empathy Archives

Welcoming a Stranger and Finding an Angel

There are many lonely people. Strangers in a strange land, but we can welcome them and perhaps discover an angel in disguise. I was visiting a home the other day, and an older lady met me. I had never met her before, and she told me that she was visiting […]

Anxiety & Stress

Is The Load Too Heavy? Watch With Me

The load we carry can get too heavy, and we can breakdown. But we can grow through it when we have others who will watch with us. I needed help. I vividly remember the day I rang emergency services. I had come to a point where I knew I couldn’t […]

Relationships & Connection

‘Power over’ or ‘Power With’?

‘Power over’ was normal, but ‘power with’ was what they needed. When we listen deeply, we move forward. Mental health flourishes when power is shared. She was small in stature, and I think she also saw herself as being a little person, insignificant. She was also quiet and never really […]

Helping Others

Please. No Fixing, Advising, Saving or Straightening Out

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If you want to hear the heart of another, then you need to still your own. Fixing, advising, saving, or straightening out will only stifle the emergence of true wisdom. We need to listen with questions. Sometimes I want to tell some people to shut up and just listen. They […]

building-community-and-interdependent-relationships-in-our-everyday-lives

Relationships & Connection

Building Community and Relationships in our Everyday Lives

Community brings so many positive effects on our mental health. Community lifts us higher and takes us further towards wellness than we ever could get on our own. Anyone wishing to enhance their mental health or the mental health of others does well to find a way to plug into […]

Faith & Mental Health

When a Burden Lands on Your Soul

Sometimes the knife of life drives right to the core of your being. It wrenches around till your bleeding in grief. Your speechless in shock, numb in movement and it feels like the very essence of life has been sucked out of you. You mourn because there is no other worthy […]

Mental health Relationships Spiritual Formation

Let’s Rethink the Word ‘Boundary’

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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 […]

Relationships & Connection

What Pushes your Button needs Attention – Soul Talk

There are some people that just push my buttons! Something about them sets off a chain reaction of thoughts and feelings. Perhaps they remind me of someone else or something that has happened in the past. A memory echo bounces around my soul. If I am going to be a […]