In many shamanic societies, if you came to a shaman or medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions. When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence? Where we …Read More
Category: Books
Love is not an emotion
“When an emotion is healthy, it arises only when it’s needed, it shifts and changes in response to its environment, and it recedes willingly once it has addressed an issue. When love is healthy, it does none of those things…. Love is not an emotion; it doesn’t behave the way emotions do. Real love is …Read More
C. S. Lewis: The Four Loves
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up …Read More
Elizabeth Gilbert – On Creativity
In a prior blog, I talked about flow states. One of the states where we feel like we are “in the flow” is when creativity “flows through us.” In her TED talk below, Elizabeth Gilbert (author of the book Eat, Pray, Love) discusses the myths of creativity, and how changing our mindset can improve access to our …Read More
Jill Bolte Taylor – My Stroke of Insight
Seeking nirvana? enlightenment? Struggling to escape control of the mind chatter? Trapped in the baggage of the past? Stuck in the anxiety of the future? Disconnected from the world? Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist, describes how a stroke and near-death experience turned off her LEFT BRAIN and gave her an insight into the RIGHT BRAIN …Read More
Richard Rohr “The Naked Now”
“The Naked Now” describes the mystical experience as a place of deep presence. Standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon for the first time, I was struck by the intersection of the past and the future in a single moment of eternal now. I sensed the immense forces that carved this gorge in the …Read More
In Pursuit of Flow
“Flow is the peak performance state where you feel your best and you perform your best.” —Flow Genome Project (www.flowgenomeproject.com) Have you ever felt like you were “in the flow?” The artist that is connected to their “muse” with the “creative juices flowing.” The athlete that is “in the zone.” Part of a team where …Read More
Hope is the thing with feathers
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul…” —Emily Dickinson When I can’t find faith, I look for hope. Emily Dickinson’s poem brings me hope. I feel the rustling of feathers within me whenever I read this opening line to her poem. Some inner knowing awakens: “It’s going to be OK.” Even …Read More
“Reclaiming Your Body” by Suzanne Scurlock-Durana
“The body has a language that is older and more primal than most of us realize. Our bodies speak to us with sensations, images, emotions, and an inner knowing that is beyond words.” Suzanne Scurlock-Durana begins Chapter 1 with this sentence in her newly released book, Reclaiming Your Body: Healing from Trauma and Awakening Your Body’s …Read More
Resilience and Post-Traumatic Growth
“People act strange around death. There are those who talk about everything but the person who died. Those who talk about only the person who died. Those who try to cheer you up. And those who can’t help but make you cry. And then there are those who say nothing at all because they don’t …Read More