Grief
Grief is a miserable experience but it is also bittersweet because it attests to the depth of our bonds and our love. When the unexpected happens we are suddenly shaken from our everyday routine, from what seems normal. We are shaken whether an event is a loss, a lost friend, a death, the end of a dream. We realize how little is out in our control. Major change is a dizzying feeling as if we are spinning in a whirlpool going down and down turning around trying to find our way in wild and crazy waters. Grief is as sharp as a stab by a sword. It is so visceral. Loss is felt in our bodies,...
Read MoreMoving toward joys
I wake up in the morning and sometimes I’m drawn in by my curiosity to watch the news. This actually is not such a good idea, so often I have the discipline to quickly turn the TV off and avoid the latest fascinating horror. Instead I go outside, even in the rain, and look at the sky and feed the birds. It’s much better for our nervous systems for our sense of connection in the world to take time to be and to use our senses to connect with our environment, to renew us and fill us up. Connection and our senses move us towards joy. I recommend the book by Charles Eisenstein The...
Read Morereclaiming all of our Being, left and right
Let’s claim or reclaim all of who we are. For thousands of years we lived closer to a way of life that revolved around relationship and being. There is a fascinating book and corresponding Tedtalk called My stroke of insight by Jill Bolte-Taylor. Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor is a neurophysiologist, an expert on the brain. She describes her catastrophic stroke that occurred in the left hemisphere of her brain. Although it’s an oversimplification, in general, the two hemispheres of our brain have distinctly different capabilities which she describes as “personalities”. Within us is...
Read More“learning disability” or other ways of perceiving
I often wonder if people who have learning disabilities or other kinds of perceptual differences are being locked into a label based on a narrow understanding of reality? There are a plethora of ways to know and perceive. How exciting this is. Off hand, I don’t know of many famous woman with these traits. Unfortunately, the life stories of woman are so often lost to us in an abyss of outright or subtle misogyny. Although both Einstein and Steve Jobs, famous men, were dyslexic we still consider people who are dyslexic slightly broken or disabled . But in the book The Dyslexic Advantage...
Read Morewebs of connection heal and nurture
Webs of connection heal and nurture. Human and nonhuman connections must be pursued and nurtured to work their magic. Humility and compassion foster understanding, learning and healing. In the words of a coast Salish elder… “When a visitor comes to your home you praise your visitor. They become like a ‘God’, a “Spirit’ to you. They are special because they have sacrificed their time to see you, to come and visit you and to encourage you. So, you listen to them first and they talk about themselves, what they know and everything. Then after a while, when it feels right—it might...
Read MoreConnection is magic. Connection is the essence of aliveness.
Connection is magic. Connection heals. Connection is the essence of aliveness. It was a shimmering early spring day. I had walked throughout the park and, noticing I was hungry, I began to walk the path towards where my car was parked. I saw an elderly man holding a cane. He walked very slowly, bent over, holding a cane. I said “hello” to him and he looked up and said “hi, you can help me walk.” He reached out his hand. I took his hand. Internally, I said to myself “slow down, you don’t have to get back to your car quickly, take this time to be with this...
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