God, nature and the Duke
The disconnect from the spiritual self, the loss of meaning and purpose are responsible for much of our mental health crisis. Healing our planet starts with healing the self.
The broken modern workplace
The more a job inherently resembles a game – with variety, appropriate and flexible challenges, clear goals, and immediate feedback – the more enjoyable it will be regardless of the worker’s level of development. – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Roughly two-thirds of...
From brokenness into transformation
The key message of Easter is one of hope, rebirth, and resurrection after experiencing brokenness, hurt, and suffering. Suffering, pain, and brokenness is that part of life that sculptures us into the human beings we are destined to become.
Lessons for today from a dark age
The wise teachings of the 13th-century Mystics are timeless and more topical than ever during these pandemic times. They were the eco-warriors and holistic healers of their time, addressing issues of personal health, nutrition, and the environment.
Surrendering to the pain of the past
Staying in faith and trust is possibly one of the hardest trainings in patience but Meister Eckart also describes it as the highest schooling in spiritual training and elevation of consciousness.
From loneliness into solitude
As you start befriending your inner solitude, the contrast between the chatter of external thoughts and the authenticity of the deeper self becomes clearer. At times you need to withdraw from the world to get a clearer picture of who you really are and for what purpose you were born.
Happiness and the power of choice
It appears that by far the major part of our happiness is determined by the way we process the external world and the way we program ourselves with our thought and belief systems. A large body of researchers from the school of positive psychology concludes that it is possible to completely transform a life for the better by changing one’s attitude to whatever you have experienced.
The happiness illusion
Our culture has been indoctrinated with the happiness illusion with the self-help industry promoting the image of the perfect human being, successful in all areas of life and beaming a happy smile on social media outlets. The “happiness” and “positive thinking”...
The herd-madness of the crowd
“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”― C.G. Jung There is a famous picture of a single individual with his arms crossed in defiance amid a sea of German dockworkers giving a...
A mental health challenge
The other day I observed a heavily-masked woman in a supermarket in no uncertain terms telling off a customer to keep his distance. A passenger on the plane refused to take his window seat when he found another person sitting next to him. Many people are currently...
A year to remember or forget?
Reflecting on the past year a scene that remains particularly poignant is the Saturday morning in May when children were allowed out onto the Spanish streets for the first time after six weeks during one of the strictest Corona lockdowns in Europe. It was that dazed,...
Christmas: A message of Hope
People are crowding the streets, buying foods and other goodies at the elaborately decorated stalls of the Christmas markets. There is a hurried frenzy in the shops with choirs and musicians performing carols in the town square. That was Christmas last year and most...
The pandemic: A Blessing?
For the first time in our lifetime humanity is faced on a global level by a life-threatening virus. Some people have lost loved ones or all their material resources. So how can a crisis be a blessing? Any type of personal tragedy is always followed by a period of...
Truth and the tribal bubble
"Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed." --Friedrich Nietzsche. There is a story that when Christopher Columbus arrived on the shores of Latin America the local people were unable to see the sailing ships...
Shifting from the blame game
Sam went into early retirement some years ago and is battling financially in making ends meet with his small pension. I've known Sam for several years and decided some time ago to shift him from friends to a distant associate. Who is abusing you as an emotional...
