13 Oct

Posted at 13:43h in All Blog Posts, Feelings, Resilience by
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If summer is your favorite time of year and you dread the upcoming winter – you may want to stop reading here -- or you might want to read on for hope.  Slowly, gradually, the sunny days of summer (despite the COVID-19 pandemic) are fading into the vicissitudes of autumn. Gradually, the shades of lime green, forest green, spring green and emerald green, fern and shamrock green in the canopy of leaves above are transforming.  The leaves look increasingly yellow and golden in the sunlight, with splotches of red and orange. ...

27 Jul

Posted at 11:41h in Feelings by
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“It’s easier being in each other’s presence, or in each other’s absence, than in the constant presence of each other’s absence.”–Gianpiero Petriglieri Yes, Zoom Exhaustion is real. As we continue to work from home, visit family and friends on the screen, or go to school virtually, we are spending a lot more time on Zoom, FaceTime, Skype, Google Meet and the list goes on…and this is exhausting. But why so exhausting?  Is it that hard to spend hours in front of a screen interacting with people while sitting in the comfort of...

23 Jul

Posted at 12:08h in Resilience by
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Joy. Such a small word.  A word that seems out of place in a world rocked by death, destruction, violence and oppression.  An experience that seems so far away as we are struggling to survive, or fight racism, or cure and prevent disease, or heal ourselves and others, or all the above.  And we are tired. Our struggle takes energy, and our fuel tanks may feel near empty.  Yet somehow, we endure – and we must endure for the long haul.  Change does not happen quickly enough. Where do we get the strength...

09 Jun

Posted at 22:00h in Resilience by
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Who would have thought the brutal murders of several black men and women would, after so many years, bring out millions of people to rally for the value of all human life -- especially black lives --and to protest police violence and injustice??  Who would have thought that a virus, invisible to the naked eye, could cause a massive global disruption – taking tens of thousands of lives, throwing people into poverty and homelessness, and wreaking economic destruction? Can good come from all this violence, death and destruction?  How can we...

29 May

Posted at 19:30h in Feelings by
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“I’m getting really tired of being alone,” a friend said, tears flowing down her face. “I’m angry I don’t get to have my graduation ceremony,” a high school student confided. “I’m disappointed we can’t go on the cruise we’ve looked forward to for a year,” someone lamented on a telephone call. What is unusual yet common about these comments? They all focus on feelings…It is as if the horrific death toll juxtaposed with awe-inspiring stories of everyday heroes who live and die serving us all has ignited a volcano of emotions. Our feelings are...

04 May

Posted at 14:13h in Spirituality by
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Why? Why did this have to happen? Why me? When we don’t have answers to impossible situations, a human response is to cry out, “why?” Why did my dad get COVID-19?  Why can’t I see my parents trapped in a nursing home? Why? And when we don’t have an answer to “why,” we often will make up an answer – blaming ourselves, others or the Divine.  Perhaps that is a way we can experience some semblance of control when we feel scared and helpless. We might think some of the following thoughts: “I had a fight with...