Putting the Memories to Rest

"If talking about the past reduces ruminations and worries, how does it work?  One idea is that translating experiences into words forces some kind of structure to the experiences themselves.  Through language individuals are able to organize, structure, and ultimately assimilate both their emotional experiences and the events that may have provoked the emotions...Stiles proposes that talking about an event accomplishes two important goals.  First, talking both reflects and reduces anxiety.  Second, repeated disclosure over time gradually promotes the assimilation of the upsetting event."

Emotion, Disclosure and Health
Pennebaker, Editor

Using our Words for Good Health

"Emotional upheavals can disrupt virtually all aspects of our lives.  Illness rates, levels of rumination, and social conflict typically increase following traumatic experiences.  A central psychological question concerns how people overcome these events.  On the basis of research over the past decade, psychologists now have a strong sense that talking or even writing about emotions or personal upheavals can boost autonomic nervous system activity, immune function, and physical health.  Although the link between disclosure and health have now been firmly established, why such links exists is still unknown...How do people respond to emotional upheavals in their lives and why?  Why does translating an event into language affect physical and psychological health?  How can our understanding of disclosure and health be applied in clinically useful and cost-effective ways?"

Emotion, Disclosure, and Health
James W. Pennebaker, Editor

The Magic of Causality

"Scientific research is the search for causes - that is, the reasons why particular forms of behavior occur...Discovering causal relationships cannot be directly observed.  Rather, it must be inferred from the observation of other factors.  Because of this, the philosopher John Kemeny has labeled causality 'the mysterious force.' We cannot see it, feel it, or hear it, be we often assume it is there - and many scientists search for causality with hopefulness and tenacity."

Applied Social Research:  A tool for the human services
Duane Monette, Thomas Sullivan, Cornell DeJong

Truth, Love & Justice

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won.  There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall.  Think of it -- always."

--Mahatma Ghandi

Spring!

It's Spring!

Things are blossoming and blooming.

Whatever you have planted before is now coming up.

All your hard work will begin to pay off.  

Enjoy!

Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows.
Galatians 6:7 (NET Bible, 2006)

You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be!
Psalm 128:2 (New Living Translation, 2007)

Amen.

Cool Quotes for Your Special Day

Australian nurse, Bronnie Ware, cared for people in the last 12 weeks of their lives and she recorded the most often-discussed regrets. At the top of the list:

• "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." 
• Next on the list: "I wish I hadn't worked so hard" and 
• "I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings." 

"I live the life I love and I love the life I live."
-- Muddy Waters

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It then bursts into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. 
-- Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965)

"By engaging in a delusive quest for happiness, we bring only suffering upon ourselves. In our frantic search for something to quench our thirst, we overlook the water all around us and drive ourselves into exile from our own lives."
-- Sharon Salzberg

Babalawo

I met with an African-American Babalawo (spiritual healer).  He gave me a reading.

He said it is important to tell others about this practice because myths and scary stories abound.  Sometimes traditional healing practices get a bad rap because people misuse the power and sometimes the stigma has more to do with race and class.  That is, immigrant people of color who rely on ancestor healing practices for well-being  incur ridicule by the mainstream (even though it works and may be cheaper than Western medicine).

The Babalawo told me that the reading would tell me what I need to hear (not necessarily what I want to hear).

He gave me sound advice about how to treat others. He said I was strong but that it was important to be diplomatic as well.  Point well taken.  I've been working on this for years :)  He said too many people say hurtful things in the name of "just being real."  He gave me a small rock dipped in honey to touch to my tongue with the prayer to sweeten my words in protection of self and others.

He confirmed that my research agenda to interview healers from around the world is my path.  Traditional, cultural and spiritual practices that have been followed over thousands of years need no rigorous scientific testing to be privileged by the people who use them to heal or are healed by them.  However, the National Institutes of Health funds scientific testing of these practices and herbs through research grants from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.  These are the research questions that I wanna be asking!

Feeling lost is human. Transformation and healing is possible.  I'm so grateful for the men and women who respond to the call (initiation) to practice.  Life is full of beauty and struggle.  During the struggle, it helps to know that our ancestors figured out ways to help.  They got our back!