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Linda Ramus of California "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
Linda Ramus is no stranger to the road less traveled. She works, happily, among other places, in a California prison system. Her career involves teaching her clients spiritually-based principles that have transformed her life. The approach is effective and unusual in rehabilitation settings. A devotee of wilderness, Linda loves to back-pack and hike long distances on remote, pristine trails. She is also a widow. When I first met Linda in San Jose, CA in 2003, she was finding her way through bereavement, just months after the death of her husband, Richard. They had been married 28 years. Richard succumbed to pneumonia he had contracted while the couple was back-packing on the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon near Crater Lake. Linda hiked 15 miles to get assistance to bring his body back off the trail. Despite her loss, Linda seemed peaceful. I was awed by her equanimity, humor and loving service to others. She clearly enjoyed her work as Director of Health Realization Services, Department of Alcohol and Drug Services within the Santa Clara County prison system. Her Secret: A Principle-Based Understanding of Life The men and women who take Health Realization classes in the division Linda directs are taught that they create their experience of life through three building-blocks or principles: mind, thought and consciousness. Mind is the intelligent, formless energy behind all creation; Thought is how this creative energy takes form within us and Consciousness refers to our ability to be aware of and bring to life all that we create, including thoughts. Linda was introduced to these principles in 1995 during a training offered by Roger Mills of the Health Realization Institute (see www.healthrealization.com) sponsored by the Santa Clara County Department of Alcohol and Drug Services. “My life changed when I began to understand a little about how thought creates reality and that I am a thinker with free will to think anything I want. Life is not happening to me. I am creating my own experience day to day,” says Linda. “Before learning about the Principles, I was creating my own reality. Now, after learning about them, I am doing so with a bit more wisdom,” Linda says. She adds, “I still have low moods, but I know I’m doing it to myself. I can see the game now and decide not to play. When my husband died, I saw how I could go into a pit of despair and depression – or not. I chose not to.” An Understanding Shared by Colleagues and Clients When I met Linda, she introduced me to several of her colleagues; they seemed to share her light-heartedness and optimism. Having visited and trained staffs in several prisons during my career, I knew the spirit I witnessed among them to be unusually gentle and peaceful. They seemed more trusting of their clients and more confident in their ability to help them turn around. “Health Realization sees hope and health and focuses in on that like a laser beam,” Linda observes. “We see clients as full partners who have a ton of wisdom and are our best teachers. The men and women who attend Health Realization classes are taught not to focus on their past or their problems, but to learn to quiet their personal minds, to find feelings they WANT to live in and to wait for insights to come that can help them manage the challenges they face in creative, wise ways. “Clients, clinicians and teachers experience HR classes as energizing, uplifting and fun,” says Linda. “I never hear trainers speak negatively of clients. They remain hopeful and optimistic no matter how combative a client may be. They know low moods will pass. If a client stays stuck we don’t worry. The principles aren’t damaged. The connection to Mind is not severed.” “Change is not a long process that takes time and effort,” she adds. “Quite the opposite. It happens in an instant of insight, when no effort is made. My colleagues and I have all seen it happen this way. That is why we stay patient and optimistic.” Making Her Way Via “Temperature” Taking “Temperature taking” is one practice that helps Linda work in a large prison organization with greater ease. Temperature taking involves monitoring her state of mind, and the states of minds of others, moment to moment. “I’m constantly watching my mind and mood, taking my own temperature. This act alone is sufficient to shift me out of a low mood or reactive state of mind,” Linda observes. “If the people around me are in a low mood or being reactive, I know it is not a good time to try to talk to them. I wait until they are in a better state of mind, then I approach them,” Linda explains. “I also know that given their current state of mind, people are always doing the best they can. If they are in a low mood and I recognize that, I am less likely to take their behavior personally.” Linda trusts that, when her mind is quiet, she will find the wisdom and creativity to address the challenges of her work. “I see the innocence of the people working in this system. I respect their efforts and dedication. I don’t take them on. I don’t take on the rules and regulations of the prisons or juvenile detention facilities either. It is more like I wait them out and try to float over, under or around whatever obstacles are put up.” Acceptance, Adjustments and Patience This sense of going with a flow, rather than resisting, has helped Linda accept and adjust, with growing patience, to the death of her husband. “I was married to Richard. Now Richard is dead. My grief comes when I’m attached to the way things were because I become insecure and frightened by the change.” she says quietly. “I see what was “us” and what is me. I really miss the “us”, but sometimes, when I’m in a good mood, I also see what an opportunity I am presented with to try out this new, “just me,” she explains. “Richard gave me this gift— the opportunity to find out more about me.” Moving though life in a more solo way has also helped Linda more clearly hear her own wisdom. “I no longer have someone else to go to and lean on for answers or advice,” she reflects. “I have gotten quieter – I had to, to hear my own voice. I trust that voice more and more. I have become more patient. Patience is a necessary part of being quiet to hear my voice.” Linda has returned to back-packing, on her own. She is drawn by the connection to what is elemental – in herself and in nature. “I have been places that are so incredibly beautiful that I stutter when trying to describe them and you can only get there by walking.” she says. “Hiking simplifies life to its basic ingredients – get up in the morning, walk 10-15 miles, stop, put up your shelter/home, eat dinner, go to sleep and repeat the same thing the next day.” She concludes, “It is a time when the physical, mental and spiritual come together. It is so peaceful. I can’t wait for the next trip.”
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