Suffering and Prayer: can they somehow lead us to hope? I believe they can, but it is not always immediately clear how. The world is full of beauty. But the world is also full of pain, violence, injustice, death and cruelty: suffering. Despite this suffering, we find ourselves longing for good things. We long for… Continue reading Suffering and Prayer: A Post for Everyone
Category: Spirituality and Love
Why We Have Problems Believing We are Enough
You are Enough. Have you heard people say this before or perhaps read this thought on a meme on social media? How did you react to it? How did it make you feel? I am going to be honest that I often feel uncomfortable when I hear or read this phrase. In fact, I have… Continue reading Why We Have Problems Believing We are Enough
You Don’t Have to Prove Your Worth
Do you frequently try to prove your worth to others? If so, I sympathize. For much of my life, I tried to prove my worth to others by being smart enough, sweet enough, good enough, holy enough, beautiful enough, or "whatever" enough. It was exhausting. And then two realizations changed this. First, I realized one… Continue reading You Don’t Have to Prove Your Worth
An Intention or Prayer for Political Hope
This intention/prayer is for you, no matter your political persuasion. If you believe in God, you can use it just as it is as a prayer. If you are uncertain about God or prayer, you can leave off the "Divine Love" part if you like and use it as an intention. If you found this… Continue reading An Intention or Prayer for Political Hope
How Not to Be a Zombie
I have been thinking a lot lately about how not to be a zombie. This summer I taught Philosophy of Zombies. And I am increasingly convinced that zombies are not science fiction but are quite real and closer to us than we would like to imagine. What is a Zombie? Most of us are familiar… Continue reading How Not to Be a Zombie
Month Four of Beautiful Breathing: I Get Rid of My Couch
Four months ago in May, I began a simple breathing practice that has brought excellent benefits into my life. Each month, I have been blogging about the things that I have learned from my practice and the benefits I have discovered. You can find links to the first three articles at the end of this… Continue reading Month Four of Beautiful Breathing: I Get Rid of My Couch
An Intention or Prayer for When We Feel Like We are Not Enough
Feeling like we are not enough is one of our most painful feelings.We often receive the message that we have to be different or better in some way to feel like we are enough. This is a prayer or intention to help us when we feel this way. If you believe in God, you can… Continue reading An Intention or Prayer for When We Feel Like We are Not Enough
Prayer: When We Believe and When We Don’t
I have long been fascinated by prayer. One reason for this, of course, is because prayer has been an important part of my life in one form or another since I was young. But I am also interested in prayer for another reason. Over the years, I have heard stories of people who didn’t really… Continue reading Prayer: When We Believe and When We Don’t
An Intention or Prayer for the Wounded Self
This is an intention or prayer for those times when we feel stuck in bad habits. These habits come from something I call the Wounded Self, and all of us get stuck in our Wounded Self sometimes. And when we do, we act out of fear, rage, hopelessness, and addictions because we are just trying… Continue reading An Intention or Prayer for the Wounded Self
Why You Can Trust Yourself (And if There Are Any Times You Can’t)
It is hard to learn to trust ourselves sometimes. When we are younger, we are taught to listen to various authority figures. These might be our parents, teachers, politicians, priests and pastors, etc. We learn to trust their opinions about what we should think and how we should behave. Trusting Ourselves Can Be Hard And… Continue reading Why You Can Trust Yourself (And if There Are Any Times You Can’t)