Happy holidays! The good news this season is that along with increased negative forces in our world today, there is also an increase in positive forces. This provides an opportunity to cultivate inner peace and make a real contribution to global harmony. As a gift to you to support this process, I invite you to a Global Group Healing. Each person magnifies the benefits for all. Newsletter subscribers will receive details by email.

In this blog, I share part two of my mother's experiences in the Middle East during the Second World War. This old story of being displaced by war and fleeing to Cairo is repeating itself today. If you missed part one, you can catch up here. This blog also includes some of my artwork and relevant remarks by Maharishi about my personal experiences.

© 2024 All Artwork by Suzanne B. Stryker

Part 2: Family Sacrifices and Transformations
Cairo, 1941

For my mother and her two brothers, getting an education used to be easy when their mother was still alive. Fluent in five languages, music and art, their mother homeschooled them and other Americans in the American Hospital compound in Turkey. After their mother died, the closest American school was over 300 miles away in Beirut, Lebanon, so they only saw their father during holidays and summer break. They attended the Lebanese school for one year, until it closed due to bombardments in the vicinity.

By 1941, with the Second World War raging around them, it was decided that the US was the only safe place to educate my mother, age 15, and her 9- and 17-year-old brothers. The trick would be getting there because the Germans were attacking ships in the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic. Travel by sea was the only choice, so the plan was to travel to Cairo and board a passenger ship departing from the Suez Canal. To avoid the Germans, ships had to take a long detour—around the tip of South Africa and then across the Atlantic Ocean. Since mother's father was the only physician for the 100-bed hospital in Turkey and on call 24/7, his children had to make this dangerous journey without him.

My mother and her two brothers started their trip with a bumpy ride in a freight truck conveniently leaving Lebanon for Israel. From there, they caught a ride to Cairo in a produce truck. Then they were stuck in Cairo for 30 days while the Germans attacked ships around the Suez Canal.

After a month of waiting, mother felt terribly restless, so she decided to visit the Great Pyramids. It took over 50 minutes to get through the long entrance line. When she emerged, a man on a camel started explaining the history of the Great Pyramids. He also pointed out that riding a camel was the best way to see everything. He had a good, strong camel for rent, and he needed money to feed his six children. She wanted to help him out, but she had little money. Finally, he offered such a low price that she agreed. Because the camel stood about seven feet tall, he got it to kneel down so she could more easily mount the blanketed saddle perched high atop its one hump.

As the camel slowly strolled through the crowds and toward the pyramids, my mother's heart cramped when she saw parents with their children. The last time she was on a camel was with her father, at home in Turkey. Would she ever again see him and the only home she had known? How could God have let her mother die after all her parents' good work? Every day they had helped and healed others. Even though it was a cool morning, mother began to boil inside and started to sweat.

Suddenly, the camel roared and began to gallop at full speed. As the camel sped through the crowds of hundreds of tourists, it moaned and spewed slobber. People cursed and screamed at her. The camel would not respond to her tugs on its rope—it was out of control. There were no stirrups, so mother bounced around on top of the camel's hump, clinging to the wooden handle at the front of the saddle. She held her breath as the sea of tourists quickly parted to make way.

Seeing his camel storm through the dense crowds around the pyramids and the Great Sphinx, the camel's owner mounted another camel and took up the chase. Finally, he was able to grab the runaway camel's rope and bring it to a stop. The agitated camel growled and spit into the crowd, hitting a young girl in the eye. She cried, her parents screamed at the camel owner, and the camel moaned even louder. The camel's owner yelled at mother, "What did you do to my camel?"

Reflections and Practical Wisdom

My mother's ordeal illustrates our influence on those around us. Have you noticed that your mood can affect not only the people around you, but also animals? Here's a feline example from my aunt. She had a blanket wrapped around her and was sobbing. Her cat arched his back, growled at the blanket and bit it.

Have you ever noticed your pet picking up on your feelings? When our neighbor got terribly sick with Covid, his dog came over to our yard, not far from the room where I do my healing work, and barked for hours at a time. New studies show how behavioral and chemical cues from humans can affect animals, and even infect them with those same feelings! So, if you feel anxious, your pet can feel and behave that way as well. In my mother's case, outer turmoil contributed to her inner turmoil of spiritual desolation and doubt. This, in turn, created a ripple effect, spreading chaos in her environment.

People as well as pets learn through observation and can mirror the emotional state of those around them. This is an incentive for us to cultivate and radiate inner peace and happiness.

Have you experienced an extremely difficult period in your life? How did you resolve it? In one of my next newsletters, I will share how my mother found her way out of the darkness.

I was fortunate to be able to share with my teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, how I transformed negativity and its effects. He was extremely pleased and later commented that I had a positive influence on people and their experiences. It is in that spirit of enkindling inner and outer peace that you and your friends are invited to the Global Group Healing on December 16.

Transformation

This report from Lucy Carter is a heartwarming example of her friend's transformation:

"Suzanne, thank you for your help over the years. Most recently, my friend was struggling with difficult life choices amplified by depression and an over-reliance on questionable online information. She was antagonizing people around her and feeling overwhelmed by work and school. This had been happening for months until I set up your Distance Healings for her. Over the next four months, she became calmer, happier, and more focused, able to complete her work and to make some positive progress in her life. You have wonderful gifts, and we all benefit from your sharing them."

Change is possible. Here are 360 more examples.

In my next blog post, I share part three of my mother's experiences in the Middle East during the Second World War.

Wishing you happy holidays with love,

Suzanne

© 2023 Suzanne B. Stryker, Inc. All rights reserved.