Author: listeningtomylife7

I spent much of my career in education, serving in several capacities in the public schools.  I was a teacher, counselor, sex-equity coordinator, introducing and implementing Title IX, and principal. I left a tenured position and started my own business as an educational consultant in organizational change.  At 55 I stopped everything and followed Spirit’s whispers which lead me into a deep spiritual healing. I share my healing journey in my new memoir, "Listening to My Life." It is available on Amazon in both print and e-book format.  I am  a spiritual director living in Tacoma, WA, and continue to enjoy hiking, gardening, traveling , and reading. 

What Skins are you Shedding?

by listeningtomylife7, posted in writing prompts

So many skins have fallen off of me. My “skins” have included old messages and assumptions about life that developed in my childhood, behaviors that bound me to unhealthy ways of approaching life, religious beliefs that kept my spiritual world too small, and boxed-in views of my self-identity. Skin-shedding has been a time of discovering what keeps me from growing.  Joyce Rupp, Dear Heart, Come Home

1)    What skins have your shed?

2)    What skins would you like to shed?

3)    Have you spent time in the darkness?

        -What do you most resist about the cave of darkness?

        -How has darkness been a teacher for you?

        -List significant times you have experienced darkness.

Fear often enters into the process of skin-shedding.  Kathleen Norris writes: “Fear is not a bad place to start a spiritual journey.  If you know what makes you afraid, you can see more clearly that the way out is through the fear.”

List your fears.  Study each fear, which ones are imaginary and which ones are real?  

What comes to you as you write down your fears?  Choose one or two and do a ten minute free write about that fear.  

Remember, no editing or critiquing, just write all that comes up for you.

Kindness

by listeningtomylife7, posted in Uncategorized

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.  Mahatma Gandhi

We can always make a difference by showing kindness to ourselves and others. Kindness seems to be missing in our toxic national environment today. Yet, I see kindness exhibited every day by others.  A smile can go a long ways in brightening another’s day.  We never know what burdens the other may be carrying, and small acts of kindness make a difference.

John Naisbitt coined the term high tech/high touch in his 1982 best seller Megatrends. This was in answer to the PC and its impact on our human interactions–long before the explosion of social media and how it has changed our way of communicating.  We have entered the world of high tech at the cost of high touch.  Research shows we are craving human connection and often don’t know how to reach out and experience it, thus we numb ourselves through a variety of addictions. Isolation creates fear which in turn creates hate for “the other.”  We are seeing this play out in our country today.

I believe kindness is an antidote to our lack of human connection. Kindness can show up in so many different ways.  Words of encouragement, a thank you, a listening heart, offering help to someone struggling with groceries, etc. It is easy for me to get caught up in the ugliness of today’s divisive rhetoric.  I have to remind myself of the daily acts of kindness I see, and also be sure to be kind to those I encounter throughout my day.

We don’t often talk about self-kindness.  This is as important as showing kindness to others.  Is my self-talk negative?  Do I put myself down throughout the day when I think I’ve made mistakes? Am I critical of my looks?  All of these add up to interior violence.  When I am unkind to myself it often carries over to being unkind to others.  I get caught up in my own negative mindset and place it on others.  Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.”

After our past week of violence in so many different parts of our country, may we all find ways to show deep kindness to ourselves and others.

 

Spiritual History

by listeningtomylife7, posted in spirituality, writing prompts

Below are some questions that helped me explore my spiritual history.  I’ll use the name God in the following questions, but I know that people have different names for the Creator.

Questions to Ponder

What was your relationship with God as a child?

What was your image of God as a child?

What did your parents and other adults teach you about God?

How has your relationship with God changed over the years?

How has your image of God changed over the years?

What is your present relationship with God?

What is your present image of God?

What are the pressing spiritual concerns or questions you have at this point in your life?

Our spiritual beliefs impact how we see the world and others. Take time to reflect on the impact religion/spirituality has had on your life.  How has it informed your behaviors and decision-making processes?

Brain Garage Sale

by listeningtomylife7, posted in spirituality, Uncategorized, womens' issues

I think I’ll have a brain garage sale.
I’ll declutter the thoughts
that roll around my mind
and stick to the corners of my heart.

I dust them off,
look at them,
really look at them,
and determine what’s no longer needed.

Act like a lady. (whatever that means)
Do it right the first time.
Idle hands are the work of the devil.
Girls can’t do that.
Don’t be so bossy.

Oh, so many old childhood messages,
hidden deep in my psyche.
They serve no purpose
but to create doubt and
fear within.
Strengthening my old companion
“not enough.”

Time to move them out,
let them go.
I may not be able to sell them,
yet the task of dusting them off
creates space for new stories.
New Beginnings.

What would you put in your Brain Garage Sale?

 

 

 

Family Portrait

by listeningtomylife7, posted in writing prompts

Our families are our first teachers. We learn what is expected of us, what is important to succeed, and what failure looks like.  We develop our first ideas of our identity and what we believe about ourselves. We also learn about family traditions, rituals, and our first understanding of religion/spirituality.

This prompt will help you create a family portrait of your family with words.  You can use an actual family picture to go by or invent one in your imagination.

 List your family members and briefly describe each.

Their personality…………….

Their ambitions……………..

Their values…………………

What is the most important thing you learned from each parent………..

What is the most important thing you learned from each sibling…………


Self Portrait

What was your role in the family? Write how that played out in your childhood and how it impacted you as an adult.

_________________________________

If you could sit down and talk with one family member, extended family included, who would you choose?  What would you ask them?

Reminder, no judging or critiquing in your first draft, just get it down on the paper.