Our Writings
We have found that the pathways to finding meaning in our lives flow through and are woven together through these the elements of spirituality, story, and music.

Spirituality
Discover the meaning of our life

Story
Explore the story of our life

Music
Find the music of our life
A more complete list and text of writings is available on request from nking@uwindsor.ca.
Living from Inside Out
Last week I spoke of trusting the unfolding process of life from within ourselves. With the help of others, as […]
Trust in the Unfolding Process of Life Within Us
To continue the reflections of the last few weeks. I would like to recall an expression that has resonated with […]
Finding Our Authentic Story
This week’s reflection is presented by friend, colleague, and co-author, Jane Ripley. It is a followup to the last few […]
Giving Voice to Our True Story
Last week, I suggested that our true home is the place of our authentic personal voice. This is the voice […]
Our Voice from Home
Last week, I spoke of our inner journey as a journey home, a journey to the core of our being. […]
Longing for Home
Last week, I suggested that at the very core of our being, there is an aching longing. This is a […]
The Healing and Challenging Power of Beauty
The Healing and Challenging Power of Beauty I have spoken recently of winter as a time of slowing down and […]
Winter as Passage
I have spoken recently of winter as a time of slowing down, resting, doing things we enjoy for their own […]
Listening to the Child Within
Last week, I spoke of wintering as a time of slowing down, resting, doing things we enjoy for their own […]
The Wintering of the Heart
Last week we talked of the need for solitude, quiet time by oneself, in which we approach ourselves with kindness […]
The Courage to Be Alone
In the last reflection, I suggested that our worth cannot be lost only if it is inseparable from who we […]
Human Beings not Human “Havings”
I have often spoken of the importance of recognizing our identity and sacred worth as present from the beginning, as […]
A NEW YEAR’S BLESSING
May all our sorrows gradually stretch our heart to be more fully open and compassionate. May we experience a […]
Listening with the Ears of the Heart
Last week, I spoke of trust: trust in the process of unfolding life within ourselves, trust in an intelligently caring […]
A Safe Place
I have spoken of kindness, friendship, and love as involving an openness and vulnerability. We open our heart, our core, […]
The Crack That Lets in the Light
Last week, we spoke of kindness as an essential quality of a fulfilling life, beginning with kindness to ourselves and […]
Kindness as Life-Giving
I was very struck lately by Susan Cain’s observation that Darwin has been readily misinterpreted. She notes that perhaps his […]
At Home in the Garden of Our Heart
Last week, using the image of tears, we suggested that there is a place within us that is deeper than […]
Tears of Joy and Sorrow
In the last while, we have spoken of the difference between life scripts we inherit from without and our true […]
Memory as Remembering Who We Are
Last week we mentioned the importance of discovering what we have called a true story–a true image of who we […]
Freedom as Gathering and Gift of Self
Last week, we spoke of imagination as a gateway to freedom. Imagination does so by opening up alternatives, new possibilities, in […]
Imagination: Gateway to Freedom
Many years ago, when my children were small, I came across a bookmark that really resonated with me. It was […]
Longing for Meaning, for Home
We have spoken lately of the inseparable joy and sorrow, fear and love, labour and rest, darkness and light that […]
Rest and Light
Along with Leonard Cohen, one of my favourite singers has been Louis Armstrong. In the past few days, I listened […]
The Cracks Where the Light Gets in
Last week we mentioned that our life includes both joys and sorrows, winters and springs, darkness and light, storms and […]
Embracing All the Seasons of Life
Last week we referred to the stories, The Wizard of Oz and The Secret Garden. The first story especially illustrates […]
Transforming Sorrow into Beauty
Last week, we mentioned the story, The Wizard of Oz. It illustrates how the longing for understanding (scarecrow), love (tin […]
Focus on Feelings
Last week’s reflection spoke of listening gently to our own feelings. Even our difficult feelings, such as anger, indicate that […]
Listening to Oneself
