Bending Spoons, Being ONE

Yep, we can do this.

So I am reading an author that I have loved for a number of years, Martha Beck. I first fell in love with her when I read Expecting Adam, the beautiful book she wrote that launched her career. She was a student at Harvard and she became pregnant. The doctors could tell from tests that her baby would be born with Down Syndrome. Many of her professors told her to abort the child. She could not. Many magical things began to happen to Martha while Adam grew in her womb.

They continued after he was born. Adam brought many gifts. I am so, so glad Martha listened to her heart and not those professors. And I am certain she is also glad. And beautiful Adam too.

Her career blossomed as a result of that first book, and over the years she became one of the most respected "life coaches" of today, though that was not her original "Plan A" for life. Her methods of teaching get us to think, or actually maybe a better way to put it might be not to think, but to feel, to intuit, to connect with the whole, to allow ourselves to be part of the magnificent force of energy we know as the Creator of Life, Love itself; they invite us to partake of gifts that are inherent to our simply being born here in this very special place and time. She introduces us to these gifts that have mostly been hidden from us for many centuries, especially in the Western world.

In her book, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, she has many off-the-wall exercises we can practice, such as spoon-bending. Yes, just like those strange people we sometimes see on television or YouTube - those who can bend metal with their minds and very little else.

She has studied many things, which include physics and the sciences. She blends her scientific knowledge with spirituality and takes it all many steps further. She encourages us to do the same.

So in the course of reading this book and doing the exercises I came to the one where she teaches that we are all connected and we are all energy. Matter is made of energy, thus also connected and part of us. One of the exercises she invites us to participate in, in order for us to learn what it feels like to connect and feel a part of the whole is spoon bending. Yes. Bending spoons.

So after reading about her experiences with it and learning how it is done, I followed her suggestion and went into my kitchen to pick out a spoon to bend.

I brought it with me into my studio and tried bending it. It is made of stainless steel. It did not bend. I laid it down upon my desk and every so often throughout a succession of days, I would pick it up and "connect," asking it to bend for me, which it did not. I had purchased some very thin stainless steel headpins for my jewelry making which were, by accident, too thick to bend, even with my hand tools, and this spoon is much, much thicker than those.

It should feel like butter in your hands, she said. There will be no resistance, she said. When you are one with all that surrounds you, you can ask, and if there is no harm, your request will be granted. I'm paraphrasing here. The point is that we have to ask. And there must be purpose behind our asking.

My purpose in wanting to bend my spoon was only to learn that it is possible. That is all. I felt that if I were shown that it is possible for me to know that I'm connected to the whole and there is no separation of energies then it would provide me with trust in the whole process and beauty of life. In what is possible. In the basis of love and connection as the whole foundation.

I picked up my spoon many times over a period of days. I tried to bend it. I pushed quite hard with both hands. I asked with my mind. I tried to be pals with the spoon, but nothing happened. It stayed straight as the day it was made. I even pushed both backwards and forwards with no result.

Tonight I went into my bedroom where my puppy was sleeping and this is the puppy of my heart. I fell in love with him the moment I met him and he has made my heart sing ever since. I curled up with him on the bed and pet him for a while and he made my heart all warm and fuzzy.

Came into my studio and picked up my spoon and my heart was still filled with love and warm fuzzies and suddenly my spoon melted into the shape you see in the photograph. Yes, I was holding it in my hands, but I did not use any force at all, was only aware of a yielding. When I became aware of the yielding the spoon was sort of "emanating" to me, I pushed my hands together and woosh, it bent like hot butter.

Holy shit.

It seems that at that moment my heart was filled with love, and I was still radiating love when I picked up my spoon; it could feel that and wanted to be a part of it, so it just melted in my hands.

Wow. I'm still a little perplexed, but my heart is filled with love for the possibilities of what this really means. It means I AM a part of the whole. The whole is both bigger and smaller than I've been taught. I can work within the whole for the benefit of all - as she teaches us with her other exercises and "metaphors," which involve dropping into what she calls Wordlessness, becoming connected in Oneness, using Imagination, and Forming amazing things in the real world based upon these "skills."

Over the days that I picked up my spoon and put it back down after it would not bend, I did not believe it ever would. I thought well, this exercise is for others. I kept the door slightly open because my heart wants to believe, but I wanted the proof of the spoon.

Now I know that it did bend. The spoon is my signpost that says keep going, this is fun! It says there are no barriers, we all belong (because I am very ordinary and if I can do it so can many others). It says Martha's a helluva coach. It says there's hope! It says there's a whole different way of interacting and working in and with this reality we find ourselves in! Try it. Don't just listen to me. Read the book and play with it. You just might be amazed. And don't give up if you try to bend your spoon and it doesn't work the first time. That is what really makes you go wow when it does bend like hot butter.

I have to add that I was so thrilled with my bent spoon that I did my happy dance over to my husband and stood in front of him holding it in my hands to show him. He got a funny look on his face, eyes twinkling, mouth smiling, he looked at the spoon and then looked at me and he said, "You ruined our spoon!" This cracks me up. He wasn't angry in any way. He's a scientist. He looks at the world in a very creative but practical way. And I thought it was hilarious that I was practically flying with the possibilities and meaning behind this little exercise and his first reaction was about the condition of the spoon and its apparently jeopardized usefulness. I explained the exercise to him and declared he'd enjoy reading the book, but he leans towards action thrillers if he does find the time to read.... I love him dearly because he encourages me to be myself, never correcting or discouraging me, and he's quite comfortable being himself. All good. I promised him I wouldn't bend our other spoons. That's what Martha did when she discovered she could do this. She bent every spoon in her kitchen! I'm sure they'll also bend back into shape, but I'm keeping mine as is.

Martha Beck. Highly recommended reading, and practice - she's written many books and has lots of videos available on YouTube. She's a very special woman - big spirit in action right here with us now, aren't we lucky?! She's also very funny. I laugh a lot reading her material, and sometimes I cry too.

Well spoon bending is awfully fun - give it a try after reading her material. Thank you, so much, Martha Beck, for the work that you do. We are growing.

Namaste,
Jen