Stranded on the Mainland: Inner Pilgrimage and Living Alone as a Spiritual Path:

Trauma, like Friday government press conferences, usually means losses and things we don't want people to know about-- but not always.  Sometimes there are wins and things we do want people to know about.  So for my blog today, I want to share three examples of recent trauma wins of mine with you: Feeling tears coming when learning the "Two Michaels" were coming home. For me, tears are wins. Feeling the breeze on my ankles, at the place between the bottom of my leggings and the top of my sneakers. Feeling surprise and curiosity at finding new "nature places" to discover and appreciate in my own "suburban mainland" neighbourhood.  Realizing I don't have to move somewhere else.  E.g., The East Coast or Parry Sound, or the tropics to find beautiful water, to be happy, at peace, and home.  These are some unexpected examples of recent trauma wins. Maybe you have your own examples? I hope to have more.  Check back for updates. Cb Amen Scarborough Bluffs ...

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are home on Canadian soil. Last night while working on the blog I thought I would post for today, CTV reported that the prime minister would soon be holding a press conference.  That press conference changed my blog for today. In my political experience, Friday press conferences usually mean one thing.  Bad news the government wants to try to bury.  But I felt different about this one. Reporters had been saying all day long yesterday that even if Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was released from house arrest in Vancouver, it would still be months before the "Two Michaels" would be released from prison in China.  Reporters were certain the Chinese government would act as they had in the past.  E.g., Once they got what they wanted, wait to release political prisoners so as to try and save face.  Thanks be to God that's not what happened.  I am not one to cry easily.  But two things made me cry in the last 24 hours aro...

Yesterday was the Feast of St. Matthew and the day after the 44th general election in Canada.  I begin my blog today with the same opening sentence I wrote in a recent email to a Sister of Life friend.  The opening line was this: "I don't know why, but Matthew seems to be a good saint for the day after a federal election." After I finished my email to sister, I listened to the Sisters of Life Let Love Podcast.  It was spiritual balm after hours of listening to news commentators negative, judgmental, cynical election analysis and post-mortems.  As I listened to the sisters podcast, I slowly found myself willing to set aside my own judgment about the media and politicians. I found myself willing to wonder what makes them look at life this way? I could tell you the media and politicians are co-dependent.  Which is true, but not very affirming. Or I could take up the suggestion from the sisters awesome podcast:  "I could think about how the Lord might be...

On Friday I attended a Salvation Army funeral.  It was for a retired officer who I knew through once working with the Salvation Army.  It was very much like a Catholic funeral.  And not at all like a Catholic funeral too. Having said that, what I want to focus on in my blog today, is not so much the funeral, but on a quote shared during the funeral that really really struck me. I will give you the quote.  Then I'll give you a poem I wrote in the early 1990's that reminded me of the quote from the funeral. I am paraphrasing the quote from the funeral: "When someone dies, or is dying, it's like we are watching them sailing on a boat on the ocean.  Farther and farther away, until they slip over the horizon and we can no longer see them anymore.  There he goes, we'll say.  On the other side of the horizon they'll be saying, "Here he comes."  Here is the poem that reminded me of the funeral quote above: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE At a little restaura...

It is three days after our federal English election debate in Canada. The debate format was criticized by many, but I loved it. Why? Because it had a crack in it, "for the light to get in " (Leonard Cohen).  That crack was Annamie Paul, the federal Green Party leader-- through her  a candle in the political darkness. Next. Is Green Party leader Annamie Paul a prophetic voice today? I think so. And we know how prophets are treated in their own home towns, “I tell you that no prophet is accepted in their home town " ( The Bible: Luke 4:24). Thank you Annamie Paul for your prophetic voice today. And there's still time to vote! Cb Amen https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=c8-BT6y_wYg Song Credit Leonard Cohen 

This week I was looking for a guided meditation on Youtube and I found some videos by the Australian Buddhist monk, Ajahn Brahm.  I was pleasantly surprised by what this funny monk had to say.  And I loved his meditation.  His talks I found to be unusual, helpful, and worth sharing.  Especially for those who may have suffered loss and trauma.  I'm also thinking how the Catholic American monk, Thomas Merton, was drawn to Buddhism later in life.  Merton's books are still some of my favourite spiritual reading. But back to Ajahn Brahm.  Listening to him speak sparked an insight for me around my long-standing question on whether trauma (my own or anyone elses) can be completely healed?  Ajahn Brahm was discussing exhaustion and social workers.  Interestingly, I am a former social worker.  I was completely taken with his talk and his "care vs cure" offering. I know people who have been cured of cancer who live in constant fear of it coming ba...

My post today flows from and connects to yesterday's written to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  It also connects to massive flooding this week in the Northeastern United States caused by remnants of Hurricane Ida.  Especially to awful images of a flooded New York subway system and stranded passengers.   It connects to my old fear of streetcars and subways when I first moved to Toronto in the 1980's.  It connects to the loss of my long-standing hotmail account after 20+ years.  Maybe you too can relate to one of these connections.  I hope so.  And I hope not. Let me continue by saying there was a beautiful sunrise this morning!  It caught the crystal heart hanging by my open balcony door.  I was deeply awed to see how it made two beautiful rainbows on my Mexico rug.  A double rainbow!!  "A double rainbow is considered a symbol of transformation... and in Genesis 9, a rainbow is part of...

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). I offer a little reflection below to mark this momentous anniversary.  Here is the reflection:  My mother lived in Mimico when she was growing up in the 1950's.  She took the streetcar to work downtown at Helena Rubinstein's (a cosmetics company).  When I was young, I remember my mother talking about the "Humber Loop." In my young mind I thought it must be like a roller coaster-- and I'm afraid of roller coasters?   Maybe that's why later I was afraid of streetcars and subways? Unconsciously, maybe I thought of them as getting on roller coasters.   I wonder how my mother would feel today seeing people wearing masks on the Streetcar because of Covid?     She'd probably be as scared of streetcars as I was.   Happy 100th TTC!   Cb Long Branch and Humber Loop in the 1950's   Image credit chuckmantorontonostalgia.wordpress.com