Author Archives: watchwordsblog

Much of the time, the things we feel guilty about are not our issues. Another person behaves inappropriately or in some way violates our boundaries. We challenge the behavior, and the person gets angry and defensive. Then we feel guilty. Melody Beattie Meditation: Many who were raised in a volatile or addicted family environment developContinue reading ““False Guilt”…”

There is such a thing as old emotional pain living inside you. It is an accumulation of painful life experience that was not fully faced and accepted in the moment it arose. It leaves behind an energy form of emotional pain. Eckhart Tolle Meditation: Clients tell me: “but that was long time ago”… They wonder whyContinue reading “Old Emotional Pain…”

Being taken for granted is an unpleasant but sincere form of praise. Ironically, the more reliable you are, and the less you complain, the more likely you are to be taken for granted. Gretchen Rubin Meditation: As the mother of teenagers I am being taken for granted many times. I guess this is the jobContinue reading “Raising Adolescent Kids and Systems…”

Walk away from ‘friendships’ that make you feel small and insecure, and seek out people who inspire you and support you. Michelle Obama Meditation: Let’s walk away from relationships that make us feel insecure and insignificant! Walk away from a work place that makes you feel exploited and taken advantage of. Walk away from aContinue reading “Walk Away and Seek…”

Feminism freed my mind. Yoga freed my body. It’s one thing to intellectualize self-love and another to embody it. Melanie Klein Meditation: Incarnation as we call it, “the Word becoming flesh” is what distinguishes Christianity from philosophy. God in Jesus Christ is not just a noble thought, not just a great theory, not just aContinue reading “Don’t Just Think, Embody…”

The mark of a good marriage is when only one of you goes crazy at a time! Heinz Kohut Meditation: I remember when our twin girls were little. My husband and I would exchange babies at half point between our workplaces in the parking lot. One of us would be coming from work, the otherContinue reading “The Mark of a Good Marriage…”

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. e. e. cummings Meditation: We are getting extra blankets out. October air is such a cool clean air at night.Continue reading “Nature Moments…”

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. William Arthur Ward Meditation: How we look at things makes all the difference. We can choose to take things and people for granted, see them as common, as routine and as ordinary. Or we can become watchful, whichContinue reading “Gratitude Transforms…”

A single act of courage is often the tipping point for extraordinary change. Andy Stanley Meditation: A few weeks ago one single football player knelt to express his protest of racial injustice and oppression. His example spread and many followed. Even in Germany soccer players knelt in solidarity with him and his protest. A few days agoContinue reading “Tipping Points…”

The problem is, many of the people in need of saving are in churches, and at least part of what they need saving from is the idea that God sees the world the same way they do. Barbara Brown Taylor Meditation: It is so understandable. Especially among us, the pious and religious folks: All ofContinue reading “People and Church Need Saving…”