“The question for us is always, ‘how can we turn information into transformation?’”
—Richard Rohr
An inspirational perspective with food for thought, practical insights and helpful tips to improve your life and encourage you to live the heroic life from inside out.
I’m originally from Texas, where people love their barbeque. I can say, without any bias of course, my dad made THE BEST barbeque sauce! I remember when I was too young to reach the stove, pulling a chair up next to him while he made his barbeque sauce, so I could see how he did it. He never used a written recipe.
I realized a while back that searching for the recipe for wisdom, for me at least, has been a lot like my dad’s barbeque recipe.
Read MoreThose who manipulate are good at reading people. They instantly spot those of us who are gullible, as if we are wearing a flashing neon sign around our necks saying, “Take me, I’m yours. Have your way with me.”
But what is it about us that makes us so blind to the signs that are so obvious to manipulators? And what do we need to be aware of within ourselves that can make us immune from being magnets for manipulation, so we can relate to the world in much healthier ways?
Within us we all have mental, emotional, physical, and intuitive “red flags” alerts that act as our early warning devices to tell us of potential manipulation.
Read MoreOver 35 years ago I began writing a journal specifically to explore my issues related to fear, since it seemed to be an underlying theme in my life at that time. As I wrote in my journal, an image for my feelings became clear. The scene was a haunted house. I was creeping around every corner waiting for something to jump out and frighten me. I put on my “brave mask,” walking with authority and whistling a happy tune. But underneath I was terrified and wondered if my false bravado would fool anyone.
Read MoreAfter years of therapy, retreats, meditation, self-help books and workshops, as well as hours of talking with my best friend, I am now at a place where I feel those efforts have borne fruit. In midlife, I feel more secure about who I am. I realize that there are some parts of my personality that will always have a bit of a limp, and have forgiven myself for that. …Now when I find myself in unfamiliar emotional territory (or unpleasantly familiar emotional territory), I take some time to do what I call “checking the map.”
Read MoreMany years ago, I was frustrated that it was taking so long to complete a project I had been working on for several years. I was very hard on myself about how difficult it was for me to synthesize the information. I was getting whiny with friends about it and relentless in chastising myself. I questioned whether I was being too much of a perfectionist on my work product and wondered whether I would be better served to just put out something, even if it wasn’t as good as I would have liked. Right after I began this line of self-questioning, a series of synchronicities (meaningful coincidences) occurred in rapid succession.
Read MoreOne of the themes that ran throughout Joseph Campbell’s work was the idea that for us to feel the joy and vitality we seek, it is important to follow our bliss each moment. He described bliss as “the moments when you feel most happy, when you really are happy—not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy.” This requires us to be introspective and thoughtful about our lives. We have to experiment to see what brings us the most passion and enthusiasm among all the choices. We have to be persistent to find our own way despite distractions or seeming obstacles that divert us from our path.
Read MoreWe all know when life feels like a struggle. Struggle to get up in the morning. Struggle with projects at work. Struggle with our family members. But what exactly is this thing that sometimes feels like it has a life of its own inside of us? Struggle is defined in the dictionary as, “To make one’s way with difficulty, violent exertion.” Struggle implies hardship and turmoil. There is often judgment that goes along with struggle. As with so many other things we have looked at, there is an opposite side of the coin for struggle. Otherwise, there would be nothing for the struggle to push against. So, what is the opposite of struggle?
Read MoreWe each have a passionate fire within that is our inner calling just waiting to be unleashed. Many of us have learned from an early age, though, that we need to squelch that fire. When you were growing up maybe your passion felt too overwhelming to others and they told you either verbally or non-verbally, “Who do you think you are to want this?” or “You are acting too big for your britches.” Maybe you got the fear-based message that you had to play small to keep from being hurt.
Read MoreRecently a client mentioned that she had started a diet to lose a substantial amount of weight. She was dedicated to keeping off the weight for good this time. Like this client, for many years I struggled with weight. I “yo-yoed” between the “fat clothes” and “skinny clothes” in my closet. When I lost weight, I kept the “fat clothes” just in case I ever needed them later. By my mid-20s I finally committed to taking the extra weight off.
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