I recently listened to an On Being podcast on depression and found that the author, Anita Burrows, had published translations from the German poet, Rilke, one of my favourites. One book was a collection of daily reflections from Rilke’s writings, called A Year with Rilke. A particular passage seems to […] Read more

I’ve been listening recently to podcasts by Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale who teaches courses on well-being. Some of the things she says are in harmony with what we have been reflecting on in recent weeks. Two essential ingredient in physical, mental, and spiritual health are sufficient sleep […] Read more

Many authors have stressed that our sense of worth includes a recognition of our shadow side, the limitations, weaknesses, and even wrongs that we discover within us. It also involves going deeper than and beyond the cultural stereotype which stresses producing and consuming, winning and losing, and always being in […] Read more

We spoke last week of a few ways to sustain a sense of sacred self worth, while acknowledging our experiences of weakness, mistakes or failures, and recognizing that we cannot always have that sense of worth at a feeling level. We mentioned in summary that such ways may include attention […] Read more

I have written frequently that my fundamental conviction is that there is a gifted sacred worth to each and every human being, and even beyond that to all that dwells on this earth. This conviction is expressed religiously in the belief that human beings are fashioned in the image of […] Read more

Friendship and Vulnerability I have been thinking about solitude and friendship, and how they are very much bound up with each other. Solitude means essentially getting in touch with, being at home with all parts of ourselves, both our strengths and limitations, both our light and shadow. At the same […] Read more

We spoke previously of the challenge of loneliness and how it can be made more difficult and painful from the isolation that results from the current pandemic. This situation invites us to reach out in whatever ways possible to make contact with one another. It also calls us to recognize […] Read more

T. S. Eliot has written: The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” The beginning of a new calendar year, near the beginning of winter also marks the time when the days begin to get longer and […] Read more