When the demands of life seem to take over and drown out our creative pursuits, we need to return and find our Creative Rhythm Guest Post from Marc Shaw After several years as an English teacher at an inner city school, my creative life had become dry as dust. I […]
Spiritual Formation
227 posts
As I write this I have the sound of birds singing, a gentle water fall and a trickling stream. There is a rhythm to this. Every 15 seconds it stops and repeats, stops and repeats, stops and repeats. I am not sitting in the middle of some leafy grove, but […]
A Rhythm of rest invites you to come away, rest, restore and ready yourself for the next moment. 7 steps to enable a rhythm of rest to be part of your life. Her response wasn’t surprising. She was probably more surprised at being asked the question. It was one of […]
Are you a creative sort? Actually I am going to tell you that you are a creative person and that tapping into that creative zone will transform your life, and in particular your Mental Health. Creativity comes in millions of different forms.
The steering wheel was dancing around in hands like it seemed it had a mind of its own. Vibrating in little jolts, this way then that, I knew exactly what the problem was. My steering wheels were out of alignment. It was like one wheel wanted to go one way whilst […]
I’m not a dancer, but I am a musician. I believe that our Mental Health is closely linked to the rhythms we keep. I have played guitar since I was thirteen and one of the little practice exercises I used to do in the early days was to play a […]
Guest post from Cyndy Lavoie Years ago I was struggling with anxiety. It had come on so fast (within just a few months), and so strong that I was seriously considering going to the doctor for some medication to help. When I am anxious I feel it in the […]
Letting go The more difficult the problem the tighter we tend to hang on as if by grim determination we should squeeze the answer out like the last toothpaste from an already-squashed,
I’ve had a taste and now I want more. I’m not being greedy or demanding or ‘push in line’ about it. It’s just that I have had a taste and I long for more. There are wafts of joy coming from the kitchen. There is a party going on and […]
Step 11 in the 12 Step Recovery tradition brings some challenges. For many people who try to follow the 12 Steps, Step 11 is a step they either love or hate: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of […]
A surprise guest She slips soft into my consciousness like morning rain dew-fall from heaven both manna and leaven Arriving like a surprise guest expecting a warm welcome for her sudden appearance though unglimpsed in the distance My cold heart remains wary reacts slow, suspicious opens its door – hesitant […]
‘Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never harm me’ is a fallacy. Words can hurt. They can cut right to the core of your being and can echo around and around in your mind and drive you to despair. Just think of the abuse of text bullying. […]
Sometimes I think I am like a cow. I ruminate over things, chewing my thoughts this way and that. Trying to extract something good out of them. Much of my life I have worked on farms, I even have a University Degree in Agriculture. I humorously call this my first […]
What song was that? Was there a song at all, or was it the whisper of tiredness from an unseen cosmic battle. The Easter story is full of drama, but what was the musical score. We go to the movies and in the background behind the storyline there is music. If […]
I struggle with the word ‘Boundary.’ Not because I don’t believe in the concept of boundaries or because I don’t think they are important. It’s just that the word ‘Boundary’ doesn’t convey any sense of relationship value. The word ‘boundary’ feels like it’s all about the one making the boundary […]
They grab your attention don’t they. Big, bright, and tall, they stand out and call for your attention. You come to a sunflower and take in the brilliant freshness of colour. There is something however that is generally over looked. We don’t give it careful attention, yet without it […]
Three Gratitude’s Every night before I go to sleep I say out loud Three things that I’m grateful for, All the significant, insignificant Extraordinary, ordinary stuff of my life. It’s a small practice and humble, And yet, I find I sleep better Holding what lightens and softens my life […]
Sometimes God just jumps out on your daily path of busyness and whispers ‘Look at me’. It happened like this for me the other day. I was working on a farm trying to solve some water reticulation problems. As I was walking to the water pump I happened to […]
Do you look for opportunities? L.O.F.O Sometimes the very thing we most need we miss seeing because we are not open to looking for the not so obvious opportunities. I was walking with my wife into our local shopping mall yesterday when we happened to notice a car with a […]
Today, as you go about your daily business, you will encounter people. Depending on where you live it could be in the thousands of a busy city or the few of a country town. Regardless, this planet has billions and billions of people of which you are one. Often I […]