“You can blow out the candle, but you can’t blow out the fire. Once the flames begin to catch, the wind will blow it higher.” ~ Playing for Change, Biko, 2009 I spend my days with lightworkers. I think you might know the kinds of people I mean—those folks whose very presence brings your day […]
Posts Tagged ‘healing’
Lights Don’t Go Out. They Just Flicker.
Posted: 26th March 2016 by admin in Blog, UncategorizedTags: energy, grief, healing, lightworkers, resilience
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Family of Choice and Other Acts of Rebellion
Posted: 5th May 2015 by admin in BlogTags: challenges, family of choice, grief, healing, Ohana
“Ohana means family. Family means nobody is left behind or forgotten.” Simultaneous truths can be difficult to grasp, especially since we are engineered from the time we are tiny people to buy into binary systems on lots of topics. If we believe Point A, then we must not believe Point B. What happens at those […]
Moving a Lighthouse
Posted: 15th November 2014 by admin in BlogTags: Cape Hatteras, catharsis, challenges, courage, family, fear, healing, lighthouse, overcoming, progress, self-care
I spent a few days on the Outer Banks last week, a gift from a friend who owns a vacation property in Nags Head. Beyond being just a fun place where you can show up pretty much anywhere as you are, the area holds a lot of sentimental value for me. It is the last […]
Finding Gratitude
Posted: 31st March 2014 by admin in Blog, UncategorizedTags: brothers, death, family, gratitude, grief, healing, loss, love
A yahrzeit candle burns in the kitchen and throughout the day, I’ve pondered the intimacy of sharing the experience of someone’s death. Intimacy seems an odd word and yet nothing more suitable comes to mind. This sharing shapes me. It might shape any of us, I think…the piercing loss that dulls over time to add layers […]
Conveniently Unconscious
Posted: 10th November 2013 by admin in BlogTags: grief, healing, loss, love
Less than a month ago, in the midst of planning for my agency’s gala, I reached out to a youth who had attended the previous year to see if she’d be able to join us again. Less than a month ago, she responded that she and her mom would be thrilled to attend. Three weeks […]
New Traditions
Posted: 3rd November 2013 by admin in BlogTags: ACOA, drugs, grief, healing, loss, mental health, traditions, yahrzeit candle
Over the last ten years, I have picked up a few traditions from my fabulous spouse and our kids, who happen to be Jewish. A couple of years ago, I was so proud of myself that I could remember the words for lighting the Hanukkah candles in Hebrew, which I do not speak, that it […]
Remnants of Shamings Past
Posted: 27th October 2013 by admin in BlogTags: #body image, ACOA, DV, friendship, healing
I drove around the block three times, each time getting a little more nervous. I wasn’t nervous that I’d be late. I was nervous that I was there at all. “Out of my element” didn’t begin to describe it. Put me in front of a couple hundred people for a presentation. That was more comfortable. […]
Creating Community
Posted: 11th September 2013 by admin in BlogTags: #LGBT youth, 9/11, community, healing, safety
The goal of my work at Youth Outlook is to create safe space for LGBT youth. Presently, we do that in a number of ways, primarily through running drop-in centers in various communities, and also through our community education and youth leadership development work. But in 2001, our community education and youth leadership were just […]
A Slippery Slope, Indeed
Posted: 31st August 2013 by admin in BlogTags: ACOA, addiction, forgiveness, healing, humor, Urban Tidepool
In grad school, I took a course on working with clients with substance abuse diagnoses and did some side research on the impact of the addiction on the family members. My dabbling led me eventually to what was considered THE handbook on ACOA issues, Janet Woititz’s Adult Children of Alcoholics. Intrigued, fascinated even, I went […]