Category: General

New Year Ahead – what is in your heart?


A friend recently introduced me to a new way of thinking about New Year’s Eve, and all the “hype” leading up to a changing digit or two in the date…

That in which you are engaging or contemplating this evening will become your intentions for and in the New Year.

So, as I considered this evening’s activities, I created time and place for the following passions or gifts:

  • Baking  – which is really about sharing generously with others, showing hospitality, eating meals together, and building community
  • Photography  – which is really about telling stories, connecting with others through empathy and creativity, and building community 
  • Tech Geek (digital photos, website, social media, video remixing) – which is really about creating, using a tool to enhance but not dominate life, and having fun
  • Blogging –  which is really about telling stories, connecting with others through empathy and creativity, and building community 🙂

In that same time, he is doing the same for the following passions and gifts:

  • Acro-Yoga – which is really about building community, making healthy life choices and having fun
  • Body Work – which is really about building intimate community, being aware of one’s self in relation to others and to the universe, and having fun

And he will join me afterwards, where we will enjoy the following shared passion:

  • Being with Loved Ones (Family, Friends & Pets) – which is about finding shelter and being home, unconditional love…and warm hot cocoa!  Add your own thoughts…

 

Peace, love and light for you in 2015…

Dead Poets Remember and Inspire


I came across another informative blog on depression and suicide, from a woman who lost her father, who suffered from depression and eventually took his own life.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5672519

“Until you’ve stared down that level of depression, until you’ve lost your soul to a sea of emptiness and darkness… you don’t get to make those judgments. You might not understand it, and you are certainly entitled to your own feelings, but making those judgments and spreading that kind of negativity won’t help the next person. In fact, it will only hurt others.”

“Friendship isn’t about saving lost souls; friendship is about listening and being present.”

She reminds us to not be afraid to talk about suicide…use the word and share stories to help dispel the fear and shame often surrounding the topic…

Love you S.H. Hang in there…

ctfuqua's avatarThe Magical Storybook of Professor Peacock

The movie Dead Poet’s Society came out during the summer between my junior and senior years at University of Michigan.  Formative years for me and for the young men in the movie. Impressionable – oh so impressionable.  1989.

And for that reason alone, has always been a favorite of mine…if not all time favorite.  And, I found myself watching it again recently, of course…

I remember connecting with Robert Sean Leonard’s character for many reasons.  For my struggles with homosexuality within The Word of God Community and UCO; for my perceptions of my father, so desperately wanting his approval and acceptance (when ironically it was always there, just not as vocal then as I wanted…); for my past years as a thespian, wondering what am I doing here as an engineer?  Oh so many connections. And for the struggles with rejection, depression and thoughts of suicide. These were the…

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Integrity…”this ability to listen inside is our oldest oar.”


I so treasure my daily devotionals from Mark Nepo. Unfolding with my own life experiences, his works are some I’ve come across in recent years that have changed my worldview.

Today’s reading is a helpful reminder on integrity, and self-acceptance…

Integrity is the ability to listen to a place inside oneself that doesn’t change, even though the life that carries it may change. —RABBI JONATHAN OMER-MAN

Much of our journey throughout this book has been about discovering that place inside and cultivating the ability to listen to it, while having compassion for the life that carries it.

It moves me to share the story of a troubled man who, exhausted from his suffering and confusion, asked a sage for help. The sage looked deeply into the troubled man and with compassion offered him a choice: “You may have either a map or a boat.”

After looking at the many pilgrims about him, all of whom seemed equally troubled, the confused man said, “I’ll take the boat.”

The sage kissed him on the forehead and said, “Go then. You are the boat. Life is the sea.”

As we have discovered so many times, we have everything we need within us. This ability to listen inside is our oldest oar. You are the boat.

~ Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

I know in the past, I would have asked for the map…wanting someone or something outside of myself to give me my answers, my Truth. With life’s experience and some sage counsel, I’ve grown to trust my own voice, my own oar… As one of my favorite musicals recounts, “the Starlight Express is within me…”