A Nested Story: Transformative Healing

The following article was recently published in Psychologica Magazine’s special edition on Trauma. I’ve included a link to the full magazine, lots of great articles on trauma treatments, both from a clinical perspective as well as personal. Hope you might find something that resonates. http://www.oaccpp.ca/assets/Psychologica%20Vol.%2041%20Final%20(DIGITAL)%20compressed.pdf

Land and Water

These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me, If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing, If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing, If they are not just as […]

Unsinging Bird

silence .is a looking bird:the turn ing;edge of life (inquiry before snowe.e. cummings

Look up….Look waay Up

Head in the clouds. Feet firmly planted on the earth. This is the optimal creative stance. Why? Groundedness and solid, secure connections provide the safe supports needed for creative exploration and the transformative risks that give life meaning. Dan Siegel writes about cultivating the ability to become grounded in the tripod of mindsight Mindsight is […]

Slowly looking with the Buddhist “good eye”

Recently I came across the Contemplative Photography movement, which incorporates Buddhist mindfulness practice with Western ways of seeing the world. Contemplative Photography practice is based on holding an intention of learning to look and see through a lens of nonattachment. Through practice, you begin to trust the gaps in discursive thought where clear seeing and […]

Looking into the Open

The Open With their whole gaze animals behold the Open. Only our eyes are as though reversed and set like traps around us, keeping us inside. That there is something out there we know only from the creatures’ countenance. We turn even the young child around, making her look backward at the forms we create, […]

the known unknown

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery Poetry And it was at that age … Poetry arrived in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where it came from, from winter or a river. I don’t know how […]

“Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.” ― Mary Oliver The most treasured moments are […]

Art and Dreaming

“I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.” Vincent Van Gogh. In his book Dream Tending: Awakening to the healing power of Dreams, Dr. Stephen Aizenstat writes that dream images are like characters in a story. Dream images give meaning to our life’s story, just as characters in novels give meaning to the […]

teachers, artists and horses. about learning to pay attention.

Whats the connection between horses, teachers and artists? Creatively foraging and found Artist Bruce Nauman sharing his thoughts on You Tube. One interesting point he makes is that good teachers get right to the difficult spots, just like good artists go right to the difficult parts in whatever medium they work in.