Introducing a new segment of this blog: HEALTH PRESENCE When I was a little kid, the sugary soda pop was a rare and special treat. Time passed. Then came the days when soda was the beverage of choice to wash down the meal. Ahhh. A nice cool soda on ice. Then, something strange happened as …Read More
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Rediscovering Play ~ Come play with us
Can you come out and play? Just show up at the Retreat Center of Hope Springs Institute, and let yourself be nurtured. Everything is included so you can relax – beautiful lodging surrounded by nature, gourmet meals, plenty of fun, and a Kindred Spirits Community. Rejuvenate with activities that stimulate creative expression in a community …Read More
Juggling Elephants ~ James Loflin and Todd Musig
Does your life feel like a 3-ring circus? Have the animals gotten loose? Does it feel like you are trying to juggle elephants? “The result of juggling elephants is that no one, including you, is thrilled with the performance.” James Loflin and Todd Musig have created a lighthearted guide with a heavy metaphor, Juggling Elephants: …Read More
Secret of Storytelling to Kids (and Adults)
“A person’s a person no matter how small.” ~ Dr. Seuss If there is anyone that speaks the language of children, it is Dr. Seuss. With stories like Green Eggs and Ham, the rhythm and cadence, the visual imagery, the silliness … everything also speaks to adults. Andy Offutt Irwin, a master storyteller, comedian, and …Read More
Mother’s Peace Day ~ Julia Ward Howe
“Arise, all women who have hearts!” Julia Ward Howe is best remembered for writing “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” However, in 1870, she also worked to establish Mother’s Peace Day. For many years, she organized celebrations in Boston dedicated to the eradication of war. This began a tradition that would evolve to the celebration of …Read More
Rafael Campo, Physician-Poet
Marvelous, the body’s workmanship, how perfect is its service to the soul it shelters, each soft hair along the shin enshrining touch, this way we’re made to need each other’s care. ~ Rafael Campo, Physician-Poet Today Rafael Campo is a primary-care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a professor at Harvard Medical School, and …Read More
Two Wolves – Alternate Ending
Two Wolves An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life: “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil—he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He …Read More
Twas the Night Before Tax Day ~ Glen Davis
Twas the Night Before Tax Day ~ By Glen Davis (April 15, 2003) ‘Twas the night before Tax Day, when all through the nation many creatures were stirring, due to procrastination. The receipts were stuffed in a box without care, in case of an audit, they all would be there. The children were nestled all …Read More
Poem: The Tiger ~ William Blake
“The Tiger” by William Blake (1757-1827) Tiger Tiger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, and …Read More
#29: Freedom Schools (Jim Gregory)
“That’s not going to happen, it hurt too much just to tell this one, I would never be able to tell the rest of the story.” Jim Gregory began to unravel his painful stories with the support of the oral Storytelling community, and he did manage to tell the rest of the story. As a …Read More