memories

Free Colorful Spring Blossomsin Pink on Blue Sky by Pink Sherbet Photography 3475119574_83b0b265ba_o

Of Good Ideas, Frustration, and The Body Remembering …

My mother had many ideas, good and creative thoughts. She was also very frustrated.
Looking back I now realize that anger simmered beneath my mother’s skin. Its scent fills my nose and takes me back now as I write. Like the stench of burning flesh, my mother’s anger continually grew

Of Good Ideas, Frustration, and The Body Remembering … Read More »

papillon214 by valérie kuki 13637978174_2999e0a3f0_o.jpg

Of Gifts, Witnessing and Time Immemorial …

Each of our daughters has provided me a unique gift with the presence of their lives in mine. Our eldest, a twenty-six year old senior law student exemplifies the epitome of loyalty.

That she chose to move back home and resume living in her old room while attending

law school touched me greatly. It gave me the invaluable

Of Gifts, Witnessing and Time Immemorial … Read More »

Wisdom Cards - Affirmations - Louise Hay by JCT(Loves)Streisand*--3317077845_00829fd5f6_o.jpg

Of Rules, Quilts, A Coat of Many Colors, and Knowing …

My mother was a stickler for rules. They seemed to give her a sense of safety.

I cannot say that I hate rules. I certainly do not like the way those in power misuse and bend them to punish those over whom they seek to maintain control.

I do not know that my mother misused rules. This is a comforting revelation. She was fair.

She did what she said and promised, even if the consequences she warned of involved excessive force or could be considered abusive.

I am not trying to protect my mother from the part of me that she hurt, the aspects

Of Rules, Quilts, A Coat of Many Colors, and Knowing … Read More »

city: path less traveled by barliquin

Of Choice, Memories and Infinite Possibilities …

Women have been the ones in the past who collect memories. We made the pictures or engaged a photographer to make a family photo. We made sure that the children made their school pictures and kept watch until the children delivered them safely home to us.

We created family albums and scrapbooks. We wrote in diaries to unborn children that we carried, and kept journals of those experiences of the early months following the birth of those we eventually delivered into the world. Many of us still do. We have been, and are the keeper of memories.

Amid the hustle and bustle of

Of Choice, Memories and Infinite Possibilities … Read More »

Of History, Bloodlines and Memory …

Historically women and mothers have been and encouraged their daughters to live guarded lives. By guarded lives I mean not allowing love to determine the best husband, showing care with whom we associated, not allowing ourselves to find ourselves alone with men to whom we were not betrothed or married.

My mother exhibited similar actions with me. And I confess to doing the same with out daughters. These actions, though

Of History, Bloodlines and Memory … Read More »

Of Relationships, Dharma and That Mirror of Mirrors Which Sits At Our Core…

The decisive question for man is:
Is he related to something infinite or not?
That is the telling question of his life.

In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted.

In our relationships to other men, too, the crucial question is whether an element of boundlessness is expressed in the relationship.

–Carl Gustav Jung on Jung in “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” by Carl Jung

___________________________________________________________

I recently heard a podcast, Relationship Revelation, given by Deborah and Lyle Dukes on Chocolate Pages hosted by Pam Perry.

During the interview Deborah Dukes addressed the importance of relationships and how our interactions reveal not only who we are at the core and the essence of our personality, but also how we interact with God.

“You will [discover] what is inside you… [whether] you [have the capacity to] love… when relating to others. …Your relationships with others mirror your relationship with God. The way we treat other people is an indicator, is a guide, [to the nature of] our relationship how with God. [God said,] ‘It is not good for [an individual] to be alone.'”

We need others.

Man cannot live on bread alone. Nor can woman.

Much of what Deborah and Lyle discuss forms the cornerstone of Deborah’s assertions in her book,

Of Relationships, Dharma and That Mirror of Mirrors Which Sits At Our Core… Read More »