Dr. Howell’s Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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Profound Memories and their Stories Part 4
July 23, 2025
To savor life’s beauty is to feed the soul. Experiences such as awe, affection, love, levity, excitement, friendship, closeness, serendipity, intimacy, compassion, and joy, anchor in our soul, all the wonderful and beautiful aspects of life. We have access to these; it’s a matter of being sensitive to them. The overwhelming majority of us absorb enough of these wonderful things to make our lives worthwhile and to enjoy life. But sadly, for some of us, because of trauma, the beautiful cannot outweigh the ugly.
Profound Memories and their Stories Part 3
July 22, 2025
At twenty years old, I was a summer youth director for a church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. On my first day on the job, the pastor introduced me to the congregation at a Sunday service. After the service, an older man, whom I did not know, approached me, looked me in the eyes, and said, “Joe, if you put God first, he will lift you up.”
Profound Memories and their Stories Part 2
July 21, 2025
As boys, my brother and I, along with our mom, were returning from surf fishing on the Gulf of Mexico. We took a bridge over one of the deep bayous in the nearby wetlands and heard a disturbing wail from a female’s voice coming from the bayou. When we followed the voice, we glimpsed into a scene I shall never forget….
Profound Memories and their Stories Part 1
July 20, 2025
Memories can tell many unforgettable stories. Maybe they were AH Ha’s, or maybe they brought us into a new era of self-awareness. Perhaps the memory has grown in significance as life progressed, and it still teaches us. In any case, the event has remained with us for a reason. It is one of the profound stories of our lives.
Consciousness in the Face of Unconsciousness Part 7
July 19, 2025
Consciousness is remaining steadfast, even when everybody around you is losing their heads. In its first few lines, Rudyard Kipling’s classic poem “IF” speaks to this situation.
Consciousness in the Face of Unconsciousness Part 6
July 18, 2025
What do we do when our conscious self comes face to face with unconsciousness in the outer world? This happens all the time. We are in a discussion, and another person laces their conversation with subtle racist remarks, or they tend to “other” particular groups. Maybe blame is cast on someone without knowing the facts.
Consciousness in the Face of Unconsciousness Part 5
July 17, 2025
You have heard the expression “All good things come to those who wait” (Violet Fane, 1892). You have likely listened to another, which comes from Murphy’s Law — “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong” (Edward Murphy, c.1948). These two expressions represent two ends of a continuum. One end is the subjective view that everything good comes if we are patient, while the other is that things will inevitably go wrong if they can.
Consciousness in the Face of Unconsciousness Part 4
July 16, 2025
Consciousness opens us to the vast territory of our inner landscape. We realize we are much more than our bodies, thoughts, appearance, and feelings.
Consciousness in the Face of Unconsciousness Part 3
July 15, 2025
As we become conscious, we become aware of what we do, and then we become aware of why we are doing those things. If we remain unconscious, we simply go through the motions, and even if we enjoy or suffer through what we are doing, we do not know the primary reasons why. We may only know secondary reasons why we do something.
Consciousness in the Face of Unconsciousness Part 2
July 14, 2025
The most fundamental cause of unconscious thinking and behavior is egocentrism. The unchecked ego has the perspective of “my interests first,” the interests of my family, my tribe, and my story of how life should be for me and everyone else. When we are unconscious, we do not fully grasp the necessary interdependence of all human beings. In unconsciousness, instead of realizing that all of us are connected to each other and are therefore dependent on one another, the focus is on “my welfare” without acknowledging the ripple effect we have on each other. We express this type of unconsciousness by going along with whatever will give ME the most pleasure and least discomfort, with less regard for how these fit in the context of everyone’s well-being. In this case, the unhealthy ego rules thought and behavior.
Consciousness in the Face of Unconsciousness Part 1
July 13, 2025
What is our response to the unconsciousness of others? What about when we ourselves lapse into unconsciousness? Dare we call it out, challenge it, or do something proactive, or is it better to ignore it?
The Miraculous Part 7
July 12, 2025
We have all heard the phrase “It would take a miracle.” Some examples of its usage are: “It would take a miracle for our team to win,” “It would take a miracle for him to pull out of this illness,” and “It would take a miracle for her to ever fall in love again.”
The Miraculous Part 6
July 11, 2025
Fifteen years ago, what if someone described to you all the challenges you would face in the next fifteen years? If you are like many of us, the last fifteen years were full of great happiness, but also of life-changing events. Among those we could experience are losses, health issues, existential crises, injuries, relationship issues, addictions, traumas, and many other types of extreme challenges. If you had known all these challenges fifteen years ago, would you think you had what it took to get through it all?
The Miraculous Part 5
July 10, 2025
I stumbled upon a Catholic church in Limerick on my recent visit to Ireland. In the small, attached gift shop, I saw a large, prominently displayed poster picture of a dark-haired young man. I thought to myself, “That is unusual to have a teenager’s picture in a religious gift shop.” I learned from the shopkeepers that the large picture was of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who suddenly died of undetected leukemia in 2006, and who was canonized as the first millennial saint of the Catholic Church on September 7, 2025. He is known for being fascinated by the church, God, and by miracles since his early childhood. He had a passion for computers and created an online, comprehensive catalog of Eucharistic miracles. This website is still in use.
The Miraculous Part 4
July 9, 2025
George Gurdjieff (1877-1949) is known as the discoverer of the wisdom of the enneagram and the first person to bring its wisdom to the western world. He studied with many mystics and spiritual teachers in his travels from the Middle East throughout Asia. Since being a young man, Gurdjieff searched for a more conscious spiritual pathway. Raised Russian Orthodox, he never departed from that faith and requested a Christian funeral. But in his extensive travels, Gurdjieff explored many religions and incorporated some of their belief systems into a body of knowledge he called “The Work.” The work focused on the three human intelligence centers and the soul that undergirds them. His teachings were later called “The Fourth Way.”
The Miraculous Part 3
July 8, 2025
As a little boy in the 1950s, television was a new phenomenon. Our TV was in a beautiful wooden cabinet with doors. The first TV screens were microscopic compared to the massive flat screens of today, but that little screen drew our complete attention.
The Miraculous Part 2
July 7, 2025
Some people adhere to the dictionary definition of miraculous— “Something very unusual and out of the ordinary caused by a supernatural power.” While that is certainly true of many miracles, there are others that are not out of the ordinary. Because they occur regularly, we do not call them miracles, even though some of us ascribe them to the Divine.
The Miraculous Part 1
July 6, 2025
Though reality is that our prayer may or may not be answered, and though it may not be answered in the form or substance we wish, why do we continue to pray? Why does every religion include the act of praying to the Divine?