Tag Archives: personal growth
Marina and Nick (not their real names) came to my support group at hospice every week for several months after their three-month-old baby died of a severe birth defect. Although Nick was philosophical about the loss, he was able to feel and express his grief each week during the sessions, which he said was helpful in coming to an acceptance. Marina’s process was different. She seemed perpetually angry— “It shouldn’t have happened. We did everything right.” She compared herself to…..
Do you have people in your life who are catalysts for your growth? There is a story about this I heard years ago that has stuck with me. It was told by the Buddhist teacher, Pema Chodron, about a Buddhist monk from Bengal who was traveling to Tibet. As I remember it, he insisted on bringing his Bengali tea boy with him. People wondered why, since there were plenty of tea boys in Tibet. He told them his tea boy…..
“There is only one you, it is truer than true. No one on earth is more youer than you.” –Dr. Seuss When Katharine (not her real name) came to my office for counseling, she presented me with a list of things she wanted to change about herself. She was a screenwriter and was experiencing writer’s block. She felt insecure about her abilities as a writer, and her insecurities spilled over into other areas of her life. She was unhappy with…..
Things don’t always go according to plan in small and big ways in our lives. We are constantly derailed, whether it’s the barista making the wrong drink at Starbucks or our retirement plans going awry through illness or death. Our ability to be present with ‘what is’ is the only predictable thing in our unpredictable, constantly changing lives. One of my clients at hospice brought this reality into clear focus for me. Jerry’s daughter Jeannie (not their real names), brought…..
Here in Hawaii, many people are living off the grid. They have opted to jump off the treadmill of their lives on the mainland and live the ultimate simple existence. For some I have met, they woke up to the fact they had been driving themselves into the ground just to support their upscale lifestyle, selling their souls to a stressful and unfulfilling career. When they asked themselves if it was worth it, they found the answer was no. We…..
Working at hospice (as well as in my own experiences of loss) I saw that many of us who have suffered a major loss often begin asking the deeper questions about life and death. As we search for answers to why it happened, grapple with our beliefs about life and death and try to find meaning in our losses, new dimensions of life are revealed to us. Our broken heart can become an open heart. We can become more conscious,…..
By now 2019 is in full swing. Did you start the year full of good intentions? Maybe it’s time to reconnect with them and re-energize them. Here is an intention from a few years ago that may resonate, given the tension and conflict swirling around in the world today: It was the beginning of January. Sitting down at my desk in my office at hospice, trying to ease back into work mode after the two-week Christmas break, I turned on…..
Welcome to my blog and thank you for connecting! I invite you to join me on a voyage into the heart of life starting from right where we are—here and now in our everyday lives. Just like in my book, Simply Sacred, I’ll continue to share stories, questions, insights, and contemplations from my life as a spiritual seeker in India, a hospice counselor, a psychotherapist, and an ordinary human being navigating this wild ride we’re all on. I think we…..
