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Blog
By Laurie Cure, Ph.D.
As the world continues to face the evolving challenges of our times, hospitals, healthcare workers, teachers, parents and many others are feeling the heavy weight of burnout and compassion fatigue.
By Laurie Cure, Ph.D.
Chances are you have encountered a narcissistic co-worker or boss at some time in your career. It’s that person who constantly shifts attention back to themselves, discounts your ideas to present their own better idea, or is continually name-dropping or bragging about their credentials to impress people?
Contemplate a typical day or week in your life and identify at least two items that would go into each bucket.
By: Gail Gumminger
How many times a day do we find ourselves or others talking during our virtual video conference meetings only to find out that no one heard anything we said. We quickly fumble to find the button to turn our microphone on and try to reenact our thoughts. It has become somewhat humorous knowing that it still happens even after almost a year of training.
In the spirit of these unique times when everything feels different, consider making your New Year’s resolution different as well. Instead of setting new goals requiring more “to dos” that typically diminish in short order, how about engaging in different conversations. How about making sure the microphone button is always on? Remember deep conversations are the basis for meaningful relationships and can ignite new thoughts and perspective.
It’s the perfect time of year for reflections, and 2020 will certainly go into the books as one of the most difficult years in history. Yet, despite the challenges, when we asked our network, “What have you learned in 2020?” the responses were those of resiliency, strength and a return to core values.
These positive reflections in no way diminish the significant struggles this year has brought. We know that depression, domestic violence, and suicide have increased as a result of this year’s events. However, our reflections and learnings illuminate what so many spiritual traditions have known for millennia; that discomfort and suffering are a sure path to growth and expansion.
In the Northern Hemisphere of Planet Earth, at 10:02 Greenwich Mean Time on December 21, we mark the Winter Solstice. It’s the shortest day of the astronomical year with the least amount of daylight and longest period of darkness. We were warned that this would be a long, dark winter and, indeed, here we find ourselves. In dark times--literally and, in many ways, metaphorically--as we persist together and apart in our own unique ways through the winter of a global pandemic. Many have experienced illness and death in our inner circles. And everyone has experienced, in some way, the loss of connection, gathering, fellowship, laughter, hugs--the “normal” day-to-day things we used to take for granted. There is a collective sense of sadness and grief that we don’t have to try very hard to tap into.