Reflective Life

Knowing Yourself

In ancient Greece the city of Delphi was the location of the Oracle of Apollo. There people could enter the god Apollo’s temple and be offered insight regarding business, love, travel, fortune, or any other matter in life. Yet the god was fickle, and the oracle not to be trusted. Perhaps it is not surprising that inscribed on the temple was the simple phrase: “Know yourself.”

Now, over 2000 years later, this phrase, “know yourself”, is a cornerstone of western religion and spirituality. Somehow the ancient Greeks knew that for a person to know themself was to touch the divine.

I’ve been writing a lot about our inner life and outer life. I’ve also been writing a lot about how we can change reality. I’ve been arguing reality is often shaped by our perceptions. So, to change reality, we’ve got to work from the inside out.

One of the initial steps along the way is to follow the advice carved on the Delphi Oracle. Knowing yourself in all areas of life is important, but in the spiritual life it’s crucial.

“Knowing yourself in all areas of life is important, but in the spiritual life it’s crucial.”

When I’ve written about changing reality, I’ve talked a lot about our perceptions, memories, thoughts, and feelings. I’ve talked a lot about how our perceptions, memories, thoughts, and feelings can capture and imprison us, forcing us to experience reality in ways we might not otherwise want.

Knowing ourselves means knowing our perceptions, memories, thoughts, and feelings. But it also means knowing we are not our perceptions, memories, thoughts, and feelings. Rather, there is a much larger field of which all of us is a part. And this is the Self the Delphi Oracle charges us to know.

Various traditions refer to this larger field using a variety of names. But between the traditions the pattern is the same: there is an Infinite field that contains all of reality. And, each individual being is a finite expression of the Infinite. The role of each finite being is to come into contact with that Infinite field so it can fulfill its purpose for being.

“The role of each finite being is to come into contact with the Infinite field so it can fulfill its purpose for being.”

Spirituality is about moving into that Infinite field. It’s also about creating the conditions so that Infinite field can flow through us and fill all of our lived awareness. So, knowing yourself means knowing how best you personally can live into that flow. It also means knowing the things you often do that prevent you from living the flow.

Knowing yourself is about knowing how best you can let go so the flow can flow in you, around you, through you, and beyond you.

Here are eight questions to help you reflect on how you might or might not live in the flow:

When have you felt carried away by something bigger than yourself?
What was that experience like?
What might have contributed to you having that experience?
Have you ever tried to repeat that experience?
Did it happen again? If so, what contributed to it this time? If not, why do you think it didn’t?
What might it be like for you to have this kind of experience permanently?
Is that something you want? Why or why not?
What might you do in response to considering these questions? What do you see as next steps either toward or away from this experience?

Knowing yourself as part of the flow opens a new way of living. It means life changes, because you are now fully participating in the flow of reality, moving as other things move, while also beckoning others into that Infinite field that causes all things to flow.

References

Bourgeault, C. (2013). The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three: Discovering the Radical Truth at the Heart of Christianity. Boulder, CO: Shambhala.

Panikkar, R. (2010). The Rhythm of Being: The Unbroken Trinity; The Gifford Lectures. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.

Rohr, R. and Morrell, M. (2016). The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation. New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House.

Disclaimer: The advice and suggestions offered on this site are not substitutes for consultation with qualified mental or spiritual health professionals. The perspectives offered here are those of the author, not of those professionals with whom readers might have relationships as clients or patients. In crisis situations, readers are encouraged to contact these professionals for appropriate support and treatment if needed.

Inner and Outer: Keys to Reality

I’ve been writing a lot on this blog about attending to inner realities. I’ve been saying that attending to inner realities can help us change our outer realities. Part of this means nurturing a deep awareness of our inner being.

But how does this connect to outer realities? How does outer reality change because of the inner traits we cultivate?

In the western world, we are so focused on externals. Do I look good today? How do I appear in the eyes of other people? What does science tell me about life, the universe, and everything?

“Rarely do we take the time to pay attention to what’s going on inside us.”

Rarely do we take the time to pay attention to what’s going on inside us.

Some have even written that in the western world we are afraid of our emotions. Any feeling, thought, memory, or perception is seen as irrelevant, simply because these seem not to change anything in society, politics, or the physical world.

