Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
“The longer you look back, the farther you can look forward.” ~ Winston Churchill During these times when democracies around the world have been under attack by angry, xenophobic extremists my political disposition has become cynical and depressed. While political fires rage all around me I’ve found myself strangely disengaged, treating it all like bothersome background noise. What kind of citizen am I when I refuse … Continue reading Finding Our Finest Hour
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” ~ Carl Jung For the past two months I’ve been battling kidney stones. Ugh. It has felt very much like living in the presence of constant shadow. There’s been no time in the past 50 years when I’ve been so sedentary. I’ve had nothing to distract me and have … Continue reading My Inscrutable Shadow
My husband and I recently saw a wonderful play called Everybody which was uplifting, hilarious, and joyful. It was also about death. That seems like an oxymoron, but the central message is that everybody dies and you have to take that journey alone. The only thing you can take with you is love. Furthermore, you can joyfully dance to your death. As great as the … Continue reading Everybody (by Eileen)
As I watched the January 6 hearings and thought about the upcoming midterm elections this observation from George Washington chillingly came to mind. “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” His thought on power didn’t come out of nowhere; rather, it described how he experienced the interplay of politics and … Continue reading The Power in Walking Away
“When our soul has been cast down, has never an invisible voice whispered, ‘There is lifting up’? Have not gales and breezes of sweet and healing thought been wafted over us, as if an angel had shaken from his wings the odors of paradise?” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe When Marsha recently wheeled me into the emergency room at Providence Hospital in Everett I was experiencing … Continue reading The Healing Power of Love