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Reflections :: Finding Peace Within
Image courtesy of Flickr Where inspiration is derived is as diverse as the individuals who seek it. I found mine in Denver, Colorado at Warren Church. It is a small church in an old but beautiful area of Denver where the streets are lined with quaint houses and a large park nearby. The congregation there have little in common other than their faith. In 2012, I found myself unable to work due to health issues. I applied for Social Security which took a very long two years to receive. During this process, I lost my home, my car and many of my belongings. It was a very dark…
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Musings :: Helping Our Children Navigate Through Life
When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt Over the past few weeks I have had this conversation with friends about how much do we protect our kids from life’s hardships. I think it is a natural reaction for most to try to shield our kids from the things that will come up in life – teasing on the playground, being excluded from certain groups, first breakups, loss, and everything else in between. I think it is a fine line we walk as parents from protecting our…
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Healthy Communication and Emotional Development
Photo courtesy of Flickr A common issue in relationships, and an important one for parents to learn, is communication. Many of today’s modern couples were reared in baby boomer, or post-baby boom, homes, and we see a common theme emerge from this generation of parents. The baby boomers of course were the generation that pushed social change to the forefront. Theirs, in essence, was the first generation to value individual emotional needs. In large part this transformation accompanied civil and women’s rights. I put this in context of communication because a classic and painful issue that thwarts communication is something occasionally termed codependence. Codependence is fairly…
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Reflections :: Vulnerability
Image courtesy of Flickr A favorite part of returning to school again, for me, has been the deep and connected conversations with fellow students. They are significant of the bonds we are growing, of our commitment to being seen and seeing one another as the individuals we are. It’s as educational an experience as the classes themselves. There is something about being surrounded by groups of people, whatever the size, that hold and reflect the value and meaning of what is important to you, as well as challenge you to consider just what that means. Particularly in that I am in the situation of pursuing a second career,…
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Reflections :: To be alive with what is alive
Here is a thought worth contemplating. It comes from a man named James Hollis in his book The Archetypal Imagination. Hollis reminds us that the Greek word psyche, which is the root of words like psychology, means soul. Today the word psyche is associated with our mental life, as in our thoughts and emotions–what’s going on in our head. Meaning psyche as soul could be showing itself in whats running across our mind. Soul is a funny thing to talk about. It’s not something that can be counted or added up. It has much more to do with quality. So let’s call it quality of life. Starting with the idea of…
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Reflections: Dropping the Stones
On a soul level there is an inner reckoning that takes place during the holidays. Regardless of whether or not we honor the process, the season grants a pause of contemplation in which we take stock. Specific to this is a measure of our year’s gains, and too a more sullen depth awareness of losses or sacrifices that may have been at stake. We quietly account, if we take the pause to consider within. This is part of the human rhythm which inter-webs us all, and natural as the flux of the seasons or regularity of the here-then-gone-again moon. This year’s reflection seemed to have repeated expression, or in other words, a…
