my life and the gift you give to others. xo karen A Way of Being Finding happiness is mostly a matter of perspective. By Matthieu Ricard © Sasha Van Twist I remember one afternoon as I was sitting on the steps of our monastery in Nepal. The monsoon storms had turned the courtyard into an expanse of muddy water, and we had set out a path of bricks to serve as stepping-stones. A friend of mine came to the edge of the water, surveyed the scene with a look of disgust, and complained about every single brick as she made her way across. When she got to me, she rolled her eyes and said, “Yuck! What if I’d fallen into that filthy muck? Everything’s so dirty in this country!” Since I knew her well, I prudently nodded, hopping to offer her some comfort through my mute sympathy. A few minutes later, Raphaele, another friend of mind, came to the path through the swamp. “Hup, hup, hup!” she sang as she hopped, reaching dry land with the cry “What fun!” Her eyes sparkling with joy, she added: “The great thing about the monsoon is that there’s no dust.” Two people, two ways of looking at things; six billion human beings, six billion worlds. On a more somber note, Raphaele once told me of a meeting she’d had on her first visit to Tibet, in 1986, with a man who’d had an appalling time during the Chinese invasion. “He invited me to sit down on a bench and served me some tea he kept in a large thermos. It was his first time talking to a Westerner. We laughed a lot; he was really adorable. Children kept coming by to stare at us in astonishment, and he showered me with questions. Then he told me how he’d been jailed for twelve years by the Chinese invaders and condemned to cut stone for a dam being built in the Drak Yerpa valley. The dam was completely useless, since the riverbed was almost always dry! All his friends dropped dead of hunger and exhaustion around him, one by one. Despite the horror of his story, there wasn’t the slightest trace of hatred in his words or the least bit of resentment in his eyes, which beamed with kindness. As I fell asleep that night, I wondered how a man who had suffered so much could seem so happy.” Anyone who enjoys inner peace is no more broken by failure than he is inflated by success. He is able to fully live his experiences in the context of a vast and profound serenity, since he understands that experiences are ephemeral and that it is useless to cling to them. There will be no “hard fall” when things turn bad and he is confronted with adversity. He does not sink into depression, since his happiness rests on a solid foundation. One year before her death at Auschwitz, the remarkable Etty Hillesum, a young Dutchwoman, affirmed: “When you have an interior life, it certainly doesn’t matter what side of the prison you’re on. . . . I’ve already died a thousand times in a thousand concentration camps. I know everything. There is no new information to trouble me. One way or another, I already know everything, and yet, I find this life beautiful and rich in meaning. At every moment.” Once at an open meeting in Hong Kong, a young man rose from the audience to ask me: “Can you give me one reason why I should go on living?” This book is a humble response to that question, for happiness is above all a love of life. To have lost all reason for living is to open up an abyss of suffering. As influential as external conditions may be, suffering, like well-being, is essentially an interior state. Understanding that is the key prerequisite to a life worth living. What mental conditions will sap our joie de vivre, and which will nourish it? Changing the way we see the world does not imply a naive optimism or some artificial euphoria designed to counterbalance adversity. So long as we are slaves to the dissatisfaction and frustration that arise from the confusion that rules our minds, it will be just as futile to tell ourselves “I’m happy!” over and over again as it would be to repaint a wall in ruins. The search for happiness is not about looking at life through rose-colored glasses or blinding oneself to the pain and imperfections of the world. Nor is happiness a state of exaltation to be perpetuated at all costs; it is the purging of mental toxins such as hatred and obsession that literally poison the mind. It is also about learning how to put things in perspective and reduce the gap between appearances and reality. To that end we must acquire a better knowledge of how the mind works and a more accurate insight into the nature of things, for in its deepest sense, suffering is intimately linked to a misapprehension of the nature of reality. From Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skills, 2003 NiL editions, Paris. Translation, 2006 by Jesse Browner. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Co. Inc., New York.

Celia Ario
2010-09-01

Just a Heads Up
darling! thanks so much for the opportunity to share in this with you! much much love! you are in my prayers! Cheers, Celia Alario ************************ A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. *Albert Einstein*

Fran and Dick
2010-09-01

Just a Heads Up
Dear Matt, It is always so nice to get mail from you and I especially appreciated your last long note re your illnesses! What a mess! The shaking must be so annoying. I am glad you are as brave as you can be and that darling Gregg is right there with you. We slog along out here with good health so mustn't complain but with greatly diminished financial resources which has been a challenge to say the least. Day by day it gets a bit better and so my mood has improved a lot from a deep depression which struck in fall of 08 and again this spring. We don't get to see our grandchildren as much as we would like but they are adorable little boys both about a year & a half old, cousins, which each of our two children reproducing a month apart. We have been spending a lot of time at Lake Almanor about 4 hours northwest of here. We have a little junky cabin which the forest service is going to make us tear down in 2 years as our lease won't be renewed. There are 6 cabins in our predicament and we have decided to sell (& think we have a buyer!!). I am still working for the county although retired to try and get some savings. Thank goodness I like it. Dick has gotten a few jobs in real estate showing open houses on the weekends. I don't need to tell you that it is hard to rely alone on God when you have been independent and self confident. I really loved your prayer about your body speaking in ways you don't understand and the "clutches of embarrassment"> How odd that we are so afraid of shame You probably know we have had a very cold summer in SF so going to the mountains (Almanor) is a way to find some sun. I send you lots of love and have been thinking of you in Boston in the padded bed with or without bathroom privileges!! Lots of love Fran

