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.
![Another Pond Another Pond](http://www.touchingthespirit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/bg-spirit-01-300x200.jpg)
Spirituality
Discover the meaning of our life
![Pathway in Forrest Pathway in Forrest](http://www.touchingthespirit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/bg-story-01-300x200.jpg)
Story
Explore the story of our life
![Forrest Forrest](http://www.touchingthespirit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/bg-music-291x200.jpg)
Music
Find the music of our life
A more complete list and text of writings is available on request from nking@uwindsor.ca.
Gratitude as Source of Happiness
Lately, I have been thinking of gratitude and how important it is. Two memories come to mind immediately. One is […]
Starting from Our Sacred Self
“There is a place in us where we have never been wounded.” These words of Meister Eckhart really resonate with […]
WHOLENESS AND HAPPINESS
I recently listened to a podcast interview with Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, conducted by Mel Robbins. His area of study is […]
A Few Thoughts on Memory
A FEW THOUGHTS ON MEMORY I think that memory is not just a recalling of some past event. It is […]
Transitions in Life
Today’s theme is on transitions in life, and the summer is itself a time of transition. It is an invitation […]
Naming Experience Through Story
Last week, I referred to the story of Pandora as an expression of how life contains both joy and sorrow, both bitter […]
Gratitude and Longing
Last week, I spoke of our inner core, our heart, not only as our sacred centre, but also as a […]
Longing from the Heart
Last week I spoke of our need for beauty, in nature, in works of art, in persons, and how it […]
The Longing for Beauty
Last week I spoke of listening to and from our own heart, our sacred core. The process of tuning in […]
Listening from the Heart.
Last week I spoke of listening to ourselves and others. This is a listening to and from the sacred core […]
The Relational Context of Sacred Worth
I have repeatedly stressed the importance of recognizing and trying to experience deeply the sacred worth of ourselves, extending progressively […]
The Emergence of New Life
I spoke last week of life as a process of endings and beginnings. These can take many forms. Every day, […]
A Springtime of the Heart
Last week I spoke of an inner sacred core that is deeper than all wrongness, even if that core is […]
Intrinsic Sacredness and Forgiveness
Last week, I quoted Wayne Muller’s as saying that we must be careful how we name ourselves. That naming will […]
Identity Beneath Layers
Last week I spoke about living from the inside out. This is the journey inward, to be in touch with […]
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 […]
Gratitude as Source of Happiness
Lately, I have been thinking of gratitude and how important it is. Two memories come to mind immediately. One is […]
Transitions in Life
Today’s theme is on transitions in life, and the summer is itself a time of transition. It is an invitation […]
Naming Experience Through Story
Last week, I referred to the story of Pandora as an expression of how life contains both joy and sorrow, both bitter […]
Gratitude and Longing
Last week, I spoke of our inner core, our heart, not only as our sacred centre, but also as a […]
Longing from the Heart
Last week I spoke of our need for beauty, in nature, in works of art, in persons, and how it […]
The Longing for Beauty
Last week I spoke of listening to and from our own heart, our sacred core. The process of tuning in […]
Listening from the Heart.
Last week I spoke of listening to ourselves and others. This is a listening to and from the sacred core […]
The Relational Context of Sacred Worth
I have repeatedly stressed the importance of recognizing and trying to experience deeply the sacred worth of ourselves, extending progressively […]
The Emergence of New Life
I spoke last week of life as a process of endings and beginnings. These can take many forms. Every day, […]
A Springtime of the Heart
Last week I spoke of an inner sacred core that is deeper than all wrongness, even if that core is […]