LifeWays
April 21, 2019 Looking down at my hands, finally I understand The empty space has changed somehow and it’s filled with Hallelujah now. — Carrie Newcomer, “The Point of Arrival” I walk through a patch of woods at the farm where my husband and his work crew cleared buckthorn last fall. There’s a pile of …
March 3, 2019 The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality. – Conan O’Brien The theme for this month of March in our Living Arts Through the Seasons online course for parents is Clarity. We, like the groundhog, have nestled in all winter long and …
February 3, 2019 There is such a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so that they can’t get away. –Dave Attell As I write this, we are in the middle of a cold snap in the Midwest. Well, that might be a bit of an understatement. It’s way beyond the usual frigid and …
January 13, 2019 “The cliches of a culture sometimes tell the deepest truths.” – Faith Popcorn, the trend forecaster who coined the term “cocooning” in 1981 This time of year right after the winter holidays, while darkness is still upon us in the Northern Hemisphere, my tendency is to hunker down. Judging from all the …
December 30, 2018 “Wherever love and compassion are active in life, we can perceive the magic breath of the spirit blowing through the sense world.” — Rudolf Steiner Here we find ourselves at the end of the year. For many of us, that leads us to ponder what sort of New Year’s resolution we should …
October 14, 2018 Collect moments, not things. As a child, I remember starting “collections” of dolls, or figurines, or coins, or other items. At first the collecting was exciting, and family members always knew what to get me for my birthday or for Christmas. After awhile, I just really just wasn’t into that thing anymore, …
October 7, 2018 Warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. – Carl Jung When I think of the gifts that LifeWays North America brings to families and early childhood programs, I believe one of the greatest is Warmth. Not only the attention to the physical …
August 26, 2018 The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. -Socrates This back-to-school time brings us face to face with change. Parents line up their children for the ceremonial back to school photo and marvel at how much they’ve grown …
May 6, 2018 By seeking and blundering we learn. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Head down, eyes keen, I walk in silence searching for morels. The trickster mushrooms resemble every leaf on the forest floor, hidden from view of those who don’t have their “morel eyes” on. Some people are gifted at finding morels. They …
I believe that one of the greatest contributors to disconnection from our children today is technology. I feel it is has somewhat replaced one of our most cherished threads of bonding in families, the art of storytelling. The origins of storytelling are ancient and lost in the mist of time. I imagine one of the …