Yet this idea could not be farther from how reality actually works.

Our emotions guide our relationships. Our thoughts help us make choices. Our memories help us learn about the meaning of life. Our perceptions form the basis of our realities.

And all of these are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

“To say inner experiences are less real than outer experiences is not quite right.”

So, to say that our inner experiences are less real than our outer experiences is not quite right. In fact, some argue our inner experiences are just as real as those that happen in society, politics, and the physical world.

How to understand the connection between the two?

In the next number of posts, I’ll be offering some ideas on this topic.

Here are seven questions to help you reflect on how your inner realites affect your outer realities:

Have you ever felt misunderstood?
What was this feeling like for you?
Were there any more feelings this experience produced in you?
How did these additional feelings affect how you interacted with the person who misunderstood you?
How did you clear up this misunderstanding, if at all?
What did it feel like to clear it up, if this is what happened? What did it feel like if you didn’t clear up this misunderstanding?
How did your relationship with the person who misunderstood you change as a result of this experience, if at all? How did it remain the same, if at all?

Life would be unlivable if there was no connection between inner and outer realities.

How do you see this connection? What do you do with it? How do you engage it, work with it, navigate it, or wrestle with it?

Leave me a comment; I’d love to find out.

References

Greenspan, M. (2004). Healing through the dark emotions: The wisdom of grief, fear, and despair. Boulder, CO: Shambhala.

Harman, G. (2018). Object-Oriented Ontology: a new theory of everything. London, UK: Penguin Random House.

Lasair, S. (2019). What’s the point of spiritual care? A narrative response. Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 73(2): 115-123. DOI: 10.1177/1542305019846846

How far Can You Go?

In my last post, I wrote about how all of us can change reality. By working with our perceptions, memories, thoughts, and feelings, we can change our inner realities. And, once our inner realities change, we can begin to change our outer realities.

As I’ve written previously, our perceptions shape our realities. So, if we change our perceptions and how our other inner realities affect us, our outer realities also change.

This is because we are no longer dominated by perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings that might otherwise imprison us. We begin to experience an inner openness and freedom.

“When we bring openness and freedom into daily encounters, we no longer need to respond to others automatically.”

When we bring this into our daily encounters, we no longer need to respond to others automatically. We are offered the opportunity to choose what our response might be. We can reflect on how we might respond in the best interests of others or of ourselves.

Some writers call this a growth in awareness; others call it a growth in consciousness.

Either way there is growth in our inner being.

This growth indicates there is much more to us than our thoughts, feelings, memories, and perceptions. Rather, there is a much larger field that includes our thoughts, feelings, memories, and perceptions.

That larger field has been called the true self, the Self, universal consciouness, and whole host of other things in a number of different traditions.

This larger field is infinite, which raises the question: how far can a person go into it?

“A person can go as far into the larger field as they want to.”

The short answer: as far as a person wants to.

But, beware, the way is challenging. It means giving up the person you think you are now. It means moving into a very different sense of self, one that is deeply connected to the infinite, one that sees your presence in external life as one expression of the infinite, the infinite of which every person and every reality is a part.

So, the question again: how far do you want to go?

Here are eight questions to help you think about how you might respond:

What are your deepest desires in life?
What has it been like for you to pursue those desires?
If you have achieved the things you desired, how has that felt for you?
What might be missing from your life, if anything?
How do you expect to get those things that are missing, if at all?
How deep does your desire for them go?
What is behind your desire?
Where might your desire take you?

Desire is the key to moving into this greater field. Desire is what keeps us moving forward through the difficult times when they inevitably come. Desire is what gives us hope for the future.

So, the question again: what do you truly desire?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out?

References

Bourgeault, C. (2004). Centering prayer and inner awakening. Lanham, MD: Cowley.

Lasair, S. (2019). What’s the point of spiritual care? A narrative response. Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 73(2): 115-123. DOI: 10.1177/1542305019846846

Wilber, K. (2017). The religion of tomorrow: A vision for the future of the great traditions–more inclusive, more comprehensive, more complete. Boulder, CO: Shambhala.

Changing Reality

Previously I wrote about how spirituality is oriented toward changing reality. In this post I will write about this idea a bit more.

