The Amy Racina Survival story on the Montel Show

Miracle in the Wilderness—Amy Racina
Wendy Patterson, San Francisco Chronicle

Every day is a good day for Amy Racina. It wasn't always that way, but crashing 60 feet into a granite ravine changed her perspective. A seasoned backpacker, Racina was on a solo trip two years ago in the Tehipite Valley, a seldom-visited area of Kings Canyon National Park, which is in the southern end of the Sierra Nevada in California. She was 12 days into a 162-mile trip when she lost the trail she was on. As she carefully crisscrossed down the valley looking for the trail, the ground suddenly gave way and she found herself careening through the air.

"So this is how it ends," she thought in the seconds before she slammed into a granite ravine. The fall nearly killed Racina, but the miracle -- the first of many -- was that it didn't.

Racina has published a book recounting her rescue and arduous recovery. Angels in the Wilderness ... is titled for the three hikers who saved her life after they came upon her even though she had been off-trail when she fell in a remote area visited only by a handful of people each season.

Racina, 48, has been backpacking since she was 16. She frequently hikes in the Sierra, logging thousands of miles, many of them alone. She is a backpacker's backpacker, so obsessive about reducing the weight in her pack that she cuts the edges off maps. She is a single mom of a teenage son and runs two small businesses ... out of her home with a determined, no-nonsense personality.

Read the full story on the San Francisco Chronicle:  Miracle in the wilderness / Book relates solo backpacker's 60-foot fall and fight for life before luck lends a hand

It Couldn't be Done

Poem by Edgar Guest

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,

But, he with a chuckle replied

That "maybe it couldn't" but he would be one

Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn't be done, as he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;

At least no one we know has done it";

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,

And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,

Without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

There are thousands to prophesy failure;

There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,

The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin,

Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start to sing as you tackle the thing

That cannot be done, and you'll do it.

Image licensed under Bigstockphoto.com

Amazingly Beautiful Story of Rick & Dick Hoyt - Team Hoyt

New Spiritual & Inspirational Community Page on Facebook

Visit the New Spiritual & Inspirational Community on Facebook for spiritual and inspirational articles, quotes, books, images and videos that are uplifting, spiritual, inspiring, motivational and enlightening.

New Spiritual & Inspirational Group on Facebook

Spiritual & Inspirational is a group where writers and non-writers can share spiritual and inspirational articles, quotes, books, images and videos that are uplifting, spiritual, inspiring, motivational and enlightening.

Let's Inspire & Uplift Each Other

Visit & Join: Spiritual & Inspirational Group

The Inspired Heart: Book Review

Like a patchwork quilt, each story and each connection in Jerry’s life is a patch, a snapshot in time, of his life journey of self-discovery, deep within and beyond the surface level of appearances, which normally reveal only a reflection of what the eye can see. No longer satisfied with this surface level of identity, Jerry decided to embrace what he refers to as “the mystery” of life, the essence of life, beyond illusion. He needed to let go of all forms of identity; this included what he and others identified him as—an artist, a reflection of his passion. 

Along the way, he met some incredible people, with whom each had a story to tell. Jerry unconditionally accepted them, regardless of what difficulties they were going through at the time. With that often quiet stillness and presence that he allowed, uncontaminated by the mind, he was able to be in that space openly and freely, which allowed others to share in that space openly and freely, without fear of judgment or ridicule. The usual illusory walls of separation found in most human connections crumbled and disappeared into thin air when the people he met and encountered for the first time felt that unconditional presence and love.

In being there for them, he was also able to be there for himself, unconditionally. Regardless of what difficulties arose for him along the way, he found that each one worked itself out. The mystery and his intuition carried him forward. Regardless of which direction it took him, he went with the flow of life, with complete acceptance of every experience, every moment, and every outcome.

He awakened to the true essence of life, which has no identity, no labels, just pure awareness. Free from attachments, now he is able to create art, unconditionally, without expectations, without judgment, without attachments to it or to the outcome. He is now able to go beyond appearances and dive deep into the unknown, into the mystery of life, which is now reflected in his artwork.

 -Pamela J. Wells, Freelance Writer, www.selflessbeing.com 

Book Available on Amazon: The Inspired Heart: An Artist's Journey of Transformation

Jerry's Website: In the Hands of Alchemy

Jerry Wennstrom Pacifica Graduate Institute Lecture In this video Jerry shares his unusual personal story, insights and photographs of the large body of art that he created throughout his lifetime. It is an intimate and in-depth guided tour of the creative journey and psychological process of an artist. Jerry articulates his quest, not just for creative inspiration but also for that "quantum leap" that sets one on the path of an inspired life. Paradoxically most of the paintings shown here were destroyed by the artist in 1979 and as stated in the video transformed into a more complete and whole way of Being. The sculptures presented here are only part of the entirely new body of art that has emerged.