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Published: 13 April 2017

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Holy Week is a spiritual time for me filled with much emotion. The apostles who followed Jesus gave up their livelihood and families to follow a person whom they hoped was their longed-for messiah; the savior of the Jewish people. After spending much time with Jesus, the apostles experience the awesome high of walking into Jerusalem with the crowds praising the man they are following. Imagine how they felt, knowing that they are with an important person, and

Read more: How Love and Betrayal Are One

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Published: 09 April 2017

Today, for Christians around the world, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the days leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Spiritually, Holy Week has always been a special time for me as this week is a high point of much emotion in the life of Jesus, His early followers, and for me. In my personal spiritual journey I try to understand what it was like living in the time of Jesus. I read historical books as well as the Bible in my attempt to more deeply understand

Read more: Palm Sunday: Love And Be Loved Is Our Challenge

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Published: 14 February 2017

Today, as we celebrate Valentine's Day, our thoughts and feelings turn to love and to those whom we love. But do we really understand what that simple, yet powerful word, LOVE, means?

Personally, this is a tough word for me to reflect on since my natural inclination is toward the intellectual pursuits rather than understanding my emotions. Yes, as a counselor I deal with the emotions of my clients, but note what I wrote: "my" emotions. I have no issue in helping others to come to an

Read more: Love As A Passion To Be Pursued

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Published: 23 January 2017

Maybe it’s just me, but it appears that anger is the main emotion of our time. Yes, there is kindness, and I do meet people who are not angry; yet, of the people I meet, more display anger than who display kindness. I don't think my experience is abnormal.

In a study conducted a year ago, researchers Okuda, et al. discovered that 7.8% of the Americans they surveyed, 34,000 adults over the age of 18, found an overall prevalence of inappropriate, intense, or poorly controlled anger. That percentage may not seem high, but round out the numbers, and for every 34,000 adult Americans, 3,000 of them exhibit poorly controlled anger. (“Prevalence and correlates of anger in the community: results from a national survey.“ April 2015)

Why is there so much anger? We see it in the streets, in demonstrations, on social media, etc. I have my theories, but the focus of this article is not on the why, or the origin, of the anger. Rather, I write this article on anger from the perspective of mindfulness. In mindfulness we are urged to remain in the moment, non judgmentally. Following that suggestion, I don’t necessarily need to understand why…

Read more: Angry At The World? Use That Anger For Good