Sacred Time, Sacred Space, and Football

Recently, I’ve been researching what makes folks happy in the midst of life’s challenges.  Because my husband, Lynn, is in his eighties and still working as a maker of beautiful objects, he became my perfect case study.  His creative work makes him happy, but some days are tough because he must invent new ways of accomplishing what seems to be the impossible.  During football season, he finds a restorative source of happiness sitting on the sofa watching the skill, teamwork, and fan frenzy that is American football. This past season was no exception, and because of his interest in the games and final 2023 Super Bowl contest, I had an in-depth experience of the value of this sport to a person who never played the game but still appreciates its artfulness.

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NO MORE! The Religiously Motivated Decisions of Patriarchy & the Infantilization of Girls & Women

In my seventies now, I remember the joy of celebrating the Roe v Wade decision that US girls and women had the legal right to choose what happened to their bodies.  It was no small thing then, to Canadian girls and women, because we all share the traumatizing fact of our past as chattel, that is, the possessions of white men and boys in charge.  Corporations had already determined to treat girls and women as bubble heads who wanted nothing more than to look good and be more popular than others.  It was very much a case of the water temperature being turned up over time – suddenly, we found ourselves boiling in the murky idea that our body image and looks, our hair and our rumps, were more important than our minds and our spirits, our hearts and our self-determination. That 1973 court decision lessened the impact of profit motivated businesses selling insecurity and self-hatred to girls and women. At least the courts found us intelligent, responsible, and wise enough to decide a fundamental life choice for ourselves.

Now,  even corporations are reacting to the court’s decision to reverse R v W; that’s how bad this current court’s decision is.  The white supremist view that the ever-creative power of the Universe is white, male, and murderous toward those who haven’t swallowed this vile white supremacy lie has revealed itself in the highest court in the land.  And we’re not having it.

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We Are Generation Equality

Today, March 8, 2020, International Women’s Day, our theme inspires us to discover our commonalities and shared experiences regardless of race, age, wealth, gender preferences, and cultural influences. Feeling isolated is one of the most devastating of these shared experiences, and every girl and woman seeks the relief of ending isolation in the friendships, communities, and movements which change the personal and the political for the better. So, wherever we are, and whatever our plans, let us take 5 minutes to dance the theme of Generation Equality into this year of breakthrough, empowerment, and deeply supportive connections. To inspire our moves, here are Aretha and Annie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drGx7JkFSp4

If the link doesn’t work, simply Google “Sisters Are Doing it For Themselves.” Dancing and singing are universal human activities that have been healing body, mind, heart, and spirit since the beginning of human culture, so as we wiggle our hips, let us feel our healing connections with Sisters everywhere.

Ever dancing . . . , with You . . . , and with Love,

Jane

Waiting . . . and EFT

In our highly monetized consumer culture, many have become accustomed to instant gratification.  ‘Trusting the process,’ a highly valuable attitude when involved in creative projects and problem solving, has been lost when dealing with everyday frustrations.  We’re encouraged to be the ‘right-now’ culture, whether we’re young, middle-aged or old.  In this world of constant promotions and immediate-gratification demands, we have misplaced something essential to our humanness:  our delight in free time. Continue reading Waiting . . . and EFT

Summer Solstice Ruminations on Resilience Building and EFT

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the NeftTI website, the AAMET website, the Gary Craig website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.

In this part of the ever greening world, it is impossible not to see resilience manifesting in every tended garden and field.  Even untended fields attract butterflies, bees, and the countless soil makers that flourish to ensure our magnificent earth remains fecund, at least in some places on the Globe.

Today, Summer is officially with us in the northern hemisphere.  Down under, folks are celebrating, not the longest day as we are, but the longest night.  Using our imaginations to float out into space to witness the cycling Dance of of the Seasons across our Earth Mother’s face and body can’t help but infuse us with optimism.  The Solstices are times to remind ourselves that our personal store of resilience is supported by such acts of imagination.  Now, with ever more conflict tugging at our hearts, building resilience consciously and purposefully is the life task every Possible Human.

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The Longest Journey

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the ACEP website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.

Many cultures, including our own, tell us  that the longest journey we ever make is the journey from head to heart.  Anyone who has spent time living in thinking mode knows the truth of this statement.  We spare ourselves the work of feeling when we crowd out our emotional responses with constant information gathering, analysis, and judgment.  The truth is, our emotions distress us, because they often come with an awareness of our vulnerabilities.  It feels much safer to give ourselves over to thinking about our lives and the world.  And yet, without the guidance of our hearts and emotions, we are nothing more than machine-like problem solvers and problem creators.  Given the number of crises we must address address today, it is easy to conclude that very few people have made the journey from head to heart.

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Chasing the Scream: Seeing Addiction through a Clearer Lens

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the Gary Craig website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane at 802-533-9277 or jane@winterblooms.net for EFT coaching support.

Chasing the Scream by British journalist Johann Hari deepens our understanding of the causes of and remedies for addiction.   The book, published in January of 2015, helps readers to understand why the ‘war on drugs has failed and will continue to fail because resources are focused on punishment of what are essentially health and social justice issues.  A pivotal study of rats (more about this later)  helps to tell the multi-layered story of addiction’s causes and prompts readers to re-examine why people use drugs.  Some believe bad character causes addiction, others that drug addiction is a matter of chemical predisposition.  Hari’s findings refute these causes and suggest a radical alternative to punishment, one that includes community, purpose, and a deeper understanding of the needs of the self

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Tapping and Thankfulness

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website only and is in no way meant to replace experience with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane at 802-533-9277 or jane@winterblooms.net for EFT coaching support.

It is often challenging to practice stewardship at a time of year when everyone seems mad to eat from a sense of duty and tradition rather than gratitude and hunger and to buy goods to “fuel our economy” in its quest for limitless growth rather than out of personal need.  And yet we know in our wisest, most conscious moments that our habits of excessive consumption are killing our planet, shortening our individual lifespans, and alienating us from our brothers and sisters all over the world.  Here in the west, perhaps unwittingly, we have become insular and parochial rather than thankful world citizens.  We have made having more of everything the greatest good and in the process chained our souls to a brutal and unforgiving way of life.  We witness the signs of dire poverty on every street corner of every town, city, and village.  We witness racism at work in our educational, political, and judicial systems.  We complain about our leaders, but show no leadership ourselves.  We go along with things as they are because to do otherwise requires an effort we cannot imagine making.  Change, however, is always possible.  At this time of year, as the seasons change, as our fuel bills change, as our wardrobes change, as our relationships with our modes of transit change, the energies of change – of fundamental transformation – batter at the doors of our yearning hearts.

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Tapping and Ferguson, Missouri

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website only and is in no way meant to replace experience with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane at 802-533-9277 or jane@winterblooms.net for EFT coaching support.

Michael Brown, a young man headed for college this fall, is dead.  The police officer who shot him is caught up in the controversy that follows black-white violence.  Public opinion regarding what happened is divided along predictable lines:  police have the right to protect themselves from criminals; young African American men have the right to walk our streets without being targeted as criminals.  We grieve for Michael Brown and his family, for Darren Wilson and his family, and for the town of Ferguson as the most recent expression of the systemic violence that is manifesting in our communities.  We grieve and we tap as we look deep into our own hearts regarding the assumptions we make about others and our personal safety.

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