Our Writings
We have found that the pathways to finding meaning in our lives flow through and are woven together through these the elements of spirituality, story, and music.
Spirituality
Discover the meaning of our life
Story
Explore the story of our life
Music
Find the music of our life
A more complete list and text of writings is available on request from nking@uwindsor.ca.
Coming Home to Ourselves and Others
When we observe infants and small children, we may notice their efforts to learn to crawl, to walk to talk, […]
Thoughts on Loneliness and Solitude
Two striking issues in our time are a pervasive loneliness and an absence of solitude. Both of these tend to […]
The Sacred Soulful Self
The core conviction to which I return again and again is the underlying, unerasable sacred worth or value of the […]
Gratitude as Source of Happiness
Lately, I have been thinking of gratitude and how important it is. Two memories come to mind immediately. One is […]
Starting from Our Sacred Self
“There is a place in us where we have never been wounded.” These words of Meister Eckhart really resonate with […]
WHOLENESS AND HAPPINESS
I recently listened to a podcast interview with Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, conducted by Mel Robbins. His area of study is […]
A Few Thoughts on Memory
A FEW THOUGHTS ON MEMORY I think that memory is not just a recalling of some past event. It is […]
Transitions in Life
Today’s theme is on transitions in life, and the summer is itself a time of transition. It is an invitation […]
Naming Experience Through Story
Last week, I referred to the story of Pandora as an expression of how life contains both joy and sorrow, both bitter […]
Gratitude and Longing
Last week, I spoke of our inner core, our heart, not only as our sacred centre, but also as a […]
Longing from the Heart
Last week I spoke of our need for beauty, in nature, in works of art, in persons, and how it […]
The Longing for Beauty
Last week I spoke of listening to and from our own heart, our sacred core. The process of tuning in […]
Listening from the Heart.
Last week I spoke of listening to ourselves and others. This is a listening to and from the sacred core […]
The Relational Context of Sacred Worth
I have repeatedly stressed the importance of recognizing and trying to experience deeply the sacred worth of ourselves, extending progressively […]
The Emergence of New Life
I spoke last week of life as a process of endings and beginnings. These can take many forms. Every day, […]
A Springtime of the Heart
Last week I spoke of an inner sacred core that is deeper than all wrongness, even if that core is […]
Intrinsic Sacredness and Forgiveness
Last week, I quoted Wayne Muller’s as saying that we must be careful how we name ourselves. That naming will […]
Identity Beneath Layers
Last week I spoke about living from the inside out. This is the journey inward, to be in touch with […]
Living from Inside Out
Last week I spoke of trusting the unfolding process of life from within ourselves. With the help of others, as […]
Trust in the Unfolding Process of Life Within Us
To continue the reflections of the last few weeks. I would like to recall an expression that has resonated with […]
Finding Our Authentic Story
This week’s reflection is presented by friend, colleague, and co-author, Jane Ripley. It is a followup to the last few […]
Giving Voice to Our True Story
Last week, I suggested that our true home is the place of our authentic personal voice. This is the voice […]
Our Voice from Home
Last week, I spoke of our inner journey as a journey home, a journey to the core of our being. […]
Longing for Home
Last week, I suggested that at the very core of our being, there is an aching longing. This is a […]
The Healing and Challenging Power of Beauty
The Healing and Challenging Power of Beauty I have spoken recently of winter as a time of slowing down and […]
Winter as Passage
I have spoken recently of winter as a time of slowing down, resting, doing things we enjoy for their own […]
Listening to the Child Within
Last week, I spoke of wintering as a time of slowing down, resting, doing things we enjoy for their own […]
The Wintering of the Heart
Last week we talked of the need for solitude, quiet time by oneself, in which we approach ourselves with kindness […]
The Courage to Be Alone
In the last reflection, I suggested that our worth cannot be lost only if it is inseparable from who we […]
Human Beings not Human “Havings”
I have often spoken of the importance of recognizing our identity and sacred worth as present from the beginning, as […]
A NEW YEAR’S BLESSING
May all our sorrows gradually stretch our heart to be more fully open and compassionate. May we experience a […]
Listening with the Ears of the Heart
Last week, I spoke of trust: trust in the process of unfolding life within ourselves, trust in an intelligently caring […]
A Safe Place
I have spoken of kindness, friendship, and love as involving an openness and vulnerability. We open our heart, our core, […]
The Crack That Lets in the Light
Last week, we spoke of kindness as an essential quality of a fulfilling life, beginning with kindness to ourselves and […]
Kindness as Life-Giving
I was very struck lately by Susan Cain’s observation that Darwin has been readily misinterpreted. She notes that perhaps his […]
At Home in the Garden of Our Heart
Last week, using the image of tears, we suggested that there is a place within us that is deeper than […]
Tears of Joy and Sorrow
In the last while, we have spoken of the difference between life scripts we inherit from without and our true […]
Memory as Remembering Who We Are
Last week we mentioned the importance of discovering what we have called a true story–a true image of who we […]
Freedom as Gathering and Gift of Self
Last week, we spoke of imagination as a gateway to freedom. Imagination does so by opening up alternatives, new possibilities, in […]
Imagination: Gateway to Freedom
Many years ago, when my children were small, I came across a bookmark that really resonated with me. It was […]
Longing for Meaning, for Home
We have spoken lately of the inseparable joy and sorrow, fear and love, labour and rest, darkness and light that […]
Rest and Light
Along with Leonard Cohen, one of my favourite singers has been Louis Armstrong. In the past few days, I listened […]
The Cracks Where the Light Gets in
Last week we mentioned that our life includes both joys and sorrows, winters and springs, darkness and light, storms and […]
Embracing All the Seasons of Life
Last week we referred to the stories, The Wizard of Oz and The Secret Garden. The first story especially illustrates […]
Transforming Sorrow into Beauty
Last week, we mentioned the story, The Wizard of Oz. It illustrates how the longing for understanding (scarecrow), love (tin […]
Focus on Feelings
Last week’s reflection spoke of listening gently to our own feelings. Even our difficult feelings, such as anger, indicate that […]
Listening to Oneself
Last week we spoke of listening both to oneself and to one another. And of listening from the core or […]
Listening from the Heart
Last week, we spoke of the eyes through which we look at life, where we see from and how we […]
The Eyes Through Which We Look at Life: Our Angle of Vision
As you may suspect from my references to Winnie the Pooh, I have found very valuable, the brief words of wisdom […]
Coming Home to Ourselves and Others
When we observe infants and small children, we may notice their efforts to learn to crawl, to walk to talk, […]
Thoughts on Loneliness and Solitude
Two striking issues in our time are a pervasive loneliness and an absence of solitude. Both of these tend to […]
The Sacred Soulful Self
The core conviction to which I return again and again is the underlying, unerasable sacred worth or value of the […]
Gratitude as Source of Happiness
Lately, I have been thinking of gratitude and how important it is. Two memories come to mind immediately. One is […]
Transitions in Life
Today’s theme is on transitions in life, and the summer is itself a time of transition. It is an invitation […]
Naming Experience Through Story
Last week, I referred to the story of Pandora as an expression of how life contains both joy and sorrow, both bitter […]
Gratitude and Longing
Last week, I spoke of our inner core, our heart, not only as our sacred centre, but also as a […]
Longing from the Heart
Last week I spoke of our need for beauty, in nature, in works of art, in persons, and how it […]
The Longing for Beauty
Last week I spoke of listening to and from our own heart, our sacred core. The process of tuning in […]
Listening from the Heart.
Last week I spoke of listening to ourselves and others. This is a listening to and from the sacred core […]