Last week we spoke of listening both to oneself and to one another. And of listening from the core or […]
Listening from the Heart
Last week, we spoke of the eyes through which we look at life, where we see from and how we […]
The Eyes Through Which We Look at Life: Our Angle of Vision
As you may suspect from my references to Winnie the Pooh, I have found very valuable, the brief words of wisdom […]
Being in Touch with and Naming Our Experience
Last week, I wrote about the possibility that the underlying energy in the universe is love energy, illustrated from a […]
Love and Other Energy Is Passed on
When I wrote last week about contact with the spirit horses, I was struck both about our inseparable connection with […]
An Experience to Remember
Yesterday, a small group of us had an experience, that was outside of the everyday routine, and resulted in a […]
The Discovery of Self
Last week, we spoke of our need to belong, and that it is a need to belong in our very […]
Belonging with Authenticity
Last week we referred to Gabor Mate, who says that the need to belong, especially in a child, can, at […]
A Few Further Thoughts on Gratitude and Meaning
Last week we suggested that we can experience gratitude for life, for our own life as well as for the […]
Gratitude flowing into kindness and compassion
In speaking of kindness last week, a quotation from the late educator, John Holt, came to mind. I looked it […]
Kindness and Compassion: the Real Revolutionary Qualities
We have most recently spoken of vulnerability and of healing. Vulnerability involves an awareness of the possibility of being hurt, […]
Healing as Move Toward Wholeness
As you know, I am fascinated with the etymology or roots of words, one of which is healing, the counterpart […]
Vulnerability as Openness to Grow
Last week we wrote about fear and anger, and how beneath them are the deeper realities of our longing for […]
Beyond Fear and Hostility to Meaning and Relationship
This week I would like to consider the experiences of fear and anger and suggest possible ways to respond to […]
Life Unfolding from Within
I have been speaking lately of a way of interpreting our life experience as a gift and call to bring […]
Life as Gift and Call: a Few More Thoughts
Last week, in light of the story of The Old Man and His Grandson, we suggested a way of interpreting […]
Experience as Gift and Call to Life-Giving
I mentioned before that I have been teaching a five-week class on folk tales. This past week we looked at […]
Listening from the Heart
We have been speaking of words, especially in images and stories. We have mentioned how these speak to our heart. […]
Stories, Our Story, and Transformation
During the last two weeks, I have been teaching a course of folk tales which, like the ancient mythologies, draw […]
Achieving a New Vision and Wholeness
We have often spoken of story and retold many stories in our weekly reflections. We might recall again that, in […]
Naming with Wonder and Love through Story
Last week, I referred to an interview in which children’s book author, Kate DiCamillo said that life is chaos and […]
Living from Inside Out
Last week I spoke of trusting the unfolding process of life from within ourselves. With the help of others, as […]
Trust in the Unfolding Process of Life Within Us
To continue the reflections of the last few weeks. I would like to recall an expression that has resonated with […]
Finding Our Authentic Story
This week’s reflection is presented by friend, colleague, and co-author, Jane Ripley. It is a followup to the last few […]
Giving Voice to Our True Story
Last week, I suggested that our true home is the place of our authentic personal voice. This is the voice […]
Our Voice from Home
Last week, I spoke of our inner journey as a journey home, a journey to the core of our being. […]
Longing for Home
Last week, I suggested that at the very core of our being, there is an aching longing. This is a […]
The Healing and Challenging Power of Beauty
The Healing and Challenging Power of Beauty I have spoken recently of winter as a time of slowing down and […]
Winter as Passage
I have spoken recently of winter as a time of slowing down, resting, doing things we enjoy for their own […]
Listening to the Child Within
Last week, I spoke of wintering as a time of slowing down, resting, doing things we enjoy for their own […]
The Wintering of the Heart
Last week we talked of the need for solitude, quiet time by oneself, in which we approach ourselves with kindness […]