Dr. Howell’s Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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Our Private Thoughts Part 1
August 18, 2025
Have you ever considered how much time and energy go into your private thoughts? They are ever-present. Our inner voice narrates the movie of our lives, and we listen to the soundtrack all day long.
Heart Stories Part 7
August 17, 2025
Why Do We Have Emotions? Wouldn’t life be easier without heartache, loneliness, fear, or envy? Emotions can weigh us down. They’ve driven us to aggression, or even to self-harm. So why have a heart at all?
Heart Stories Part 6
August 16, 2025
Stories about animals are often heart stories. Their love is fierce, loyal, and unconditional. And when an animal expresses what we think of as a deeply human feeling, like love, grief, or joy, our hearts overflow with empathy for them because they have touched something in our own hearts and minds; something we are intimately familiar with, something we know in our bones— the feelings that we share with all life, even the trees—the universal longing to love and be loved.
Heart Stories Part 5
August 15, 2025
Some of the most powerful heart stories are those in which people triumph against impossible odds—stories of resilience, courage, and unshakable will. These stories touch us deeply because they remind us of our own struggles and the strength it takes to rise when life knocks us down. We find ourselves rooting for the underdog, aching for the wounded, and cheering when they find their way through the darkness. These stories grow our faith and comfort our hearts during rough times. And we all have such times.
Heart Stories Part 4
August 14, 2025
We call them Heart Stories because they do what facts alone cannot — they stir the soul. They captivate, awaken, and intrigue us with the question: What happens next? Heart stories aren’t just heard—they’re felt. They evoke emotion: excitement, longing, warmth, sadness, wonder, and hope. They are food for the heart because they are made of love. And just like the body, the heart becomes what it consumes.
Heart Stories Part 3
August 13, 2025
The Soul Child is usually buried beneath years of adaptation and striving, but it is our essence, the core of our soul. To return to this essence is not regression, but redemption—a sacred reunion with the part of us that remembers joy, innocence, and divine belonging. To return to this inner child is to return to the source of our aliveness, the place where our spirit first knew how to be.
Heart Stories Part 2
August 12, 2025
I arranged to attend a choir practice at the church of some of my African American friends. I was turning forty and for my birthday wanted to fulfill a long-held fantasy. I loved Gospel music, and to sing it with a Black choir would be heaven for me. My friends made it come true for my birthday.
Heart Stories Part 1
August 11, 2025
On the ICB pilgrimage to Greece with Phil Cousineau last year, a strange but affirming event happened to me on the Island of Ithaca. Our bus driver pulled to the side of the road along the seashore so that we pilgrims could walk into the Mediterranean. After dipping my toes in the sea, I found a seat on a sea wall and looked at the beautiful turquoise horizon.
The Body’s Intelligence Part 8
August 10, 2025
Imagine right now, going to your fridge and pulling out a big lemon. Then you place it on the cutting board and with a large, serrated knife, you cut the lemon in half. Then you take one of the halves, put it right to your mouth and suck on it. Right about now, as you read this, your taste buds are probably standing on end and your mouth may even be puckering. All this happened without one lemon in your sight.
The Body’s Intelligence Part 7
August 9, 2025
Pope John Paul II said, “The human body includes, right from the beginning, the capacity of expressing love, that love in which the person becomes a gift — and by means of this gift — fulfills the meaning of his being and existence.”
The Body’s Intelligence Part 6
August 8, 2025
Our souls are connected to God and, by virtue of that concept, all of us are connected to each other. Yes, our individual essences start from that One Great Essence. The soul connection with others is often felt when like-spirits are together, when souls unite over a birth or a death, or when soul power is required to save a family, a culture, or a nation.
The Body’s Intelligence Part 5
August 7, 2025
The body’s T cells and B cells know exactly how to fight off harmful diseases. The body also wisely fights infection by requiring enough sleep, essential nutrients, and limited stress. But we do not always listen to our bodies. We go for stretches without sleep, we eat non-nutritious food, and we enter stressful situations. But the body lets us know the truth and signals its wisdom through such symptoms as pain, insomnia, digestive maladies, and anxiety attacks.
The Body’s Intelligence Part 4
August 6, 2025
As a microcosm of God’s image, our bodies have the properties of God just as do our souls. One of the properties is healing and restoration. All of us have had wounds to the skin. Recently, I had a small cut that required a series of band-aids. Every time I changed band-aids, I saw how my body was naturally healing the wound. The healing process went through several stages. First the swelling went down, then the redness disappeared, a small scab formed and then the wound got smaller and smaller until it disappeared.
The Body’s Intelligence Part 3
August 5, 2025
To further align with the Divine, our bodies can assume a divine position. This has been done in Yoga for centuries. The divine positions in Yoga are called asana. Each position mirrors an aspect of humanity's relationship with nature and the Divine. And then there are other positions from the Hindu and Buddhist traditions called mudras which, like asana, represent a certain posture of the hands or the total body. In the Enneagram community, there are mudras which stand for each of the nine Enneagram types.
The Body’s Intelligence Part 2
August 4, 2025
Our bodies carry the image of the Divine. Just as God moves through the cosmos, we move in the world with our feet. Just as the Divine holds us in arms of love, our arms hold those we care for. Just as the Divine bends and reaches to meet us where we are, we too bend and reach to meet others with our knees and arms. Just as the Divine sees and hears us, we too have senses that alert us to this world. Just as the Divine is love, we too embody love.
The Body’s Intelligence Part 1
August 3, 2025
After climbing hundreds of steps, I arrived at the top of a 153 feet high tower atop Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama. At the top there was only a black iron rail separating me from the abyss below. I neared the edge to look downward, but the height made me weak and dizzy, so I quickly stepped back from the edge. I was only six or seven years old, but my body said, “You are in danger ... don’t go near the edge.” I will never forget my body’s reaction on that first visit to the famous iron statue of the Vulcan, a famous landmark in Birmingham. With maturity I have learned to trust heights, but not all of them. My body still tells me, like it did several years ago at the Grand Canyon, “Don’t get near the edge.”
Thin Places Part 7
August 2, 2025
We live only one block from a neighborhood park, where children always play. I took my kids to this park and remember the different worlds they entered while freely playing on the monkey bars, swings, and sliding boards.
Thin Places Part 6
August 1, 2025
Sai and Nanette Mudiam took Lark and me on several pilgrimages while we were in India. Our time at the Heartfulness ashram was unforgettable because it was a thin place, as the Celts called sacred places, where the veils between heaven and earth lift. Our next holy journey in India was to the small town of Bodh Gaya. This is where Prince Siddhartha (born 563 BC) became the Buddha.