For Listening in the New Year

  Dear Listener, There is much that can be said about the value of listening. We have been exploring the value of listening for over 11 years at the LP. It feels as if there is no limit to the value of listening, one human being to another human being. Yet...

Why Did They Do That?

Why did they do that?   Recently I was listener to someone describing a difficult situation they had found themselves in. They were venting, letting it all go, telling every detail of what had happened and how they reacted to what was happening. At first, I was...

Centering

Centering   A passage from “The Excursion,” by Willian Wordsworth                                         I have seenA curious child, who dwelt upon a tractOf inland ground, applying to his earThe convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell;To which, in...

Listening is a Creative Force

Dear Listener, That statement, listening is a creative force, holds layered meaning. As listeners continuing to hone our skill, we have experienced the immediacy of listening as a creative force. We have witnessed it directly in moments when, just through being heard,...

Courage

Dear Listener, For a while now, I have been thinking about courage. Not that I have drawn any conclusions about it, but for some reason courage and bravery are qualities I am wondering about. Just this past week I was speaking with a woman in North Carolina who is...

A Confession Of The Impulse To Help

Today, along side my parents, I went into a nursing home to visit my aunt. As we walked down the hall toward my aunt’s door, another resident called out repeatedly from their room. I turned to my mother, ‘Will someone go to her?’ My mother replied...

Valuable Stranger

Last weekend at our Retreat/Advance, we opened the day by going around the room, saying our names & the sites where we serve, and sharing a bit about how our listening practice is going. It isn’t uncommon to notice a theme arise in our sharing. To my ears, a...

That’s Great, but How?

Last week I shared a story from my own experience of self care. The essence of a response I received about self care and knowing one’s own boundaries has been paraphrased in the title above.  I was very moved to be asked – or, more accurately – I was...

Pigeon, Just a Pigeon

I was listening to someone today. It felt pretty ordinary. I didn’t consider it ‘listening’ at first. It was conversational. Simple. Ordinary, even.  Until I was stunned. Stunned awake. Still, it was a simple moment. We had been talking about...

Refining Fires

I worked in a foundry many years ago. In all the years, and all the jobs, since then working at the foundry remains my favorite. There is something stilling and quieting about being around the noise of industrial production and the element of fire, molten...

Reflections on Solstice

The Summer Solstice: Standing Still I’m writing this newsletter on the day of summer solstice, June 21st. I notice a lot of my friends in the Lower 48 aren’t as familiar with this observance, but here in AK, we luxuriate in the apex of the long of hours of...

Support

Every once in a while I get curious about a word’s etymology. Just the other day I was wondering about support. At first I was wondering about the times in my life that I stubbornly resisted, turn away, support offered by others. And the opposite, too –...

Ripples Through Silence

I enjoy supporting you all from afar. This week my letter to you is late and I wondered if you felt my support regardless. Shifts at all of our locations are filling like any other week and my gratitude for your commitment deepens – even when I have thought it...