In that previous post, I wrote about how our perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings can sometimes get in the way of how we experience our realities. This is because our perceptions often shape the realities we experience. It’s also because our thoughts, feelings, and memories can also shape the stories we tell ourselves about reality.

When we notice how our inner realities shape our outer realities, this is called awareness.

Let me unpack this a bit.

When we see how our perceptions shape our realities, and when we see ourselves being captured by thoughts, feelings, and memories, we become aware of our inner realities.

“Inner realities influence our behaviours, attitudes, and engagements with others.”

We also begin to see how these inner realities influence our behaviours, attitudes, and engagements with others.

For example, if I am grumpy, this affects how I engage my family; my anger and frustration with myself draws out anger and frustration from those closest to me. Subtle things like my tone of voice, my body language, and my entire demeanour influence how others interact with me.

However, if I know I am grumpy, I can do things to counteract this. I can tell those around me I’m having a tough day and I need space. I can also reflect on the reasons why I’m grumpy and begin working with those reasons.

In both cases, I have begun changing my realities. I have worked to change the realities outside me by telling others how I’m feeling. I’ve also begun changing realities within me by working with the reasons why I’m feeling grumpy.

And it all begins with awareness.

Here are eight questions to help you build your awareness:

What are some things that really bother you?
Why do they bother you?
When you see someone doing this thing that bothers you, how do you respond?
Why do you respond this way?
Is this the only way you can imagine responding to this situation?
How might you respond to this or similar situations differently?
What might help you to have these different responses?
How might you work to have these different responses consistently, if that is something you want?

“Changing reality always begins by changing ourselves.”

Changing reality always begins by changing ourselves. But this change has to happen both within ourselves, as well as in our relationships.

What might happen if we all started changing ourselves for the better? What would that feel like from your perspective? What would the world begin to look like?

From my perspective, the possibilities are endless.

References

Lasair, S. (2019). What’s the point of spiritual care? A narrative response. Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 73(2): 115-123. DOI: 10.1177/1542305019846846

Lasair, S. (2019). A Narrative Approach Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Health Care. Journal of Religion and Health [Online First]. https://rdcu.be/bSZY3

Working from the Inside Out

On this blog I’ve been writing a lot about what spirituality is and it isn’t. I’ve been hinting a bit about how we can engage it, but I haven’t quite gotten there.

So, this post is a beginning. It’s a beginning about how we can engage our spirituality. It’s a beginning about what difference engaging our spirituality can make for us, as well as for those around us.

Yet, as I’ve indicated previously, spirituality includes just about everything about us. How then can we start engaging this one thing that includes everything?

In short: we do it from the inside out.

I’ve written extensively about how our perceptions create our realities. I’ve also written about how our thoughts, emotions, and memories can dominate our lived experiences.

Spirituality engages all these things in the hope of changing our experiences of reality.

“There are a number of ways we can get in touch with our perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and memories.”

There are a number of ways we can get in touch with our perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and memories.

For those who have close relationships with their bodies, some sort of physical practice might be of benefit. Yoga or walking meditation are often good places to start.

Those who engage life primarily through their minds might benefit from a mindfulness or other meditation practice.

Yet the best practices are often those that engage people accross the various parts of their being at the same time. The book Integral Life Practice by Wilber, Patten, Leonard, and Morelli includes some fantastic tips in this regard.

All this has the goal of enabling a person to detach themself from their automatic perceptions, thoughts, feelings, or memories.

By detaching themself from these things, a person is better able to engage reality as it is, rather than as something they want it or perceive it to be.

This then enables this person to be free of perceptions, thoughts, feelings, or memories that might otherwise restrict how they engage life, rather than experiencing it in all its great fullness.

“By engaging inner realities, people can change their experience of outer realities.”

By engaging these inner realities, then, people can change their experience of outer realites, if only they work from the inside out.

Here are some questions to help you reflect upon how you engage your spirituality:

What do you find most appealing: ideas, physical activity, nature, or the arts?
Why do these things appeal to you?
How do these things connect you to something bigger than yourself, if at all? What is it that gives you this feeling?
Have you had this feeling more than once? What has produced this feeling in you? Is it the same or different across your experiences?
How has your life changed because of these experiences, if at all?
How have you or how do you intend to integrate the meaning of these experiences into your life, if at all?

What’s inside you that you really need to engage? What might engaging it mean for you? How might you change by engaging it?

