I recall hearing in the rooms of Al-Anon that we are as sick as our secrets. “Until we let them out into the light, they keep us trapped.” Found on page 46, of Courage To Change, my first Al-Anon reader I purchased. It made me pause, to begin an inner excavation that I am prompted to do often for those shadow parts of myself that result in my feeling ashamed, disappointed and believing that I need to cast them off, rather than understand that this is part of the human exper

From Justine's memory garden What if I could remember that my thoughts are not who I am, yet they are like clouds passing over and through simply to inform me. I have the choice of whether or not I want to pitch my tent within them? What if I could remember that there are no mistakes and that they are opportunities to learn, to grow and perhaps not repeat? What if I could see, know and hear myself as others do? What might be my take away and what might I notice? What if I c

As a school teacher for many years summers were my haven. Finally letting go of the often tight reins of trying to juggle and keep so many balls up in the air. Two young children and caring for sometimes more than thirty children in my elementary class. My husband and I trading off who could stay home when the children were ill and which carpool needed to be driven. Months to exhale were what I always delighted in before I could feel my body alerting me to the fact that the s

A little back story to this post I must share because I get a kick telling on myself. I’ve been thinking about writing about signs and happenings as it’s been percolating. One morning as I walked out into the kitchen a bar stool was completely moved away and bottom cupboard door open. My first thought was, “Wow, Douglas, you must be teaching a 101 class on signs to the kids.” I kept everything just as it was because I was so excited for my husband to see it. He walked into t

One of my ongoing tools has been to remind myself of how far I have traveled on this path of coming home to myself. I was reminded of this recently while in conversation with one of my pals. Could she remember how she was feeling this time last year and what might have been consuming her daily thoughts? So often our default mode of being is to be rushing and scrambling towards the future, what’s next and we’re even reminded of trying to remain rooted, grounded, to pause and

Paintings by. Andelene, Colleen's mom I have found often when I’m not sure of what I’m feeling if I can immerse myself even for just a moment in the arts I generally can feel something that I might not have been able to tap into without it. Music is a huge one for me and I grew up hearing Frank Sinatra being played throughout the house and Christmas music beginning the day after Thanksgiving. I retreated into a closet where I could plug in some old headphones and fell in love