Dr. Howell’s Daily Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, a spiritual practice, an inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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Creativity Part 3
May 25, 2025
Tapping into the creative flow is easier than we think. But it takes a willingness to stop our ego’s thinking and planning and to “shush” our inner critic. And one of the best ways to do this is to doodle. We can enter the creative flow with a simple pencil and paper. We begin with the blank sheet and, with our hands, make any mark without thinking about it. This one mark sparks us to add another and then another until we are drawing. The doodles don’t have to make sense, and we do not critique whatever comes from our hands and lands on the sheet. The drawing can be shapeless or symmetrical; it can resemble a person, nature, a cartoon, or anything unrecognizable.
Creativity Part 2
May 24, 2025
As you know, writer's block is an impasse when no new ideas flow from the writer’s mind into their pens or keyboards. One writer described writer’s block this way: “Writing is like swimming in a large lake of ideas and concepts, stories, themes and metaphors. I swim in the natural flow of thoughts. In this state, I can’t write the words fast enough before they escape me. But sometimes, the flow stops, and I am at the bottom of an arid and parched lake bed. At times like these, I can’t write a thing.”
Creativity Part 1
May 23, 2025
As we know, creativity is much more than artistic expression. The word "create" originated with the Latin verb "creo," which has roots in the ancient Sanskrit word "Kriti,” which means "to produce," "generate," or "make." So, creativity is a phenomenon in all areas of existence. Creativity is the capacity to originate ideas, work, or solutions through atypical thinking and doing processes. These generate new thoughts and concepts that are ultimately expressed. The ways they are expressed and applied are infinite. Now we reflect on the question: “What is the source of creativity?”
The Nodes of Life Part 7
May 22, 2025
A juncture is when two or more things come together. The word is frequently used to describe a critical point when a decision must be made. This is a type of node.
The Nodes of Life Part 6
May 21, 2025
From childhood, I recall the Christmas story in the Bible as it was read in church, school, and home. It was usually read from the King James Version, and a line stood out to me. It was the passage in Luke 2:6 about Mary’s giving birth to Jesus— the words that caught my attention were, “And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.”
The Nodes of Life Part 5
May 20, 2025
In the spiritual life, we sometimes reach points of confusion and cannot determine our next step. The Chinese book I Ching, a 2000-year-old “book of changes,” is used for spiritual discernment. Psychologist and philosopher Carl Jung consulted the I Ching at times of uncertainty and wrote the foreword to one of its Western publications.
The Nodes of Life Part 4
May 19, 2025
Life’s nodes are frequently turning points. We all have them, and they come in different forms. We may reach an awareness that we can never “unknow” and that changes everything. Perhaps our thoughts and ideas mature about something and we must take a different approach. Possibly, reality dawns on us unexpectedly, and we change our life direction. Maybe we reach a point of exasperation and stop pursuing something we thought we’d never give up. Perhaps we come to terms with a relationship and are now hopeful when, before, we felt hopeless.
The Nodes of Life Part 3
May 18, 2025
One of the first nodes we come upon in our spiritual development is in late childhood. We are four, five, or six, realizing we can no longer be our innocent selves. We are chided for being too honest or shut down for being ourselves. Maybe we were not ashamed of our bodies and ran around unclothed. Then our caretakers may have rushed us into our bedrooms and made us get dressed. Perhaps we told the truth and said, “The emperor has no clothes!” But we were out of line for saying that and reprimanded. In any event, our secure holding environment no longer held us. We learned we could no longer trust our natural selves, and to be wary of the world we thought would uphold us.
The Nodes of Life Part 2
May 17, 2025
When you reach adolescence, you come to a biological and psychological milestone, or node. Adolescence is a time of storm and stress when we must find our identity apart from the rest of our family. We might not yet know who we are, but we know we are different from our brothers, sisters, and family. Our task in adolescence is to determine the way we will move in the world.
The Nodes of Life Part 1
May 16, 2025
Some of us spent a lot of years checking off the boxes. We let obligations dictate what we did. But now we want our values to dictate what we look forward to. We want our lives to be made of experiences we cherish. And we hope that our life purpose is interwoven with everything we do.
The False Self Part 7
May 15, 2025
Amalgamating our ego and soul is a process of spiritual alchemy. For so long, the soul has been “under a crust” and rarely takes the lead. But when it does take the lead, it overwhelmingly commands the situation. Our souls often arise and even take charge during times of great sadness and great happiness—in loss, in birth, in endings, and in new beginnings. They arise in benchmark occasions like weddings, graduations, and anniversaries. Then, they return under the crust.
The False Self Part 6
May 14, 2025
An officer pulled over a car for speeding. He walked to the car window and asked the man for his driver’s license. The officer asked the man, “Do you realize that you were doing 60 in a 35-mile-an-hour zone and that there is a school right here? Why were you going so fast?” The man replied, “I am swamped and late for a vital meeting downtown.” The officer said, “Sir, you could have killed somebody or yourself while speeding to your meeting.” The man replied, “Do you know who I am?” The officer replied,” I see your name on your license.” And the man said, “No, I mean, do you know who I am in this town?”
The False Self Part 5
May 13, 2025
“To thine own self be true” is a line from Act 1, scene 3, of the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. In the play, the king’s chief minister, Polonius, gives his son, Laertes a speech with those now-famous words. It is a father’s blessing and advice as Laertes leaves for university. “To thine own self be true “is one of the most quoted lines in Shakespeare’s works.
The False Self Part 4
May 12, 2025
The false self is part of our ego structure. It sometimes helps us, and sometimes, it deludes us. But in the quest for consciousness, we go through the process of amalgamating our ego, including our false self, and soul. But what is the process of amalgamation, and how do we achieve it? Amalgamation is the union between our ego and our soul. The prerequisite for amalgamation is that the ego first submits to the soul.
The False Self Part 3
May 11, 2025
The title “false self” has terrible connotations. It smacks of being a fraud and fake, both of which are untrustworthy and despicable. After all, the world would come to a grinding halt if deceit took over. If everything and everyone were false, there would be no true friendship or love. There would be no trust or certainty. Also, our entire religious structure, code of ethics, and economy would be thrown into chaos. No one would trust a vendor or the product they purchased.
The False Self Part 2
May 10, 2025
One of the first things we do as children is pretend to be someone we aren’t. With magical thinking, we assume any identity we wish: people, animals, trees, cartoon characters, and more. One Halloween, I was a pirate. And I recall feeling a little more powerful and courageous as we walked up and down the streets, trick-or-treating. Then there were the characters I played in school plays. From an early age we have the freedom to pretend to be someone who we are not.
The False Self Part 1
May 9, 2025
The 1990s British TV Comedy series, “Keeping Up Appearances,” is about Hyacinth Bucket, who wants others to think that she is a member of the upper crust. But the truth is that she is from humble origins and is ashamed of that fact.
Seeing Things Part 7
May 8, 2025
In reflecting on the soul, I believe it sees, understands, and senses things that the ego cannot. The soul does this through the heart connection which is a spiritual ability, whereas the ego’s instinct is predominantly a survival-based ability. Though the intuitive functions of our ego are vital, we can develop an extra sensing ability by enlisting the power of the soul.