Among his possessions, I find remnants of his former life. A dust-encrusted black-and-white photo of him lovingly embracing his former partner and their son. A letter of adoration from his youngest daughter. The charred remains of a painting by his eldest, a family silhouette of children and parents frolicking on the beach. As I clean, I wonder: am I helping to clean the stains of the past or desecrating a shrine.
Category: Healing
This Ol House: A Journey of Renovation and Renewal
“There is an energy here… unlike any I have felt in other places. It creates a cocoon… a powerful catalyst for the deep to flow.”
Pattern and Light
I planted chilli seeds… must have been months ago. I found two sprouting in a little pot and on the verge of expiring due to a lack of water and nourishment. Lately, I’m having a love affair with the garden. This time, I am in a better place in my mind. I guess I have…
Behind The Eight Ball
You never met your paternal Grandfather, her husband and your Dad’s Father. All your Dad told you about him was that he died while potting the eight-ball in a game of pool; it occurs to you that there’s an explanation (other than your misspent youth) for your prowess with a pool cue and your chronic…
It’s Not All Black and White
“There is a grief
Carried in my bones forever
So profound that I fear
If I meet it fully I will die.”
The Spirit of Palm Beach
I’ve been tempted to judge myself as desperate and needy, indulging Mills and Boonesque fantasies of a romance with the ghost of a troubled surfer-boy from Palm Beach.
BLOODLETTING
To my relief
she listened
And I dropped in..
Past the anger
Past the anguish
Down, down, down
To the grief.
To the very bloodroot of things.
Indelible
I scan the water for his familiar body language. He is a big man who’s weight partially submerges his Malibu as he moves through the water. His paddling style is stiff… the legacy of a shoulder injury many years ago. His bald head pushes through the air like a guided missile. His stance on the…
Breaking Bad – Empowerment from Betrayal
“I was appreciated and admired only for what I was to him, not for who I was and who I might be in my own right, and that (unconsciously) created a raging battle within me. I had become dependant on his attention. It makes me cringe just to think of it. I have to face very uncomfortable places in myself to own this. The bottom line is he showed up all of the places I already felt valueless and insignificant.”
Resurrecting the Innocent Heart.
I have memories of my early childhood. One was when I wandered into the neighbour’s garden.. I must have been very young because I discovered a plot of different coloured daisies that towered way above me. I was mesmerized and enchanted by such beauty and wonder. In my child’s heart, I had found a magical…
The Great Divide – A Tantric Perspective
Men and boys grow up in our culture walking on eggshells. The idea that masculinity is something to fear permeates the psyches of men and women alike. To tend toward aggression, violence, domination, and exploitation, is almost expected of men. We expect them to be guilty before proven innocent. We expect them to ‘step up’ and ‘man up’. The effect of these unspoken assumptions is a heavy burden to bear.
Breaking the Cycle of Abuse ~ Avalon Darnesh
Holy shit. I’m having a smack in the face at the insanely unacceptable levels of abuse that women still suffer on our planet. I’m not finger pointing at men, because the whole culture is totally screwed up and it’s a domino effect. Those men were raised by women, and if those women were in their…
The Sound of Her Voice 