July 31, 2025

About four years ago, our dear friends Nanette and Sai Mudiam, led us on a pilgrimage to India. Sai, a native of Hyderabad, India, immigrated to the United States when he was in college. While we were in India, Nanette and Sai led us to several thin places, including the ashram, Kanha Shanti Vanam, near Hyderabad. We felt the veils lift as soon as we drove through the gates of this worldwide center for spiritual study and meditation, now called Heartfulness. 

July 30, 2025

An uncle once told me he used dousing rods to locate water underground on his farm. He said, “The rods showed me where to dig for the dwell, and sure'nuf it was 75 feet down; that’s where I drilled and the water is cold and pure.” 

July 29, 2025

In slashing rain, we ICB pilgrims followed the ancient path that pilgrims had been traveling for centuries. We trekked to the ruins of a nunnery, which for centuries was a priory and worship center. Clonmacnoise was out of the way, but our experienced pilgrimage guide, Phil Cousineau, knew that sacred ground by heart. 

July 28, 2025

A thin place is where the veils that cover their numinous qualities are transparent or gone. 

As we reflected on yesterday, a "thin place" is a concept primarily used in Celtic Christian traditions. It refers to geographical locations, times, or movements in which the veils between heaven and earth are thinner or lifted. Thin places allow an awareness of the transcendent Divine obscured by the ego and distractions. A thin place gives us more access to the Divine within and without ourselves. 

July 27, 2025

When I made it through the barbed wire fence and into the forest, I was in a different territory. Instead of my mother knowing exactly where I was, here in the woods, I was free. Instead of the predictable, this was a land of discoveries and special places. The smells of the wild foliage filled my lungs, and the sound of chirping crickets and birds filled my ears. 

July 26, 2025

Retrieving our soul child’s memories of love is one of the most healing and empowering things we can do. Remembering the people and experiences that first brought us into being and filled our souls with love makes us more confident, grounded, empowered, and directed. 

July 25, 2025

Recently, a TV journalist interviewed a noted chef in her restaurant. The chef gave the journalist sample dishes of her farm-to-table menus. The journalist tasted several but couldn't contain her emotions when she sank her teeth into one of them….

July 24, 2025

I am my father’s namesake. Though we are entirely different people, so many of my earliest memories are of him.

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.

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.” 

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….

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.