Wouldn’t be interesting to find out?

References

Trungpa, C. (2018). The future is open: Good karma, bad karma, and beyond karma. Boulder, CO: Shambhala.

Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Boston, MA: Integral books.

Wilber, K., Patten, T., Leonard, A., and Morelli, M. (2008). Integral life practice: A 21st-century bluprint for physical health, emotional balance, mental clarity, and spiritual awakening. Boston, MA: Integral Books.

Bringing it All Together

This post completes a series where I’ve been considering spirituality’s relationship to ultimate meaning.

In previous posts I’ve discussed how spirituality is closely connected to our pursuit of the good. When the good avoids us, then, this can negatively affect our spiritual health.

This is because we can start telling ourselves stories about the nature of reality. When we perceive reality to be mainly negative, we begin to experience reality in ways keeping with our perceptions—the realities we perceive become the realities we experience.

The lesson is we need to be aware of our thoughts, emotions, memories, and perceptions, since they all play significant roles in constructing our experiences.

So, how do we bring this all together?

Here are five statements that summarize what spirituality is all about:

Spirituality concerns how we experience and engage reality. It acknowledges that each of us have significant roles in creating the realities we experience through our perceptions.
Spirituality concerns how we pursue the good in life. It acknowledges we all want to experience the good. But it also acknowledges all of us, at times, struggle to experience the goods we desire.
Spirituality concerns how we can change our realities so we can experience the good more consistently. It acknowledges this begins by working with our perceptions. But it also acknowledges we must similarly change our behaviours and actions to better experience the good.
A goal of spirituality is human flourishing. This acknowleges we all have hopes and dreams. But it also acknowledges that not all hopes and dreams are possible, just given what life might have brought us.
A goal of spirituality is therefore embracing and affirming our identity. This acknowledges our understanding of our identity changes over time. But it also acknowledges that some understandings of our identity are truer than others.

When described this way, spirituality can be seen as that which brings all of life together; spirituality integrates our life into a coherent whole.

Spirituality, in this sense, then, is what gives our life meaning. Spirituality could be The Meaning of Life.

Here are three questions to help you reflect on the role of spirituality in your life:

What are some of the most significant things you desire for yourself and your loved ones? How do these things bring meaning to your life?
How do you structure your life around these things that bring you meaning? What behavours, actions, and activities engage this sense of meaning for you?
What are your beliefs about reality that enable you to engage these things that bring you meaning? How do you see your realities change because of your engagements with these meaningful things, if at all?

Enjoy the insights and opportunities your spirituality brings. May your spirituality bless you and those around you.

References

Lasair, S. (2019). A Narrative Approach Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Health Care. Journal of Religion and Health [Online First]. https://rdcu.be/bSZY3

Volf, M. (2015). Flourishing: Why we need religion in a globalized world. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Non-Material Realities

This post comes in a series where I’ve been considering spirituality’s connection to ultimate meaning.

Previously I’ve written about how the good can give us meaning and purpose. Hence the good and spirituality are intimately connected.

So, when the good seems to avoid us, this can be a challenge to our spiritual health. We can begin to tell ourselves stories about how the Truth about reality is actually negative. It then becomes necessary for us to re-invent our vision of reality if we want to regain a healthier perspective.

“We all encounter and engage non-material realities that can have effects on our health and wellbeing.”

All this assumes we all encounter and engage non-material realities that can have distinct effects on our health and wellbeing.

While this may seem mysterious or a bit scary, in reality it’s not.

We don’t see our emotions or our thoughts. But our emotions and thoughts have very concrete effects on our bodies and wellbeing depending on how we handle them.

What motivation to pay attention to them, then!

Meditation practice teaches us not to hold onto, cling to, or repress our thoughts and emotions. This is because our thoughts and emotions have lives of their own.

I’ve been hinting at this when I’ve written about how our perceptions create the realities we experience. But, when we pay attention to them, we can see our thoughts and emotions behaving in strange and wonderful ways.

One thought leads to another, or it brings up memories that are difficult to deal with, or we start ruminating on things that happened years ago.

When we hang onto these thoughts and feelings, this can affect our interactions with ourselves and others. We can start feeling down on ourselves. And then, because we’re feeling down on ourselves, we become grumpy with our spouse, children, or co-workers.

