Month: February 2018

Touch is sometimes abused. Some people use touch inappropriately to molest children, and this terrifies us all. Some teachers have molested young students. Some priests molest grade-school parishioners. It must stop. Of this there can be no doubt. But how?

Some communities are passing new laws designed to protect the children. Attorneys are meeting with school teachers to educate them in the new standard of acceptable behavior. It turns out that the proposed solution to the problem that some people abuse touch is to focus not the offenders, but on touch itself. The approach to the problem doesn’t ask “how can we get a better handle on these disturbed people?” or “how can we raise people who know how to use touch appropriately?” No. The solution to the problem of people who abuse touching is to stop all people from touching.

So now Continue reading “A Reflection: On Becoming a Champion of Touch”

Other people can be my greatest source of freedom or the chains which I allow to ensnare me. When their ideas stimulate me to search for my own knowing; to stretch for a new comprehension of an old problem or to venture forward in my own creativity, they are a pathway to freedom. But when I allow other people’s ideas and beliefs to determine what I will allow myself to think, feel, do, be or say, Continue reading “I am a woman TELLING MYSELF THE TRUTH”

Saying Yes!

YES! YES! YES, the word of affirmation, of opening, of movement and flow; the word which means it is so. YES, giving permission, allowing unfolding, non-ambivalence and sureness – YES! Now, finally, I am saying YES! YES to all of me, all of the parts. YES to the light and loving and free parts. YES to the dark and angry and scared parts. YES to all of my feelings, the ones I like and the ones I don’t like. YES to my tenderness and loving and nurturing. Yes to my wisdom and strength and courage. YES to my fears, longings and confusions. YES to my sexuality, my passion and my responsiveness. YES to my longing to hold another; to join, to merge, to know ecstatic union. YES to my need for solitude, spiritual practice and communion with God in nature. YES to walking as woman in this world; no hiding, no shame, no apologies. I stand tall and centered on the earth, reaching my arms upward and I become YES and I say YES to the unfolding mystery of my life. I am a woman saying YES!

Saying NO!

NO! Such freedom in saying NO! A tiny word, prohibited for so long, forbidden to leave the lips of a good little girl, or a sweet young woman. NO, carefully avoided as a professional on the career ladder who mustn’t be accused of not being a team player. NO withheld in intimate relationships because NO is so selfish and so, well, negative. I do not know if it is age alone which has transformed my relationship to NO, but Continue reading ” I am a woman SAYING NO”