So there's a bit of a story here..I'll try and keep it short. If you've read Anthony Medical Medium's book you know he has a chapter on Soul Healing Meditations. I could go on about the value of them all...each one amazing, and I go to them daily. Anthony/Spirit has brought to light the awareness, specific practice and purpose of the meditations, that enliven and nourish our deep inner healing. It is truly an alchemy of soul. One of those practices is called Collecting Stones. I've loved this one practice, I've always loved rocks. So, when I was overcome with grief after my beloved husband passed, nearly 3 years ago, I turned to this meditation. In his book Anthony says, "When you want to cleanse yourself of negative emotions, take a walk in nature and keep your eye out for small stones that call to you. Name each stone by the label of whatever you're harboring that you'd like to leave you. Keep the stones on your bedside table. Develop a relationship with them, become friends. The healing frequency of the minerals will act as an antidote to whatever ails you, whether emotional, spiritual or physical. Then when the time naturally comes that you feel the stones have done their job and you're ready to let them go, carry them back to nature and release them into a body of water, such as a pond, ocean, lake river, or stream. The living water will purify them of the venom they've drawn from you, and you'll walk away purified, too." I knew there was no rushing this process and that I'd have my rock for as long as it took. When I went on my walk to discover my rock, I didn't try and find it, I allowed it to bring me to it and that's exactly what happened. I was walking among the pines and oaks at a favorite park and wasn't even looking at the ground but every once in awhile. Then I heard, "it's over there"...I looked and my eyes fell on a spot in the dirt that was several feet away from where I was standing...I saw a tiny rock calling me in the dirt... I walked over and realized it was just a tiny piece of a rock that was just above the ground. I had to pull it out of the ground and up came this big heart rock. It was perfectly imperfect and snugly fit and felt good in my hand. I knew I found my rock. I carried it with me everywhere, all the time, for a very long time...I've had it in my purse, bedside, hand, and counter-tops for nearly 3 years. I brought it to one of my spiritual teachers 2 years ago and handed it to her (I think somehow I just wanted her to take it, take the pain, the grief, the agony away) she held it in her palm, looked deeply at it and gently handed it back to me, then kissed me on the cheek. I began then to do as Anthony suggested...develop a relationship with grief, become friends. Tonight, just before midnight, on this full moon night, I heard and felt as clear as day, "It's time, you can let it go". I knew instantly. I've had so much gratitude flowing through me today, my heart has felt like it wanted to burst. I guess it has. I am deeply grateful to have honored this process in the very way I've had to. There is no rushing when it comes to healing from loss and grief. This practice, this apparent simple collecting stones practice, has been a Life Saver for me in my darkest hours of despair, and there were more than I could count over those years. I have other rocks I've named that I'm working with currently and I'm honoring that process as well. I haven't even released this old friend in a body of water yet, yet the purification I've experienced has unfolded all along the way. I do believe St. Augustine beach is calling me...it's time to say Goodbye <3