When Connection Becomes a Search for the Self There are encounters in life that seem to reach beyond ordinary attraction. We meet someone and experience an inexplicable familiarity, an emotional intensity, or a sense that something within us has been awakened. Perhaps the connection feels spiritual, even destined. We may call this person a soulmate… [Read More]
Beyond the Oracle Card: A Collaborative Conversation
I’ve been working with oracle cards for years, both personally and through the development of the Essential Soul Care Oracle Deck. What continues to interest me isn’t simply the message printed on a card, but what happens when someone encounters an image and begins to make meaning from it. Sometimes a symbol captures our attention…. [Read More]
What Was the Name of That Coffee Shop?
It started with a passing news headline about Starbucks closing retail locations. Iām not sure why that news item caught my eye, except that it nudged open an old door to a time before there was a coffee shop on every corner. I suddenly found myself trying to remember the name of a specific coffee… [Read More]
Meditation in Ordinary Moments
There is certainly no shortage of information about meditation. We can find instructions for mindfulness meditation, guided meditation, walking meditation, transcendental meditation, visualization, breathwork and any number of contemplative practices rooted in spiritual and religious traditions. There are apps to guide us, teachers to teach us and entire retreats designed to help us become better… [Read More]
Give Me the Story, Not the Label
Recently, someone asked me how a parent might prepare for a custody or parental fitness evaluation. I have conducted many evaluations and while it has been a long time since I sat in the evaluator’s chair, the question brought me immediately back to something I learned doing that work: describe the behavior rather than diagnosing… [Read More]
Did Spirit Say That? Or Did You?
Lately, everybody seems to be channeling… Let me begin by saying something that may complicate what you think I am about to say: I believe in signs. I pay attention to synchronicities. I work with dreams, symbols, intuition, oracle cards, essential oils, Reiki, subtle energies, and all manner of things that might make a strict… [Read More]
The Impression Is Not the Intervention
I teach intuition, but I also teach discernment. For these reasons, the two belong together: suggestibility, and therapist power. When therapists, coaches, healers, and spiritual guides begin trusting their intuition, there can be an understandable impulse to share what arrives. A felt sense, image, word, or sudden knowing may seem important. Sometimes it is. But… [Read More]
Therapist, Coach, or Both? A Values Clarification Exercise
Over the past several years, I’ve noticed an increasing number of licensed mental health professionals exploring coach training. Some are curious about adding coaching competencies to their clinical work. Others are considering leaving psychotherapy altogether. Still others are attracted by the flexibility that coaching appears to offer. The reasons are understandable. Therapists speak of burnout,… [Read More]
