Category Archives: Healing

Seasonal Poems to Warm the Soul

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Happy Winter Solstice! I may not be religious in the traditional sense, but I understand and cherish the importance of the “spirit of the season”.

As many of you know, Jesus wasn’t born in December, but his birthday was placed near the pagan Roman holiday of Saturnalia by Constantine to encourage pagans to join the church. The celebration of light and rebirth appeals to all.

Over the years I’ve written various poems for the season. Some are just ruminations on the mood, some are about the solstice, but all, I think convey universal sentiments. I’ve linked to some and printed others in a list here. Enjoy.

Poem, with photo of yellows roses in snow
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Rhythms of the Seasons
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Noël
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Sacrificial Tree (two poems)
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Jingle Ironies
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A Simple Gift
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Inspire Beauty

Beauty calls and yearns for your attention,
it gives rise and dimension to your soul,
a reflection of your truest goals.

Lest we forget, our hearts are fueled
by a love enduring beyond our lives.
And beauty is its chaperon,
a spark through the dark nights
on the long walk
to the light of the mountain top.

All we have is each other.

May the comfort of love be with you.

Seeing Problems in Terms of Solutions

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Five Point Turn

John Lennon once said, “There are no problems. Only solutions.” I repeated this to a friend and she looked at me like it didn’t make sense.

Of course there are problems. But Lennon implied we should approach problems in terms of what we can do about them. It’s a practical approach. If you can’t do anything about it, there’s not much sense in worrying.

When a problem arises which you can do something about, instead of lamenting it, dreading it, hating it, or worrying about it, ask yourself, “What can I do to change or correct it?”. It’s much simpler, and takes less energy.

Let’s say you get a late notice for a bill which you just forgot to pay. OK, you messed up. It’s a bummer. Yes, you’ll lose some money on the late fee. Now, what’s the solution? First, pay it. Second, make sure you don’t do it again. And don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s unproductive and, more importantly, it ruins the quality of your life right now. If you are in a funk for having messed up, that’s laying problems on problems. Then you’re in a funk all the time. Believe me, I’ve been there.

Then there’s those of us who live to avoid messing up. My sister monitors every detail, every penny of her financial life, and she stresses majorly when the slightest thing goes wrong. It becomes the topic of the day. Forget noticing beautiful weather or smelling the roses. Nope, that problem is going to ruin the day, gosh darn it!

Just a few days ago, Will of ThinkBuddha posted a quote by Wittgenstein from his Tractatus which sounded similar to Lennon’s. “The solution of the problem of life is seen in the vanishing of the problem.”

So, give yourself a “problem labotomy” and just do solutions!

The Healing Pool of Light

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Rainbow
Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers.
May Sarton

Let the space between your thoughts expand. Notice the calm, open silence behind the words and emotions in your mind. Let those cloudy thoughts clear, leaving only open space. Breathe into that space. With each breath, take in the space around your body. It is part of you. You are part of it. Flow into it.

Prism colors of broken light roam the stillness of a quiet pool, a murmuring rainbow of forgiveness and compassion. Purple cradles your tears and opens your compassionate heart. Blue gives you confidence. Red fires your passions. Orange tickles joy. Green calms you. Yellow offers forgiveness. Drop your thoughts and fears into the pool and watch them disappear into its cool darkness.

Soft willow branches wait patiently in their free falling fountain as you let fears flow from you. You let your limbs go limp and droop down to rest in the soft, mossy grass surrounding the pool. You flow into you.

Now jump into the pool and splash everyone around you!

Humanist Spirituality, a Primer

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Humanism is the practice of taking a rational approach to improving the problems of the world and finding our place in it. Spirituality usually means adherence to a faith based belief, some explanation of the cosmos which fulfills a deep human need, but which is ultimately unprovable. So the idea of a Humanist Spirituality doesn’t make sense. Right?

The need for understanding the big picture is universal. Mystery and awe are spices which our psyches need to balance the crusty, pedantic reality we face daily. The purpose of religion and spirituality is to fill those needs. My question is, must spirituality imply belief in something non-empirical, non-observable?

Buddhism is a good example of a rational, empirical spiritual practice. There are no gods, no dogma, yet there is much description of valid and attainable truths, culminating with enlightenment. Yoga has a similar spiritual component, as does Taoism.

Paganism, though commonly debased and dismissed, has great validity, especially today. We busy ourselves with progress while our planet is being destroyed by corporate greed and consumer blindness. Teaching a humble respect for Mother Earth as a primary rule of a healthy spirit might help turn the tide.

All the above traditions have irrational components, remnants left over from cultural traditions long outdated and disproved. But each one has a valid sense of the human need for connection to something greater than ourselves and liberation from the suffering of life. Rationality fails to take us beyond a certain point. Humans need some kind of poetic and comforting practice through which to understand or at least fathom the mysteries beyond rational analysis.

Perhaps a hybrid of the two might fill both requirements. A set spiritual practices based on physiological knowledge of the need for mystery would be a beginning. The next might be to include a set of affirmations like the ones chosen by the Humanist Society. I explore some of these ideas in this article on Humanist Spirituality.