Vulnerability – a doorway to living fully

Vulnerability – a doorway to living fully

We get so many messages in our culture about looking good, doing it right, and having it together, that there is a tendency in our society to blame others, try to fix every flaw, act out of fear, and avoid pain.  We see it playing out in technicolor in the news these...
The Wonder of the Season

The Wonder of the Season

One Christmas morning when I was a little girl, I woke up excited, ran downstairs and found the Christmas stockings empty.  I was devastated.  I ran back upstairs to my parent’s room and burst in crying that Santa had forgotten us.  In my mother’s sleepy state, she...
Embrace the ‘D’ word for better living

Embrace the ‘D’ word for better living

If your reaction to any mention of the dreaded ‘D’ word- death, is dismissal or denial, and if you want to stop reading and click out to something different, you’re in good company.  I had a near death experience in my teens, have a will and health directive, have...
Assumptions and Expectations Can Be Relationship Killers

Assumptions and Expectations Can Be Relationship Killers

The title of this month’s blog sounds dramatic, and yet it’s true.  Assumptions and expectations about a person’s beliefs and behavior can kill a relationship over time, especially when they are unspoken. Example assumptions and expectations include: Now that we have...
It All Comes Down to Love

It All Comes Down to Love

This summer, I was in a chaplaincy internship at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho, deepening my ability to be present, and increasing my spiritual direction skills with people in a health crisis from all walks of life.  It was intense, challenging, emotional at...