So, the anger and frustration we’re feeling about ourselves draws anger and frustration out of those close to us.

“Non-material realities have a profound effect on us and on those around us.”

These non-material realities thus have a profound effect not only on us, but on the wellbeing of those around us.

What happens when whole neighbourhoods, cities, or countries become captured by anger, fear, frustration, or despair?

Here are five questions to help you reflect upon the non-material realities in your life:

What are some of the memories or thoughts that are often near to you? Why do they come to you so often?
How do they typically affect you when they come?
When the come to you, what do you do with them?
What helps you to release your thoughts or memories?
Do your thoughts or memories return? If so, what do you do with them? If not, why not?

If a person begins to have thoughts or memories that are overly intrusive, it may be necessary to consult with a qualified mental health professional.

In the meantime remember, you are not your thoughts, feelings, or memories. There is so much more to you that you need not be controlled by the non-material realities.

What a reason to live hopefully!

References

Beauregard, M. and O’Leary, D. (2007). The spiritual brain: A neuroscientist’s case for the existence of the soul. Toronto, ON: Harper Collins.

Bourgeault, C. (2004). Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. Lanham, MD: Cowley.

Lasair, S. (2019). A Narrative Approach Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Health Care. Journal of Religion and Health [Online First]. https://rdcu.be/bSZY3

Trungpa, C. (2018). The future is open: Good karma, bad karma, and beyond karma, edited by C.R. Gimian. Boulder, CO: Shambhala.

Wilber, K. (2016). Integral meditation: Mindfulness as a path to grow up, wake up, and show up in your life. Boulder, CO: Shambhala.

An Invitation

I love writing. I love developing concepts and then finding the perfect way to put them into words. I then love sharing my writing with others. Sometimes, these other people love what I’ve written. Other times, they can take it or leave it. Either way, their feedback is helpful.

So . . . I have an invitation for you: I’d love to hear from you!

If you like what you’re reading on this blog, leave me a comment. I promise, I’ll respond as soon as I can.

If you have questions, leave me a comment or shoot me an email using the form on the Contact page. I promise, I’ll respond as soon as I can.

I’ll even write some blog posts to respond to your questions–if you’ve got questions, no doubt others do too.

Most of all, if you like what you’re reading please consider sharing my posts on social media using one of the buttons at the bottom of each post. By doing this you can help these thoughts reach more people and grow the conversations about the ideas I’m sharing.

Most of all, thank you for reading.

Now, I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Metaphysics, or Reality Writ Large

This post comes in a series where I’ve been considering spirituality’s connection to ultimate meaning.

Previously, I wrote spirituality concerns the way people respond to questions of ultimate meaning.

I’ve also been exploring how spirituality and “the good” are connected. Our good helps us define our meaning and purpose in life. When the good avoids us, then, our spiritual health can suffer.

This is especially true when we have had repeated negative experiences. Unfortunately, when life treats us this way, we can also begin to perceive reality as overwhelmingly negative.

All these topics concern metaphysics.

In popular thought, metaphysics is often believed to refer exclusively to the spiritual or the mystical.

Metaphysics includes this, but it also includes more.

I use the word “metaphysics” to refer to all of reality–physical, non-physical, spiritual, mystical, and material.

“All our experiences have a metaphysical dimension.”

The reason all our experiences have a metaphysical dimension is because all our experiences teach us about the nature of reality.

When our experiences have been filled with love, affection, and joy, it is easy to see reality through that lens.

When our experiences have been filled with cruelty, abuse, hurt, and misfortune, reality is difficult to trust.

No matter who we are, our experiences form our perceptions, and then our perceptions become the stories we tell ourselves about the nature of reality.

I therefore wrote previously about how it is necessary to work with our perceptions if we want to change the realities we experience.

Here I will recall some of the things I’ve written about Truth. The Truth about reality always, always, always exceeds our perceptions.

So, for us to live spiritually healthy lives, we must always be open to how limited our perceptions actually are.

We must also be similarly aware of how we will never be able to understand all of what reality includes. This is easy to say when talking about things like how the universe came into being.

It’s much harder to say about people, especially those with whom we share close relationships. Somehow saying we don’t know everything about a spouse, lover, friend, parent, or child can seem threatening.

