"I've come back from the colorless world of despair..."

"In my own worst seasons I've come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to look hard, for a long time, at a single glorious thing: a flame of red geranium outside my bedroom window.  And then another: my daughter in a yellow dress.  And another: the perfect outline of a full, dark sphere behind the crescent moon.  Until I learned to be in love with my life again.  Like a stroke victim retraining new parts of the brain to grasp lost skills, I have taught myself joy, over and over again." ~ From, High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never, by Barbara Kingsolver

No-Cost Strategies to Fight Depression

Feeling blue, stressed into emotional and physical exhaustion, being depressed, are experiences all of us face now and then. Life can be difficult, confusing, and painful at times. If you are severely depressed, unable to work or maintain your daily tasks, then please seek professional help. Talk to a doctor, a therapist, your minister, or perhaps a counselor provided by your workplace. But if you are going through times of feeling a bit down or discouraged, here are some excellent tips to help you fight mild depression: Health.com

Adversity is a natural part of being human.

"Adversity is a natural part of being human. It is the height of arrogance to prescribe a moral code or health regime or spiritual practice as an amulet to keep things from falling apart. Things do fall apart. It is in their nature to do so. When we try to protect ourselves from the inevitability of change, we are not listening to the soul. We are listening to our fear of life and death, our lack of faith, our smaller ego's will to prevail. To listen to your soul is to stop fighting with life--to stop fighting when things fall apart; when they don't go our away, when we get sick, when we are betrayed or mistreated or misunderstood. To listen to the soul is to slow down, to feel deeply, to see ourselves clearly, to surrender to discomfort and uncertainty and to wait." — Elizabeth Lesser, Author/Cofounder of the Omega Institute

Are You Willing to Do This for One Day?

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front of you so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open - are you willing to do these things for even a day? 

—Caroline Kennedy, Author/Attorney

You are not a mistake

"You are not a mistake. You are not a problem to be solved. But you won't discover this until you are willing to stop banging your head against the wall of shaming and caging and fearing yourself." ~ Geneen Roth, “Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything” 

A Yearning for Meaningful Lives

"I think at the heart of so much restlessness of the day is a spiritual vacuum. There is a yearning for meaningful lives, a yearning for values we can commonly embrace. I hear an almost inaudible but pervasive discontent with the price we pay for our current materialism. And I hear a fluttering of hope that there might be more to life than bread and circuses." ~ Bill Moyers, Journalist

The Full Life

The full life is filled with vulnerability, not defense.  You face whatever feeling there is. ~ Virginia Satir, Psychotherapist

Why men die long before women

"American men are allotted just as many tears as American women. But because we are forbidden to shed them, we die long before women do, with our hearts exploding or our blood pressure rising or our livers eaten away by alcohol because that lake of grief inside us has no outlet. We, men, die because our faces were not watered enough." ~ Pat Conroy, Novelist

Woe is Me

Oftentimes, we are our own worst enemies. We commit acts of sabotage by doubting our own competence. Because of self-loathing, we close off avenues that could lead to personal growth. Due to feelings of inferiority, we put ourselves down, and because of grandiosity, others. Aiming for perfection, we are not satisfied with anything we do. None of these approaches are part of the spiritual practice which banishes "Woe is me" and "I am the master of the universe" mood swings.

The ideal is to live with both our strengths and our weaknesses. – Frederick and Mary Ann Brussat, www.spiritualityhealth.com

There is a Place Where We Are Uncorrupted and Untouched by the World

The world is often a dangerous and unpredictable place.

The laws of nature are not ours to control or even fully understand.  Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes and other violent forces of earth do not intend harm.  They are simply responses to a delicate and often mysterious order of purpose and design that operates beyond our manipulation.

Sometimes we do effect our environment by the pollutants we pour into it, by the ravaging of our forests, by the construction of nuclear or other huge facilities filled with poison toxins, and by our greedy misconception that we own the earth and can do with it whatever we please.

The world is also dangerous because of disease, famine, and war.  War being one of the most destructive and disgraceful acts we humans do to one another.  We have not evolved much since the days of Cain and Abel when jealousy murdered innocence and one man's pride destroyed his own brother.  

The horror and sorrow in Japan.  The brutal mess in the Middle East.  The endless dysfunction here in our political system.  It can all be discouraging and overwhelming.

