The Majestic Rio Machuca

There is a mystical river that runs through the rainforest above San Mateo in Costa Rica; a spiritual portal that whispers to those that are silent long enough to hear her call.  To say that this river is enchanting is an understatement which is a malfeasance to her deific beauty.  The river is called Rio Machuca, but that matters not; sometimes placing a label upon something tends to limit the majesty that this river emotes.

The first time I witnessed this magnificent tributary was when our friend, Monica, walked Adi and me through the rainforest to experience the wonderment of this special place on earth.  Upon our arrival, I noticed that the sounds of the cascading water drowned out every other note being played by the Universe and for a moment, it felt like time stood still and there was no one else in the world but just the three of us.

This river is very special to Monica.  It speaks to her in ways nothing else does.  She told us, “Whatever is troubling you, allow yourself to feel every bit of it and then release it to the river.  The river will transmute it into something that will serve you.”

After saying this, Monica left us to experience the magnificence of this special, watery portal.  Then, something happened that I can’t explain.  We could feel the presence of Adi’s grandmother, her Nonnie, who passed away only a few weeks earlier.  We have felt her with us for the last few weeks wherever we have gone.  She comes in many forms, most of them as a rooster (Nonnie loved roosters), but on this day it was different; we could feel her energy everywhere around us.  The water seemed to embody her very spirit.  We could feel her very essence in the trees, the river, and in every fabric of the rainforest.

Rio Machuca, A Spiritual Portal

It was a powerful experience, and I could tell that Adi was moved in ways that I have never seen in her before.  For the first time since her grandmother passed away, Adi began to cry.  It was a cathartic cry, a release of emotion that was so raw that I could feel the healing emoting from her tears.  These weren’t tears of sadness; they were tears of remembrance.  As Adi’s tears fell, I could barely hear her over the roar of the river as she called out, “She is not gone.  She is with us everywhere!  She is in the river.  She is in the trees.  Nonnie is everywhere!”

And Nonnie was everywhere.  This moment became a paramount lesson that all the world must remember once again:  we do not die!  We are not our bodies, nor are we are minds.  We are Divine Consciousness expressing ourselves through a body and a mind.  We will eventually shed the vessel that we call the body and the computer which operates it known as the mind.  Our Divine Consciousness lives on eternally.  It is a form of energy that cannot be destroyed.  Nonnie has cast aside her body and her mind—her Divine Consciousness lives on through the trees, flowers, plants, and the majestic river that Adi and I were blessed to experience.

For my part, I could sense my father with me.  So much has happened in my life since he passed in 2014.  As I sat watching Adi, thoughts of my father flickered through my mind, one of which was a particular moment that occurred right before his earthly death.  In 2013, with the help of my children, we started a random act of kindness campaign called the Secret Blue Butterfly.

One time each day my children and I would buy a stranger a cup of coffee, put a fresh flower on a random car, or tape a $5 bill somewhere for someone to find.  We would always leave a Blue Butterfly card with the small gesture.  On the back of the butterfly card there was a note that read: “You have been visited by the Secret Blue Butterfly.  The Secret Blue Butterfly gives random acts of kindness in the hopes of spreading joy to the world.”  The campaign started in Fort Worth, Texas and grew to almost 60 countries around the world.  (www.secretbluebutterfly.com)

One day, when my father discovered that we were doing this he called me and said, “Why don’t you give me some of that Secret Blue Butterfly money?”  This was my father at his best.  He was far too practical to just give things away to a random stranger.  As a child of the Great Depression, he simply couldn’t reconcile giving away “hard-earned money” (as he liked to call it).  He thought I was being a “sucker” by giving things away without getting anything in return and he felt compelled to set me straight.

“I think you are missing the point of the mission, dad” I said to my father.  “I think it’s important that we begin spreading kindness around the world and who better to start that than us?

“I agree.  Send me about $500 of your kindness,” he joked with me.

My father and I respectfully agreed to disagree on this point.

As I reminisced by the river, I remembered this conversation with my father when one of the single most magical experience of my life occurred.  Above me, fluttering ever so elegantly, a Blue Morpho Butterfly danced above my head in complete harmony with the Universe.  It was the very first blue butterfly that Adi and I have seen since we have been in Costa Rica.  I have longed to see one on this entire trip but up to this point the Blue Morpho had been elusive.  Chills ran up and down my spine as I knew my father was with me, letting me know that everything is always divinely orchestrated.

Adi and I shared two separate personal moments that became one inspired experience together.  I couldn’t help but think that so much has happened since we have arrived in Costa Rica.  We feel at home here.  We feel as if our souls have aligned with our Divine Purpose.

We have met so many wonderful new friends who have opened up their homes and hearts for us and we feel incredibly blessed.  Our new friends, Ross and Monica (yes, the same names from the 90s sitcom Friends), feel like souls who have reunited with from past lives; we eased back into the relationship without an ounce of work for any of us.  It has all unraveled so magically and effortlessly.  I will forever be amazed at what can occur when we truly surrender to the will of the Universe. Things that seem impossible can manifest in the least expected ways.

The river is what has bounded us together.  This special river in the heart of the rainforest in Costa Rica calls to all who will listen and within that call are the answers to any questions a person may have.  The only requirement is silence.  We must only be silent long enough to hear the divine wisdom from this portal back to the One.

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