death benefits

orange  butterfly

I  recently co- facilitated a workshop titled" Adults in Mourning, Grieving the Death of a Parent" at  Community Care Hospice  in Somerville, NJ  My colleague and friend Angela and I  have led this group for several years and we always have wonderful folks participating. They  are very eager to  learn ways to understand the grieving process.
This year, the group was wonderful . We share stress reducing  strategies, spiritual exercises  heartfelt stories about  the deaths of loved ones, and  resources. One of the woman in the group shared a book called" Death Benefits ,How losing a Parent Can Change an Adult's life". The title is provocative and it resulted in very interesting discussions about how this can be  true. Death Benefits: How Losing a Parent Can Change an Adult's Life--For the Better.
Jeanne Safer is a psychotherapist and upon the death of her 92 year old mother, she learned some interesting things about who she was. She learned that death is painful   at whatever  age your parent dies. And there are still pathways to explore about your own life's  journey that were possibly shut down by loving our parents so much. She talks about  becoming our most authentic  selves after our parents die.

dreamsellers and revenge

peach blossoms

I am reading an interesting book calledThe Dreamseller: The Calling: by Augusto Cury. It is a new book and describes  a group of people who have lost their dreams and ,in the process of finding them, find a whole new way of living.
I like to read and especially like  to read quirky and provocative books. This is one of them. The author , Augusto Cury, is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, scientist and bestselling author in Brazil.  Interestingly, this book is the recipient of China's 2009 Weishanu award for Best foreign novel. I am impressed with the selection committee that chose this book.

herons and our inner world

This morning I walked with my buddy Pixie and I was thinking about all kinds of things. We had recently met and talked with a number of the gardeners in the park and wondered if they would be able to stop to  say hello. I wondered if there were any friendly dogs or people that we would be meeting for the first time. I wondered if the lilac bushes were still as fragrant as yesterday. Then, I thought about previous walks and sightings of different animals and birds. It is always a blessing to see various animals and birds except for wondering how pixie will react to them. One morning, we saw a very very large snapper turtle on the tow path and we definitely kept our distance until it ambled off into the  woods. During this time of spring , there are  the momma and poppa geese that are very protective of their new babies. They squawk loudly  at us when we walk by. Sometimes, we are fortunate enough to see a blue heron. This is a wonderful sighting for me.

I really like their regal nature and their fierce independence as they live their lives. Some viewings, they have stayed within eyesight for several minutes while we watched from the shore. Sometimes, the heron follows us down the tow path lighting just ahead of us  for a mile or so. That is really a magical moment. I have not seen a heron in months, today I saw one in the park by the pond. What a lovely sight. I love painting herons and have many images of them in various forms in my work space. According to Ted Andrews in Animal Speak,  the heron "reflects the innate wisdom of being able to maneuver through life and control its circumstances" Heron energy is quite self sufficient and symbolizes the ability to make one's own choices easily and clearly and not follow the crowd. It was another good morning with Pixie.Thank you Pixie.

Not enough time!!

I keep saying that I have no time to write in this blog. I do  think about it daily and then I  don't write

blissful pixie

anything  down . I guess that I feel that I ought  to write  about something so interesting and fascinating that it will be worthwhile reading.  Sometimes, however, maybe it is the ordinary that needs to be commented upon. Almost every nice  morning this spring, I have woken up early so that I can go for a walk with my dog, Pixie. She always knows when we will go for a walk. She seems to have an  extra alertness to her and often will not eat her food if she thinks that I will walk without her.  This is not just her fear because on snowy, cold mornings or hot humid humid mornings, I do sneak out without her.