This week I lost someone who meant a lot to me. She had been dealing with cancer for several years and did quite well to survive and thrive despite the hardships. It was a terminal prognosis however, and recently we…
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Two Kinds of Power
I’ve heard it said that there are two kinds of power, the kind that comes from within our spirit and the kind that comes from our ego. The power from within values life, sees others as equal, and welcomes opportunities…
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Waiving Entitlement
There is a couple I know. I’ll call them Jake and Francine. Several years, and a few children into their marriage, Francine had a major indiscretion. She was remorseful, worked hard to make amends, and Jake truly forgave her. They…
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Grounded in Compassion
Author and founder of Compassion Power, Steven Stosny, Ph.D., teaches that the root cause of abuse is a “failure of compassion.” This is also what plagues the discourse of taboo topics such as politics and religion. When we cling…
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To Begin Again
This past week I concluded one trip around the sun and started another. Often when I roll into a new year of life I look for ways to begin again, to hit the reset button on living from my core…
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From Heart to Head
The other day I was talking with a dear friend and we each shared about the hard pieces in our lives. As she let some tears flow, she asked me how I kept from crying when I was sharing prior…
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Women Helping Women
Some years ago I was in a very complicated, vulnerable situation and needed support to discern my next steps. A dear friend of mine was trying to help me foster connections that could bolster me as I found my way…
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Personal Freedom and Communal Responsibility
All throughout our lives we learn how to get along with others who don’t see things the way we do. We might be taught to “agree to disagree,” or to “live and let live,” or to simply avoid topics that…
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Be and Love Being
I often read from an Al-Anon book called “Courage to Change,” which has daily reflections of insight and encouragement. In one of the messages for this week, a writer (anonymous) shared how nature is a great role model for staying…
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Empathy is Essential
Empathy: “The capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position.” (Wikipedia) Empathy comes in different forms — emotional (appropriate responses to others’…
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