A pledge to hone and honor authentic and genuine sisterhood and community. (This post discusses general aspects regarding women in American and Western cultural traditions but can also include all women on a global basis.) My last two posts have discussed the complications and negative subversive behavior that often plague women's friendships (based on over 30 years worth of research from American sources). My next few posts will address various ways in which we can transcend and ... VIEW POST
Writing Our Own "Title of Liberty"
The Inauthentic Niceness Syndrome
Pretending to be nice? "If you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all," says Thumper rabbit in the movie, Bambi. Sounds nice enough, right? Well, not really. Unfortunately, we as a church and as a society tend to promote this philosophy as the Christian (and now secularist) ideal. "Be kind, always" has become a mantra. However, taken either literally or to extremes, this rule (along with its entire philosophy) can (and is) seeding and sowing another form of ... VIEW POST
The Hardest Thing About Being a Woman is Having Women Friends
(The title of this post comes from the movie, An American Quilt. This post is written in binary terms and focuses more on American and European women in general, but can also apply to women across the globe.) Got frenemies? Ok, I confess. I used to watch "The Real Housewives of New York City." My husband caught me sneaking a peek and sat down to watch with me. Within five minutes he proclaimed, "Oh, c'mon ... this is so fake! Women aren't really that manipulative and catty." My ... VIEW POST
Got Emotional Indigestion?
Suffering in silence? I've spent too much of my life feeling guilty for feeling angry. And I've spent too much time feeling needless anger. Too afraid to confront perceived injustices, I morphed into self-pity mode instead---which effectively increased my anger...and suffering. For "good measure" and to "atone," I added guilt to my toxicity. Thankfully, divine intervention led me to the field of Communication Studies. I learned how to analyze the emotion of anger as well as its root causes. ... VIEW POST
Think About What You’re Thinking About
Are you always on your mind? As a young woman, I felt responsible for everyone's feelings. (Ironically, I felt little responsibility for my own.) I lived in a constant state of reactive thinking and feeling. Consequently, my actions were often reactive as well. I wasn't consciously aware of this cause/effect thought pattern. Nevertheless, a slow but steady pressure of anger and resentment welled within me. I was frustrated at my own sense of helplessness and my perceived ... VIEW POST
Wanna Go Sailing? Face, Brace, and Then Embrace.
Making our suffering purposeful. "In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning." These words from Viktor Frankl changed my life! A Jewish psychiatrist from Vienna, Dr. Frankl endured the Nazi horrors at Auschwitz. When freed, he wrote the book, Man's Search for Meaning in an effort to find meaning in the Holocaust. His conclusion: There was no meaning. There was no purpose. Yet, in efforts to retain his sanity, Frankl (and many of his ... VIEW POST
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