Category: Healing
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I’m currently reading The Energy of Prayer by Thich Nhat Hanh. Like his other books, it’s thoughtful and gentle. But this one, in particular, has landed deeply for me. What resonates most is the way he speaks about spirituality without dogma. It’s not about what you’re supposed to believe, but about how you live, breathe,…
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The holidays are sometimes a difficult time for me. That’s not a complaint, just a fact. This year feels different though, more exposed. It’s the first holiday season in decades that I’m doing without alcohol or benzodiazepines. No numbing. No softening the edges. Just me, just as I am. I don’t regret that. In a…
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I use CBD to help manage withdrawal symptoms. Today I stopped by a new shop to restock, since the store I used to go to closed its location here in town. Because this shop carries different brands and products, I explained what I was looking for, and why. When I mentioned that I was using…
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I want to begin by saying something clearly and respectfully… one doesn’t have to be Christian to enjoy Christmas. I realize that may already be obvious to many people, but I’ve had thoughtful questions from Christian friends about what Christmas means to me personally, as a Buddhist who also sees the world through an animist…
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I’ll be sixty years old in a few short months, and I can say without hesitation that I’ve learned more about myself in the past year and a half than at any other point in my life. I’ve learned how to face fear.How to endure intense physical pain.How to survive withdrawal, not just medically, but…
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I grew up being taught that meaning, comfort, and salvation came from believing the right things about a (to me) distant God. Defined in ancient books, filtered through doctrine, and guarded by rules. I tried, for many years, to hold those beliefs. But they never “took” in me. Instead, they made me feel boxed in, anxious, and…
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how sound has helped me heal. At almost a year off benzos now, my nervous system is still relearning how to be at peace. And what surprises me, maybe more than anything else, is that one of the most powerful tools I’ve found for recovery isn’t modern or…
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A Moment That Changed Everything Back in 2011 something happened that altered the course of my life and quietly anchored the animist way I now understand the world. I have sleep apnea, and at that time I didn’t yet have a CPAP machine. Falling asleep on my back has always been dangerous because it worsens…
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It’s far too easy to become distracted by everything that’s wrong in the world. So easy, in fact, that it can blot out everything that’s still good. With so many news companies competing for our attention, we’re inundated with headlines from the moment we wake up, unless we take steps to protect ourselves. For me,…
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I’m back home in Santa Fe after spending a week in Texas visiting family. Seeing everyone again after so long was genuinely wonderful. Family almost always is. But Texas itself, at least the part we were in, hasn’t changed except to get worse. Internet speeds still crawl just barely above dial-up (not a joke), the…