Dr. Howell’s Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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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?
Consciousness and Prayer Part 7
July 5, 2025
At first blush, the words “prayer changes things” make us think that prayer causes things to happen. While change is often the result of prayer, it does not manipulate circumstance or wave a magic wand. Prayer does not necessarily change things to be how we want them to be. If that were true, everyone would pray for what they want and receive it. People could pray to win the lottery, to find their true love the next day, and be healed at once from all sorts of maladies, and they would get their wish just because they prayed for it.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 6
July 4, 2025
We want something. Maybe it concerns our hopes, fears, dreams, or our very identity. Perhaps we pray for deliverance from something we dread or for healing a mental or physical condition. We make the prayer but for some reason it seems to bounce off the ceiling. We ask ourselves, “Why do I doubt that the answer will be granted?” We may think we are not deserving of the answer we pray for, or we may feel that God, whomever we conceive God to be, has ignored us. In such times we may despair, abandon hope, and anticipate no relief from our hardship.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 5
July 3, 2025
Our divine connection is the most essential aspect of our spiritual practice. It draws us closer to the Divine and opens communication. This connection happens in many ways; however, conscious prayer is the most intimate and interactive form.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 4
July 2, 2025
We offer prayers for praise, thanksgiving, and adoration. The overarching goal is not necessarily to ask anything of the Divine but to express gratefulness. These prayers are filled with praise for the wonderful things attributed to God and for specific prayers answered.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 3
July 1, 2025
Prayer changes things. Why? Because inviting the Higher Power into the situation changes our consciousness. The act of praying is an elevation of mind and spirit. In prayer we ask for a higher order. We affirm that there are higher ways than our ways. In sincere prayer, we create a landing pad for the Holy Spirit. Inherent in making such a sacred space is surrendering our ideas of how things should go. We are free to receive something different when we let go of a required outcome.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 2
June 30, 2025
Whether rich, poor, educated, uneducated, spiritually developed or not, all of us can be ruled by ego, even when we pray— and all of us have the potential to be governed by the soul and when this is true, our prayers come from our soul. In the New Testament book of Matthew, Jesus instructed us to go into our closet to pray, far away from those who would hear us. Jesus’s word “closet” is from the Greek “tameion” a storage chamber or secret room that is well-guarded. Jesus’s Aramaic word for the closet was “Tawanaah,” a room where valuables and supplies are stored, a room without windows. It is a metaphor for a place of solitude and spiritual reflection, free from distractions and public displays of piety.
Consciousness and Prayer Part 1
June 29, 2025
What is prayer? Is it a request to the Divine? Is it a method to transform our minds? Is it a ritual to meet a spiritual obligation? Is it a perfunctory nod to the Divine? Is it an act of desperation? Is it bargaining with the Divine? Is it a practice to restore our peace? Is it to intercede on behalf of others? Is it a conversation with the Divine? Is it a plea to the Divine?
The Last Straw Part 7
June 28, 2025
When it’s the last straw, we can’t take any more. Our patience, resources, and tolerance are exhausted. So how do we go on? In some situations, when we reach the last straw, there is no going on with that person, issue, or circumstance — the dye has been cast, the party’s over, and the curtain is down.
The Last Straw Part 6
June 27, 2025
When it’s the last straw, we can’t take any more. Our patience, resources, and tolerance are exhausted. So how do we go on? In some situations, when we reach the last straw, there is no going on with that person, issue, or circumstance — the dye has been cast, the party’s over, and the curtain is down.
The Last Straw Part 5
June 26, 2025
The last straw can also mean that something is finally finished. Yes, things have developed to the point of full maturation and need to end, collapse, dissolve, resolve, capitulate, wind down, or terminate. This is not always a sad thing. Indeed, many things simply run their course, and the last straw is marked by their swan song and capitulation.