Yesterday, I was interviewed on the  How To Be A Holy Rascal radio show hosted by my friend Rabbi Rami Shapiro on Unity.FM Radio. Rami and I have known each others since the early 1990’s. I sense that the Cosmic Jokester brought us together. I was in a bookstore in South Florida perusing the spirituality section and a book literally jumped off a shelf into my waiting hands. The title was something like This Too Is The Path, which is about 12 step recovery for Jews, since much of the language of AA feels Christian in nature. As I turned over the book, I saw the bio and noticed that the author was a congregational rabbi nearby. When I got home, I told my husband that we needed to check out Rami’s synagogue called Beth Or in Kendall, Florida. The first time I stepped into the sanctuary, I felt a sense of being at home. I had grown up going to synagogue and Hebrew school and yet something was missing. Here was permission to experience Judaism from the heart and soul, not just from books. In the few years our family attended services there, I gleaned much wisdom and it deepened my life practices.

All these years later, I found myself on the other side of the microphone in flowing conversation with this prolific writer and teacher with a sometimes irreverent sense of humor. We were discussing bliss, life choices and challenges, cosmic coincidence,  expanding our definition of God, self criticism and self compassion. In the midst of the interview this line came to me/through me:

“We sacrifice safety for freedom when we step out of our comfort zones.”  For so many years, I hid under the covers, playing “If I can’t see you, you can’t see me,” all the while wanting to be visible and affirmed. Such a juxtaposition. There was a sense of pseudo-safety as I remained in familiar, if stagnating and dysfunctional relationships, energy sucking jobs and spiraling down life patterns. Rather than feeding my soul, I was starving it. Stepping out of what is customary can be frightening but also enlightening. The world stage was waiting for me to dance on to it. Being visible is risky because it puts us in a position to be judged. It takes a willingness to be a self revealing soul stripper to embrace freedom.

Listen in to the conversation~ Edie Weinstein, the Bliss Mistress, the Cuddle Queen will be our guest on How to be a Holy Rascal with Rabbi Rami. Listen Live Wed. 19 @11:00 CT
http://www.unity.fm/program/howtobeaholyrascal