Posted August 1, 2021 in Monthly News

Not with a Bang

The saying is that the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper. I understand the sentiment. Ending with a “bang” is more appropriate for the young. I had plenty of opportunities to end with a bang, including automobile accidents and a tour of duty in Vietnam during the U.S. war there. So far, […]

Posted August 1, 2021 in Monthly News

Behind Every Behavior Is A Positive Intention

…our culture, and also a lot of psychotherapies, demonized various parts of us, and think they are what they seem to be— which never turns out to be the truth.

~Richard “Dick” Schwartz No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model

One of the presuppositions of NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) […]

Posted July 1, 2021 in Monthly News

All Good Things

The saying is, “All good things come to an end.” A fuller truth is that all things come to an end. Somewhere else on these pages I quoted the old saying that the light you see at the end of the tunnel is the headlight on a train heading in your direction. At this point, […]

Posted July 1, 2021 in Monthly News

Subjective

So many times over the years I have found myself sharing how the ambiguity of language is both a hindrance and a help. You may recall that Neurolinguistic Programming has been described as the study of the structure of subjective experience.

The key word here is SUBJECTIVE.

In the Karaniya Metta Sutta (The […]

Posted June 1, 2021 in Monthly News

I Am Not Afraid

I am old enough at this point to be fully aware that I am close enough to the end of the tunnel that I can see it. There was a time that the end of the tunnel was a vague light in the distance. At this point, it is close enough that I am beginning […]

Posted June 1, 2021 in Monthly News

I Am Awake!

If we are aware in a compassionate, focused way, we plant seeds of compassionate focused awareness that lets things go and lets things be. Joyful feelings are free to arise without creating clinging, and painful states can arise without expressing themselves in harmful ways.

~ Ben Connelly, “Cleaning Out the Storehouse”

I’ve been reading […]

Posted May 1, 2021 in Monthly News

Other Plans

John Lennon of Beatles fame is reported to have said, “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” In general, that seems to be true. We spend a lot more time planning what we will do than we spend doing it. And very few things go exactly as planned.

That automatically entails more […]

Posted May 1, 2021 in Monthly News

Metaphorical Magic

A friend shared a page from The Light of Discovery, by Toni Packer. Toni Packer was a teacher of “meditative inquiry”, and the founder of Springwater Center. Packer was a former student in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen Buddhism, and was previously in line to be the successor of Phillip Kapleau at the Rochester […]

Posted April 1, 2021 in Monthly News

Sticks and Stones

The old saying is, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” It isn’t true, however. Sometimes names are the most hurtful of injuries, leading to shame and embarrassment that last much longer than any associated physical injury. Another very old saying is, “Actions speak louder than words.” While generally […]