Monthly Archives: March 2016

“Broom” Jim Harrison

BROOM To remember you’re alive visit the cemetery of your father at noon after you’ve made love and are still wrapped in a mammalian odor that you are forced to cherish. Under each stone is someone’s inevitable surprise, the unexpected … Continue reading

Posted in consciousness, creativity, Disconnection, dying, embodiment, flow, gratitude, grief, human condition, meaning, metaphor & dream, perception, physical being, poetry, presence, sexual being, surrender, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Belonging: Be the Longing – Toko-pa

Click on the link at the end of this piece for Toko-pa’s wonderful post. ‘The ache to belong in friendship and community can be so pervasive that it colours everything we do.‘ The writer stumbled across these words yesterday, and … Continue reading

Posted in acceptance, actualizing tendency, beauty, consciousness, core conditions, creativity, cultural questions, Disconnection, fear, friendship, grief, identity, immanence, interconnection & belonging, John O'Donohue, kindness & compassion, loneliness, loss, love, meaning, non-conforming, perception, presence, relationship, sadness & pain, self, spirituality, surrender, Toko-pa, transformation, trust, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

John O’Donohue – Easter Blessing

It can be hard at times not to become overwhelmed by personal pain, the pain of those we love, and the pain in – and of – our world. And, in that overwhelm, to move into anger, despair, destructive actions. Today, John’s … Continue reading

Posted in 'evil', acceptance, awakening, compassion, consciousness, core conditions, creativity, cultural questions, dying, ethics, good, gratitude, grief, healing, human condition, immanence, interconnection & belonging, John O'Donohue, kindness & compassion, loss, love, meaning, perception, photographs & pictures, presence, relationship, sadness & pain, shadow, spirituality, surrender, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Anne Lamott on Mother Rage

Great piece for….anyone who has parented in any form…. Especially if you carry shame about some aspects of how you have parented. Kindness begins with own being, and radiates outwards – and that requires we parent our own light and … Continue reading

Posted in anger, Anne Lamott, blaming, child development, compassion, core conditions, cultural questions, Disconnection, emotions, empathy, encounter, family systems, growing up, guilt, interconnection & belonging, loneliness, love, parenting, presence, reality, relationship, resilience, shadow, shame, shaming, violence, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Matt Licata on when the ground falls away

The writer is noticing how hard, painful and confusing life is feeling for many in her world, both those she works with therapeutically and others – and how this is often her experience too at the moment. Lots of change and loss … Continue reading

Posted in acceptance, actualizing tendency, awakening, compassion, consciousness, core conditions, creativity, cultural questions, Disconnection, embodiment, emotions, fear, flow, grief, growth, healing, human condition, identity, immanence, internal locus of evaluation, loneliness, loss, love, Matt Licata, meaning, organismic experiencing, perception, photographs & pictures, physical being, power and powerlessness, presence, sadness & pain, self, shadow, spirituality, surrender, transformation, trust, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pema Chödrön on Blaming

“We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who’s right and who’s wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and … Continue reading

Posted in accountability, blaming, Brene Brown, communication, conditions of worth, cultural questions, Disconnection, ethics, external locus, objectification, Pema Chödrön, perception, political, scapegoating, self concept, shadow, shame, shaming, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Am Not Old – Samantha Reynolds

Culturally, we do not value aging, or our Elders. We think this is a disastrous and heart-breaking piece of short-sightedness, which generates huge loss for us all. It seems linked to a view of the human being as a production unit. As we … Continue reading

Posted in beauty, consciousness, core conditions, cultural questions, encounter, equality, ethics, interconnection & belonging, love, paradigm shift, perception, person centred, photographs & pictures, physical being, poetry, political, power and powerlessness, values & principles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brené Brown on empathy, compassion and boundaries

‘Empathy: if you have done your work and set your boundaries, you can tread that water forever and not get tired. Amen’. Yes. Empathy in the sense Brené is exploring does not deplete us, nor does it sit with our … Continue reading

Posted in blaming, boundaries, Brene Brown, communication, compassion, congruence, consent, cultural questions, Disconnection, empathy, ethics, interconnection & belonging, kindness & compassion, loneliness, love, organismic experiencing, relationship, risk, shadow, shaming, spirituality, sustainability, trust, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mary Oliver on Love & its necessary wildness – Brainpickings

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/10/20/mary-oliver-felicity-love/ Lovely piece, beautiful poems, and a wonderful conversation between Mary and Krista Tippett for On Being – as Maria says ‘feast your soul’. Thank you, as ever, to Maria Popova and Brainpickings. Here’s the book link:- Palace Gate Counselling Service, Exeter Counselling … Continue reading

Posted in awakening, beauty, communication, consciousness, creativity, embodiment, emotions, encounter, gratitude, grief, human condition, immanence, interconnection & belonging, loss, love, Maria Popova, Mary Oliver, meaning, perception, physical being, presence, relationship, risk, sadness & pain, sexual being | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Antidepressants can raise the risk of suicide – Sarah Knapton for the Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/12126146/Antidepressants-can-raise-the-risk-of-suicide-biggest-ever-review-finds.html?utm_content=buffer3d1d3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer We are deeply concerned at this service by the extent of public misinformation and baseless assumptions about the justification for, efficacy/side effects of and withdrawal consequences attached to these drugs – in children and adults. Many GPs appear ill informed and/or disingenuous … Continue reading

Posted in anti-depressants, CBT, communication, consent, cultural questions, empowerment, ethics, iatrogenic illness, perception, political, psychiatric drugs, psychiatry, research evidence, risk, suicide, working with clients | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment