While finding spiritual freedom remember…
Category: Thoughtful Living
Just because your family has always done things a certain way, does not mean it will benefit your life. Asking Why? What am I getting out of this habit? Replacing negative with positive is life-changing
FLOWERS IN THE SIDEWALK
In the city, we are often removed from the inherent beauty of creation. Looking down so as not to trip on uneven sidewalks can only provide a downcast focus of cigarette butts, weeds, dirt, spit, discarded food and wrappers, and flies. Yet our Creator calls us to look up-to look around -to seek His kingdom on earth. Where is this kingdom?
Continue reading “FLOWERS IN THE SIDEWALK”VICTIM
Victim. We should only be allowed to use this word to describe a moment in time where something was done to us that was out of our control. It should be an adjective to describe our experience in a tragedy, not to define our character. That moment does not define us. It can mold us, but we have the choice to allow it to continue to victimize us and be subjected to the powerlessness of that situation or we have the ability to become a warrior.
Continue reading “VICTIM”EXPOSED TO LIGHT
After what we have experienced in secret the idea of being exposed is quite painful. Had we not already had our bodies exposed to lustful eyes and hands? Yes! However the illumination I speak of has an opposite and profound effect on returning to our pre-abuse identity. Leading us out of a fear filled lonely place to a place of joy filled resilience and healing.
Continue reading “EXPOSED TO LIGHT”A HAVEN FOR HEALING
Find your healing space. Create your haven. When organizing a home for clients, where there was hoarding or just messy chaos, I would first carve out a place for the client. To be a refuge from their inner trauma or their addiction to hoarding. Maybe they needed a place to escape the chaos from a partner or child that was troubled with alcoholism, codependency, or other unhealthy tendencies.
Continue reading “A HAVEN FOR HEALING”Trauma and Silence
Father Richard Shares……Today I share a contemplative poem from CAC friend and writer Felicia Murrell. Felicia’s words combine a deep awareness of God’s presence while clearly naming the collective trauma of police brutality and lynchings. It is worth remembering, as Black liberation theologian James Cone (1938–2018) points out, that the lynchings of African Americans and the crucifixion of Jesus share much in common: “Both the cross and the lynching tree were symbols of terror, instruments of torture and execution, reserved primarily for slaves, criminals, and insurrectionists—the lowest of the low in society.” [1] There is something about poetry that gives us permission to sit with the paradoxes of our pain, perhaps especially when addressing traumatic suffering. I invite you to read Felicia’s challenging words slowly, allowing your heart to break open to God’s love amidst the suffering of the world.
Continue reading “Trauma and Silence”INNER VOICE : FRIEND OR FOE
Is our inner voice original thought, or guided by someone or something else? If you found your way here, you have experienced abuse or trauma in some capacity. Your mind may be battling with you daily, obsessive thoughts try to guide you one way. Fight you when you desire to go another. It can encompass self-destructive beliefs, self-destructive behaviors, addiction, fear, chronic nightmares. Your anxious thoughts trigger your, PTSD symptoms. Your inner voice may be continually condemning you- that you are flawed, less than, or of no value to anyone including yourself. We will discover together that these are lies, we can capture these thoughts, reckon with them and finally choose to replace the lies with truth.
Anger in Radiant Spectrum
Untangling the cords of anger that ran through my days, a bulging red knot was revealed.
Tugging harder, looking for the free end that would release me, the knot became inflamed with purple hues.
Continue reading “Anger in Radiant Spectrum”I’m not very well-liked. No, let me try that again.
I am a particular flavor of bold personality, the type that is not well-liked in some environments. Take, for example, a well-established hierarchical-based company that relies on its employees not seeing, the whole picture in order to remain in their jobs. Indeed, I am not very well-liked there because I am a Disruptor. I speak the truth no one else there dares to speak due to its disruptive nature. I can’t help it. That’s what I do. Even my mom tells me this frequently, although when she does it comes with negative connotations.
Continue reading “I’m not very well-liked. No, let me try that again.”To Learn is to Stretch
I am a bonafide boomer. yet my mind draws on nostalgic thinking of the good old days. Coming from the rural south, my experiences reflected more of the late forties lifestyle, kerosene lamps, space heaters. Any convenience was manufactured out of wood, tin, or iron. Stainless steel and chrome were the new darlings in industry and clockwork.
Continue reading “To Learn is to Stretch”