Happy words won't fix any of this.  Waving a Bible over it all is useless.  Hoping it will just go away is delusional.  Turning our backs and pretending it doesn't exist is cowardly.

What we can do is this:

1.  Try to understand our world and how it works.

2.  Believe in the power of science and respect the laws of nature.

3.  Accept the differences in people, cultures, religions.

4.  Don't expect perfection in anything or anyone.

5.  Embrace the mysteries of life.

6.  Realize questions are just as valuable as answers.

7.  Stop waiting for God or some other force to do what we should be doing for others.

8.  Treat our environment with the care it deserves.

9.  Pay attention to the hurts of others.

10.Take time to listen more to what people are really saying and feeling.

Andrew Cohen, in his book, Enlightenment Is a Secret, has written, "There is a place in all of us that has remained innocent, uncorrupted and untouched by the world.  We have to locate that most delicate place.  It is a very sensitive place; it’s where we feel love—where tenderness and compassion arise, free from self-interest."

It is difficult to go there in times like the ones we are living through.  But it is essential to our survival.  And if we make the effort it will carry us through.

© 2011 Timothy Moody

The Dark Holes of Faith

“My scientist friends have come up with things like ‘principles of uncertainty’ and dark holes. They’re willing to live inside imagined hypotheses and theories. But many religious folk insist on answers that are always true. We love closure, resolution and clarity, while thinking that we are people of ‘faith’! How strange that the very word ‘faith’ has come to mean its exact opposite.” ~ Richard Rhor, Theologian/Author

Without Courage We Wither

"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential.  Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.  We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest." ~ Maya Angelou, Writer/Poet

Being Ruled by Fear

To feel fear is not to be cowardly.  To show fear is a sensible and honest response, part of self-preservation, but to be ruled by fear is to be emotionally unable to function for your own best interests. ~ Sylvia Clare, Lecturer in Psychology and Child Development

When Life Becomes a Volcano

What do you do in those times when life turns into some kind of volcano and erupts in an explosion of staggering experiences that send the debris of your stability across the landscape of your days?  You see the pieces of your normal existence floating down around you and suddenly you’re standing in a footing that is melting and cracking apart.

My second grandchild was born two days ago.  A beautiful baby boy.  But upon his arrival a series of critical medical complications appeared.  Doctors stepped in to work the magic of the astonishing resources now available to them.  Our baby Austin got here full term and in perfect weight only to begin a heroic battle of survival.   

Newborns seem so fragile to us, tiny and defenseless, wiggling and writhing in their attempt to acclimate themselves to their new existence.  Babies in early distress obviously seem even more vulnerable and we bigger humans gather around them to do our best from a distance to protect and heal them.

But every baby is born with invisible armament that works amazingly well.  And when it is supported with medical genius, dedicated physician skill, fiercely loving parents and other family with arms and hearts extended, the chances of winning the battle of survival, though not guaranteed, are nevertheless increased.

So far only delicate signs of progress are appearing.  But they are enough to offer comfort and the possibility that Austin might very well get beyond all of the obstacles inside his small frame.

In the meantime, those of us who love him dearly, struggle to find our own footing in what feels like hot slippery lava beneath us.

To Cease Being Fearful

I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me. I have accepted fear as a part of life - specifically the fear of change, the fear of the unknown; and I have gone ahead despite the pounding in my heart that says: turn back, turn back, you'll die if you venture too far.

~ Erica Jong, Novelist

Feelings

A little advice about feelings kiddo; don't expect it always to tickle. 


~ Dr. Berger to Conrad Jarrett in the movie, "Ordinary People"

Look Inside

"If you try to get rid of fear and anger without knowing their meaning, they will grow stronger and return." 
— Deepak Chopra, Author/Physician/Mystic

Love Is What We Are Born With

"Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us." 
— Marianne Williamson, Author/Lecturer, Founder of The Peace Alliance

Use Your Voice and Be Not Afraid

"Give voice to what you know to be true, and do not be afraid of being disliked or exiled." - Eve Ensler, Playwright/Activist, author of Vagina Monologues

Making a Fist

For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,
I felt the life sliding out of me,
a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.

"How do you know if you are going to die?"
I begged my mother. 
We had been traveling for days.
With strange confidence she answered,
"When you can no longer make a fist."

Years later I smile to think of that journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.

(c) Naomi Nye