El Goco
2010-09-01

Just a Heads Up
hey matt, pure love and good thoughts go out to you for a speedy recovery. love, forgiveness, understanding even when the experience weighs so heavy it's hard to think and feel. i can't even imagine having your experience but know i'm feeling for you and i wish i have already discovered my own power to heal because i would heal you. i hear there is a lot of power in group prayer and meditation. perhaps group prayer both physical and virtual at a designated time may help. it must be difficult to understand the language your body is speaking but what is your soul telling you with the help and comfort from the spirit? i don't mean any offense if i speak out of turn especially to you, one of my great teachers. i am humbled by life and the universe as it does what it does to create balance and i don't claim to know all the why's but all we can do is keep an open heart and an open mind to listen... really listen. all the answers are already out there. the only truth is your truth and whatever your soul is yearning for no matter how difficult it might be. sorry, i may not be making sense but i'm just writing what i'm feeling. all in love, el

Lyn Allen
2010-09-01

Just a Heads Up
Hi Matt, Peggy is staying with me this week, and this morning we found ourselves talking about our wonderful Xcalibur days and wishing we could go to one. Peggy smiled back at me and said "pick a partner". A few moments later she teared up remembering the love present after the final process. We had a moment of connection to a time that meant so much to us. I decided to go to your site and get your latest updates. Thank you for writing how things are going for you. I'm sure it was difficult to say, but it is amazing to hear your courage, the words you have written, accepting what has been given you to deal with. The moment I read your courage, I let all the hurt go from a recent breakup. It was impossible for me to imagine how you could accept and deal with your current circumstances, and still hold this pain intact within my life. My holding on to the pain has been causing me some health problems. I really needed this miracle! The beauty of your teachings lives on and on in our lives and in my family. And still at 55, my closest friends are from Xcalibur. Participating and supporting Xcalibur endure on as the best, most alive moments of our lives, where we all created connections that really mattered. Peggy is saying she is here till 2012 based on an agreement she made with you and friends, to participate in a global evolution of humanity (I wish we werent so slow), but it gives us something to hope for. I pray that Spirit lift these ailments from you, and hope that some day there will be another training. But the power of your courageous words even works through the web, blessed be. Thank you..and I love you! My love to Gregg too. It is so wonderful that his loving spirit surrounds you. ' Love, Lin P.S. This is an FYI only, and I hope not too annoying. I know you have many factors contributing to your health and are in good care, but wondered if you had heard that heavy metals and/or toxins have been showing up in alarmingly higher rates throughout the SF area, and causing severe immune system breakdowns, and are strongly linked to parkinson and related diseases. They are simple inexpensive blood tests. Much Love!

Bea Reynolds
2010-08-27

Just a Heads Up
My dear, dear Matt; It's painful to read and hear about your last 3 years of health challenges....I've always held you in my mind's eye, robust, young, good-looking, and charismatic....just like the days when Kim, my daughter and I,first met you 2002, when we were hanging out with Richard Abbott. I'll never forget my first impression of the Ministry...we arrived kind of late that Sunday morning....(parking, you know....) there was loud music coming out of the front doors where we were met by Peggy and Geno and were given a red carnation...and as we walked in, what a sight to behold!!!....DANCING!.....we never danced in the Catholic church! And everyone was happy, and smiling, and hugging one another. And while I was still attempting to process all of this, Richard had not said anything about the Ministry, out you came....in your white outfit....wearing the most beautiful smile....the out picturing of such a Radiant Light, like I'd never seen before. And you walked back and forth on the flower filled stage...everyone clapping and whistling, and you still smiling from ear to ear....began laughing, chuckling, and chuckling and more laughter until you broke out finally into the most gregarious belly-filled-laughter ever!....and the love that filled the room moved me to tears of happiness, and warmth....and all of us bathed in your light, and love, and peace! And I had such a sense of coming home....then you said "HEY"! Those memories are in my heart and in my being....another being who woke up because of the Ministry we all created; while you the catalyst, served countless of us so well in birthing, and nurturing the safe, loving, welcoming, enriching haven you created. Thank you, Matt! Your influence on each and everyone of us....has no end....your power to create unity and love and healing continue to influence, as evidenced by Brian's healing! You 've never shirked from the truth and from going forward...and going through what ever came up for you and faced you....you took it square on....I've always admired that in you.... Be at peace, dear Matt....there really is no understanding with our ego mind, what these days filled with your pain and discomforts are for....yet, I wished you'd not have to go through this... Know that you are loved....and that you are in the Alleluia Circle....where we hold hands and rock you back and forth and bathe you in our love....your Helpers are surrounding you...and will, once again, help you to go on and go through! With Much love, respect ,and deep gratitude for the gift of Matt Garrigan! and hugs n kisses too! Bea

Rita Krausova
2010-08-27

Just a Heads Up
Hello Matt! you have and continue to be in my thoughts, my prayers and in my love! You continue to inspire me with your steadfast devotion, perspective and love for humanity. You have and continue to alter my life. I do not know many that have such a capacity, no matter what the evidence. Thank you for that.....and now, I declare that you have the bathroom privileges that you so deserve! I love you! Rit

Elana Kaplove
2010-08-27

Just a Heads Up
I love you Matt and appreciate all that you have taught me. I have helped countless thousands of others as a result of my improved mental and emotional state. I pray that you are relieved of your discomforts. Love, Elana

Laura Lehaff
2010-08-27

Just a Heads Up
Beautiful Matt My thought and prayers are with you through the 31st at the hospital in Boston and then on. You are AMAZING. You must be experiencing this in order to go even deeper than what is normally humanly possible. Maybe it is because your soul is so deep and true that God is 'using' you to highten the light of the world. You are amazing. I wish for you to have a healed and healthy body for you have gone deeper than anyone I have ever known. AMEN and LOVE from Denmark Laura Lehaff