Guilt Diminishes, Grief Enlarges

When we are caged by guilt over our actions, or over our past, or over our generational family dysfunction, our personhood and self worth is diminished and our ability to be present and engage in our reality, our relationships, our very life is also diminished. We are therefore bound to those things and imprisoned by the very things we hate. However, when we allow ourselves to move from guilt to grief, we enter a space that moves and transforms us, it allows us to be enlarged and healed. We become fully engaged and alive, which moves us to whole and free action. May we all be brave enough to enter into our personal grief, our generational grief, and our collective family and cultural grief…both for the pain that has come by our own hands and for the pain that has come to us and upon us by the hands of others. May we never be afraid of our tears.

~ Meah Hearington, LMHC

January Blues?

January is a great time to start a practice of PRESENCE. I’ve heard from many that the winter post-holiday blah’s have kicked in. It often happens at this time of year when we’ve had lots of activity around the holidays (as well as lots of food and drink!). After the holidays, you may have set New Year’s goals and now they’re getting tiresome. This is the perfect time to take a few moments a day to start cultivating the practice of presence. Many call this meditating or silence and solitude, but practicing presence doesn’t have to follow any particular formula. The goal is to take a couple minutes to REALLY be PRESENT to the moment you’re living in. Put down the phone, turn off the TV, put down the to do list. Take a few deep breaths (really deep!), notice the smells around you, the sounds, how your body feels, enjoy the beauty of the things around you. Many of us, myself included, forget to truly live in the moment. This practice can be a daily reminder to fully engage in our lives.

Resource:

For those struggling with shame and anxiety about not having “arrived” because you haven’t bought a home: Your Parents’ Financial Advice Is (Kind Of) Wrong

Are you living FULLY HUMAN?

What does it even mean to live fully human?  The intermingling of body, mind, and soul.  How do we live in congruence, in balance with all that we are, with all that God has created us to be?  How do we live FULLY in our bodies, FULLY engaged in mind and emotion, and FULLY alive in our souls?

I see these bodies walking around, these broken bodies, jaded souls, compromised minds.  Fractions of a whole.  Circuits shorted before full power achieved.  Trauma, mental illness, shattered dreams, lack of self-confidence…  How do we find wholeness?  How do we find the fullness of this creation – this created body?  This body that also contains our mind and soul.  IF ONLY – we could reach full integration – body, mind, and soul.  The intermingling, interworking, balance – achievement of body, mind, and soul working in unity, caring for and honest with the other – personhood working together in a symphonic harmony.  What a glorious and beautiful art form that would be – to be FULLY HUMAN.

Here in this blog – I hope that you may find some pieces of your own puzzle.  Ways to begin becoming FULLY HUMAN – ROOTED IN BODY, MIND, and SOUL.

Noteworthy Books

Noteworthy Books

  • Relationships and Co-Dependency
    • “Love is a Choice: The Definitive Book on Letting Go Of Unhealthy Relationships” by Robert Hemfelt, Frank Minirth, and Paul Meier
    • “Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life” by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
    • “Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Other and Start Caring for Yourself” by Melody Beattie
  • Self Exploration
    • “The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery” by David Benner
    • “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World that Won’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain
  • Christian Growth
    • “Crafting A Rule of Life: An Invitation to the Well-Ordered Way” by Stephen Macchia
    • “Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World” by Henri Nouwen
  • Trauma
    • “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma” by Bessel van der Kolk
    • “The Wounded Heart: Hope for Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse” by Dan Allender and Larry Crab