A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a circle of soul friends who were celebrating my friend Janet Berkowitz’s birthday. This 50-something kid in a grown up body is colorfully creative and vibrant. I have known her since the early 80’s when she came into my life via another spiritual connection-author and teacher Alan Cohen. We bonded pretty quickly, recognizing a playmate in each other. A bunch of us had gathered at her parents’ house to watch the film Brother Sun, Sister Moon; the Franco Zeffirelli pic about the life of St. Francis.

We have seen each other through times dark and light, at our best and our worst. Her husband Phil Garber is my son Adam’s unofficial Big Brother and surrogate father since my husband died back in 1999. Adam and Phil ‘adopted’ each other when Adam was 14. When Phil and Janet got married, I had the honor of officiating. Janet and I are part of a monthly women’s support group called an E-circle (e for empowerment) that is an extension of the Woman Within training we have taken.  She encourages me to be genuine with my feelings, particularly anger which I tend to stuff and suppress. No stranger to that emotion, she models verbalizing it and finding healthier ways to bring it forth. Last year, she and Phil created safe space for me to wallop a pile up pillow with a plastic baseball bat while blasting out words that are not in my spiritual vocabulary. I am blown away by her artistic talent that she uses to channel the shadowy aspects of her psyche’. She is a mime/performance artist as well and I have often sat mesmerized by her expressiveness.

Back to the party scene…normally people heap praises on the birthday girl or boy, but in this case, Janet wanted to shower us with love and appreciation. She went around the room and told each of us how she felt a connection, a unity with us. She saved me for last. As she looked across the room, she told me that I tickle her heart. After that, I don’t remember much except that she added something about my way with words.

I breathed it in and decided I would add that to my bio. Being a heart tickler sounds lovely and quite easy to do. It also ties in to my sharing of feathers at my classes to remind people to lighten up and tickle their fancy…..or whatever else they have in mind.

Who tickles your heart? How can you be a heart tickler for others?

http://youtu.be/WRDxpmV27p8 Brother Sun, Sister Moon- Donovan