My name is Mary Adelle Brownlee Brewer. I’ve been called by many names in my life… Adelle, Mary, ‘A’-dell, Adelio, ‘Brownlee’, ‘Brewer’…
Adelle is just fine… the name given to my Great-Grandmother, my Great-Aunt, my mother and to me.
I write today reflecting on my ancestry, with wisdom beyond the ages. My grandfather, Senator John Houghton Brownlee, known as ‘Granddaddy’, and my grandmother, Lida Wilhelmina Biedenharn Denney, known as ‘Mamie, ‘ were both individuals with incredible intelligence, and a deep compassion for others. Granddaddy helped pass legislation for our lake systems in Texas, corralling the mighty Colorado river, so HUMANITY could be safe. Mamie ushered many through her doors, both at home as well as the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Wichita Falls where she presided as President, always with kind, inclusive words for HUMANITY, and also a 6oz. bottle of Coke.
My name is Adelle. I am a mother of four amazing human beings. I am grandmother to 
a beautiful girl of pure light and love.
My name is Adelle. I am a movement artist. I teach Nia, JourneyDance, and Yoga. I coach people in a breathing technique called Transformational Breath®.
My name is Adelle. I own The Synergy Studio, where 250-400 people come through the door every week with one thought in mind… to leave feeling better.
My name is Adelle. My purpose is to open pathways for healing, paved in love.
What other names can I be called??? What other labels can be slapped on me, limiting my possibilities, my potential? White, Black, Hispanic, Indian, Liberal, Conservative, Christian, Buddhist, Straight, Lesbian, Gay … the list goes on and on…
I ask, “What truly matters?” Only one label fits… human beings… or more clear… HUMANITY.
Labels do one thing… separate us from another.
We embark today on another swing of the pendulum in American politics. The election, no matter how we voted, has brought out the ugly labels that we place on one another. A question… Are we going to step back from awareness and inclusiveness, or are we going to keep stepping forward? Forward means one choice, but its not easy.
Love is the only choice. The alternative is fear… it is a choice.
If you jump in today to the free 21-day mediation offered by Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, you will experience the 6th day and beyond. The 6th day is profound… it is about awareness, and the ability of the body, YOUR body, to heal itself at the cellular level. Please do this for yourSELF, your cells, and for your connection to others. Listen, release and relax for 20 minutes. After today, ‘Day 6’ disappears. It is only up for free 5 days at a time. Here is the link to ‘Creating Peace From the Inside Out: The Power of Connection.”
‘Let there be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.’ If you haven’t seen this, click and watch… its breath-taking.
It begins with each one of us.
From my heart to yours… Choosing love, Adelle
Below is the visual transcript of the Day 6 Meditation: Creating Peace From the Inside Out: The Power of Connection. I transcribed it, as I am a visual learner. 🙂
Day 6 Meditation
Centering thought: I call upon the healing power of awareness.
Om Hreem Namah: Pure, transparent awareness is my essential nature.
“Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things they are transformed.” Thich Nhat Hanh
Oprah: Today, on day six, we will gain a greater understanding of the healing power of awareness. My primary and most essential spiritual practice is to strive continuously to live in the present moment… to resist projecting into the future, or lamenting the past. I truly believe THAT is the secret to a happy life. I also know that living and finding peace ‘in the now,’ is not possible until we heal the wounds of the past.
Many years ago, author and counselor John Bradshaw pioneered the concept of the inner child. He took the audience on the Oprah show, and me, through a profound exercise. He asked us to imagine looking into the window of our childhood home, and see our self inside. “What do you see?” he asked, and more important, “What do you feel?”
For me, it was an overwhelming sad, but powerful exercise. What I felt at almost every stage of my young development was lonely. Not alone, because there were always people around, but I knew my soul’s survival could not depend on those around me. It depended on me. Looking back through that window into my life, I felt that the people in my house did not realize what a sweet spirited little girl I was, yet I also felt strengthened seeing and feeling my spirit, for myself.
Maybe you too have experienced events that have caused you to deem yourself unworthy. Healing those wounds from the past is one of the biggest and most worthwhile challenges of life. If you are holding anyone else accountable for your peace or happiness, you are wasting your time. You must be fearless enough to give yourself the love you did not receive.
Begin noticing how every day brings a new opportunity for growth… how buried disagreements with whomever parented you can show up in arguments with your partner, and how unconscious feelings of unworthiness can show up in other relationships. This is the healing power of awareness. All of these experiences are your life’s way of pushing you, urging you, to leave the past behind and make yourself whole.
Deepak: The world’s wisdom traditions teach that all healing happens in awareness. What are we supposed to be aware of?
People try to watch their words, control their emotions, take signals of approval and disapproval from other people, and so on. This is awareness applied outward, which only gets a person so far. The outward world changes too fast and unexpectedly to be a trustworthy guide. Only self-awareness brings real mastery over life’s challenges.
This may sound very abstract, but in reality, self-awareness begins at the physical level, where cells know how to self-heal through their own built-in intelligence, which has been called the wisdom of the body. The ability of cells to go directly to a wound or intruder and trigger the process of healing is astonishing. We rely upon our healing system to sustain our survival day after day, decade after decade.
Self-healing becomes more unreliable at the psychological level, where relationships either become more negative over time, or more positive. A relationship that grows in positivity, meaning more love, peace, compassion, kindness, understanding, tolerance, and mutual growth, must find a way for healing that happens every day. On the other side, the obstacles of healing are the same as the obstacles of relationships… conflicts that go unresolved and linger as resentments, issues too ingrained or too emotional to bring into the open, differing personality styles, lack of communication, parent-child issues, and generational issues in general.
In medicine, we know that chronic disorders began years, and sometimes decades, before the arrival of diagnosed symptoms. Our cells do not possess such advanced knowledge, yet they don’t have to, because they apply healing to the present moment, here and now. The fearless way that our cells manage to survive, and even thrive in the face of countless threats, can be our guide to self-healing at the emotional and psychological level.
All of us are uncomfortable with having an enemy. This is the pain we want most to heal, because it puts the self in conflict rather than at peace. The first step is to accept that healing is a natural aspect of the mind, just as it is of the body. The common experience of the mind is misleading, because what we notice looking inward is restless, mental activity. In this restless state, the mind seems to have nothing close to the orderly, harmonious life of a single heart, liver, or lung cell.
As long as we are obsessed with the restless mind, which is constantly driven by the ego’s demands and insecurities, we find ourselves in the grip of illusion. We do not see or experience the true self, which exists beyond the restless mind. Illusions can only be healed by being dispelled through awareness. It is the reason our meditation practice is so powerful. The entire work of self-healing consists of finding the place inside ourselves where healing is as effortless and natural as the physical healing that is sustaining us this very moment.
Preparing to meditate… repeat the centering thought: I call upon the healing power of awareness… make yourself comfortable, and close your eyes. Begin to be aware of your breath and just breathe slowly, inhaling and exhaling. With each breath, allow yourself to become more deeply relaxed.
Now gently introduce the mantra, Om Hreem Namah. This mantra makes your mind and body more receptive to healing by opening consciousness to its own true nature. Repeated silently to your self. With each repetition, feel your body, mind, and spirit open and receive just a little more. Whenever you find yourself distracted by thoughts, noises, or physical sensations, simply return your attention to silently repeating the mantra…
Om Hreem Namah.
After meditating… and as you continue with your day, contemplate the centering thought, “I call upon the healing power of awareness.” Namaste!