Courage in Action:
a blog of Empowered Life Counseling LLC
Blog posts and news about the therapy practice, including mental health education and resources; reflections about authentic living in times of stress and change; and business updates.
Blessing of Hope
Words of wisdom from artist, writer, and ordained minister Jan Richardson. My sense of hope can get a little wobbly on a Monday. It's the day when our present circumstances can feel the most endless to me. But I keep learning how blessedly stubborn hope can be—true hope, real hope, hope that is something quite other than wishful thinking. Hope seems to keep working in me like a deep muscle memory, setting me in motion when I don't know how to move on my own. If your own hope has been getting wobbly, this is for you.BLESSING OF HOPESo may we knowthe hope
Feelings of Restlessness
Sometimes this time of year can lead to feelings of restlessness or feeling out of place as we consider our purpose. Poet Mary Oliver encourages us to do so while in nature, to get moving while being mindful of the life surrounding us. It doesn’t always feel like there’s much life out there in January, but try it out. See what’s out there in the quiet stillness of the woods. What birds do you hear calling to each other? What winter buds do you see on the branches? What do you smell on the cool breeze?
‘Show Up With Hope’: Anne Lamott’s Plan for Facing Adversity
I ran across this post shared on social media a while back and its been rolling around my head - the courage that it takes to have hope for the future, in spite of knowledge to the contrary. Sometimes a message is best communicated directly from the source (shared on Facebook on May 14, 2020): ‘Show Up With Hope’: Anne Lamott’s Plan for Facing Adversity
With Earth beset by conflict, climate change, pollution, and other ills, the best-selling author asks: What better time to be hopeful?
You would almost have to be nuts to be filled with hope in a world so rife with hunger, hatred, climate change, pollution, and pestilence, let alone the self-destructive or severely annoying behavior of certain people, both famous and just down the hall, none of whom we will name by name.
215 things to be grateful for
Sometimes, when put on the spot, it’s hard to think of more than 3 things we’re grateful for. Check out this list of hundreds of concepts, activities, values and ideas to be grateful for and consider what your top priorities are. How do you practice gratitude?
Look for the good news
How can we be looking for the good when times are tough? Learn about sharing resources with good news and discussing intentionality in news consumption. Shares quote about keeping perspective and references that our perspective affects our overall mood.
For One Who is Exhausted
I ran across this poem/blessing today on social media. It seems to speak to the feelings of many as we cope with stressors in this challenging year.
You have traveled too fast over false ground;Now your soul has come, to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open upTo all the small miracles you rushed through.