“Living a spiritually healthy life invites us into unknowing.”

But, living a spiritually healthy life invites us into precisely this kind of unknowing. Understanding that the reality of any person, place, or thing will always elude our grasp helps us keep good perspective.

It allows the person, place, or thing to be free of our perceptions of them. It also helps us remain open to being joyfully surprised when any of these things don’t fit our expectations.

Here are some questions to help you reflect on the limits of your perceptions:

Who are some people close to you? What are some of the things you know about these people?
How did you come to know these things about these people?
To what extent are these things the only things you know about these people?
What are some of the things you might not know about them?
How might these things you don’t know affect your understanding of these people as people?
How would you go about exploring these things with these people, if you feel comfortable?
What do you think it would be like to explore these things with them?

Encountering metaphysics always begins with the things we don’t know or understand. But, it also always raises the question of how we can move into more knowledge and better understanding.

All of life, then, is a metaphysical experience. Rejoice and be glad: you are a spiritual being!

References

Harman, G. (2018). Object-Oriented Ontology: a new theory of everything. London, UK: Penguin Random House.

Lasair, S. (2018). Spiritual care as a secular profession: Politics, theory, and practice. Journal for the Study of Spirituality 8 (1): 5-18. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/20440243.2018.1431022

Lasair, S. (2019). A Narrative Approach Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Health Care. Journal of Religion and Health [Online First]. https://rdcu.be/bSZY3

Reality, Whatever that Is . . .

This post comes in a series where I’ve been considering spirituality’s connection to ultimate meaning.

Previously I wrote that spirituality consists of how we respond to questions of ultimate meaning. I have also written about how our understandings of “the good” are deeply spiritual.

When the good seems to avoid us, then, our spiritual health can be in trouble if we don’t appropriately engage it.

“When the good seems to avoid us, our spiritual health can be in trouble.”

This is especially true because spirituality has to do with how we perceive and experience reality.

So, when we have repeated negative experiences, the stories we tell ourselves about our lives can become similarly negative.

If we become convinced our experiences are consistently negative, we can also begin to experience reality negatively.

We can see reality as harsh, cold, and punishing. If we believe in God, we could say God is out to get us, or God is punishing us for things we may never understand.

Living life from this space can be extremely difficult, because all trust is gone. How can a person trust God or life if all they have experienced is pain, hardship, and frustration?

“A person’s vision of reality matches the stories they tell themself.”

Their vision of reality begins to match the stories they tell themself about their life.

And so, by simply holding on to some thoughts about their life, their reality becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Their life becomes negative, precisely because they are choosing to see it so.

Now, getting out of this place can be more difficult than getting into it. When a person has learned to tell their story in negative ways, they must unlearn this and begin to learn how to tell it differently.

At times this can require the help of a qualified therapist or spiritual care practitioner.

Yet, ultimately, the choice is theirs alone. Remember, the reality a person perceives is the reality they experience. So, if a person wants to change their experiences of reality, they must first change their perceptions.

This is the main foundation for spiritual health. Work with your perceptions, and your realities will change as a result.

Here are six questions to help you understand your perceptions of reality:

What are some repeated experiences you’ve had in life? How have these shaped how you live?
Do you experience reality as loving and trustworthy? Or, do you experience reality in some other way?
If there were one word to express how you feel about your life, what would it be? What does this tell you about yourself?
What dreams do you have for your future? Where do these dreams come from? Do you believe they’re realistic given what you’ve experienced in the past?
Who or what has helped you overcome difficulty in the past? How did your experience of life change as a result of this help?
What do you want to believe about life/the universe/everything? What will help you build these beliefs? What might be some challenges to building them?

Hold your beliefs about reality tenderly; they are the core of your spirituality. Most of all treat yourself gently. Regardless of what you’ve experienced, you are loved in ways you will probably never know.

May peace and love find you today.

References

Lasair, S. (2018). Spiritual care as a secular profession: Politics, theory, and practice. Journal for the Study of Spirituality 8 (1): 5-18. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/20440243.2018.1431022

Lasair, S. (2019). A Narrative Approach Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Health Care. Journal of Religion and Health [Online First]. https://rdcu.be/bSZY3

McGilchrist, I. (2009). The master and his emissary: The divided brain and the making of the western world. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.