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

I wonder who dreamed up Mother's Day and Father's Day? Sometimes I think it must have been the Devil, because these can be the hardest holidays. I'm thinking of Ed Lake who died by suicide one day after Father's Day this year. His 3 children were killed by a drunk driver in 2015. I'm just going to say it: I considered suicide on Father's Day back in the 1980's after having had an abortion. Breathe. Next. I also heard on the news yesterday that large numbers of men (our fathers) are dying by suicide. Experts say they are suffering with mental health issues and ashamed to get help. I want to add my voice to other voices saying it's okay to get help guys. War isn't the only cause of trauma for men-- not even close. Trauma happens in men's (and women's) lives as a result of things that can be hard to understand. (RIP Ed Lake). Cb,  Amen.

Today I'm thinking about a sort of cult film called, Broken Silence . It is directed by Wolfgang Panzer  [ de ]  and was first theatrically released in 1996 in Germany. It was my Jungian analyst Tuula in Toronto who gave me this movie to watch when I started analysis with her in 1995.  This movie was not widely available at the time, but it was able to be shared in Jungian circles for some reason.  Soon after, I started writing the fairytale , "Stranded on the Mainland," that I spoke about in my post yesterday. The fairytale was a tropical adventure about a young girl, a big dream, and a mysterious woman who lived in a beautiful guesthouse at the end of the world. Fairytales are sometimes helpful to use with trauma victims. I won't get into all the reasons why that is so in this post.  There's lots of information online to be found. Suffice to say, in the fairtytale that I wrote there was a flowered wing chair that had been waiting a lifetime to speak (me). An...

Thunderstorms are forecast today.  I just finished working in my balcony garden. The rent is due, there has been another shooting. And like Thomas Merton's famous prayer,  "I have no idea where I am going," or what the world will do with me, with all of us?  Still, I feel present and peaceful (today). I've been asked to pray for a woman who died yesterday.  A woman I never met-- Donna Pilgrim. Come Holy Spirit, come Lord Jesus help me pray well for this woman I don't know.   Rest in peace Donna.  Amen