Posts – Page 8 – Deepening Our Journey

The Gift of Presence

December 13, 2020

As you may have noticed this month’s post is late! It wasn’t for a lack of topics but much the opposite. As an ADHD writer, trying to sift through and prioritize all of the possibilities can be challenging! While I was considering possible topics, I was reading through some of the comments by folks who follow my blog and one by a friend who was a classmate over 50 years ago at Williamson College of the Trades jumped off my tablet! Here is what Ron wrote: “Sometimes we do not

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Inspirers

November 1, 2020

I often ask Siri for the definition of a word as I struggle to expand my limited vocabulary since it’s so convenient. However, when I really want to grapple with a word I usually return to my Merriam-Webster collegiate dictionary! Here are some of the definitions I found for inspire: 1.To influence, move, or guide by divine or supernatural inspiration To exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on To spur on 2. To breathe or blow into or upon To infuse (as life) by breathing People who, by their

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The Uses of Fear: Part Two

September 27, 2020

My last blog post contained some reflections on the struggles with fear—especially bullying—that I’ve dealt with on a personal level in the past. In this post, I want to focus on escalating fears I am observing all around me—and feeling myself—that seem to be operating on a societal level today. We are currently living in a climate of fear unlike anything I have experienced in my lifetime. Even though I have lived through multiple wars, serious civil unrest, the threat of nuclear annihilation and terrorism, the level of fear I

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The Uses of Fear: Part One

August 30, 2020

This month I would like to address something that has been on my mind a lot lately: fear. All of us have dealt with a wide variety of fears and levels of fear throughout our lifetime. One of the earliest, most powerful memories I have dealing with fear is from when I was a youngster of around ten or eleven. There was a big, rather mean boy named Clyde in our small town. He called me “Four Eyes” because I wore glasses and he dubbed one of my best friends

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The $30,000 Hat

August 1, 2020

When Rita and I stopped for breakfast at our favorite little café, I noticed a gentleman around my age at a table near the door. More specifically, I noticed what was on his head. Rita, in the way that couples who have been married as long as we have, was thinking the same thing I was. “It’s your kind of hat” she said. It was the kind of flat hat I wear most of my waking hours now that I have lost the curly locks I had in my younger

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Better to Give Than to Receive?

July 2, 2020

For several years our church has been providing a free dinner each month for folks in the community. It has grown into a meaningful ministry. Most appreciate a good “church-made” meal but equally important has been the opportunity for fellowship amongst members and the community at large. Obviously while we were under stay-at-home orders, the dinner was temporarily canceled. However within a short time the team transitioned to delivering the meals to the homes of anyone who called in and requested one. I called an older neighbor who lives alone to

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Our Unopened Gifts

May 31, 2020

Imagine for a moment that on Christmas morning you were so taken up by one or two of your parent’s presents that you didn’t take the time to open any of the other gifts you were given—and that this exact same scenario played out again and again every single year for your entire life! Now suppose that one day you are stuck at home with nothing else to do when you go into a back room in the house and discover all the presents you never opened over the years,

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For Better or Worse

May 1, 2020

Crisis seems to bring out the best and worst of human nature, and the crisis we now find ourselves in is no exception. Daily we witness the heroism of medical professionals, while grocery store workers and delivery people who certainly never signed up to put their lives on the line, still go in to work each day to make sure our needs are met. Individuals and businesses across the nation are stepping up to do what they can to help those most affected by the crisis. On the other hand,

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How to Not Just Survive the Pandemic, but Thrive!

April 1, 2020

For those of you who have been following my writing, you will recognize this post takes a somewhat different approach than usual. However, over the last few days, several of the patients that I counsel by phone have encouraged—or in one case, demanded!—that I write a post on some of the practical coping strategies I have shared with them and that they have found helpful. So I would like to offer some brief reflections and suggestions as we wrestle together as to how we can not only survive this pandemic

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