Category: Feelings
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the inconvenience of our sadness
The Inconvenience of Our Sadness Do you ever feel so tired, you just weep and weep and weep? Weeping sounds so beautiful, like a willow— elegant sadness stretching out perpetually, showing off her delicate leaves draped on bending branches. My sadness never feels that lovely. It feels ugly, self-indulgent, and inconvenient— an obstacle to all…
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when you begin to feel again
When life is overwhelming, our wise bodies sometimes take an overdue break and our obedient hearts and minds follow suit. Maybe it feels like fatigue or illness or depression or apathy. Everything just shuts down. It all felt like too much, and it was. You were never meant to carry so much alone. And then,…
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Anxiety Dance
Anxiety Dance I used to think anxiety was a moral failure, a personal flaw, an indication of a lack of faith. I thought if I tried hard enough and prayed often enough, I could send her away, her departure the reward for my spiritual growth. Then, do you know, the more I tried to get…
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listen to your rage
Listen to your rage and hear the ache underneath— the excruciating gap between “should be” and “is actually.” Sometimes we call it grief. Feel it in your body— a burning, consuming flood of adrenaline priming you for action because “is actually” is actually unbearable. When your rage collapses, listen for its wisdom. Let it tell…
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Jesus wept. We can, too.
We don’t have to buy into the cultural lie that sadness, anger, and grief are unholy indicators of a lack of faith. In fact, I would argue that a faith that hasn’t wrestled with doubt and grief is in danger of becoming, or has become, atrophied. In scripture, we see a Jesus who wept, got…
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be gentle with you.
2020 is so tough, but sometimes you can catch glimpses of the sun peeking through. Every which way I turn, I see more suffering… illness, death, racial injustice, devastating loss due to wildfires and natural disasters, poverty, abuse, and regular, everyday losses that seem like luxuries to grieve given everything happening in the world. Years…
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too deep for words
As a person who is wired to take everything in through my head first (hello, #enneagram5 #enneagram6 and #enneagram7 !) , I’m learning about the importance of integrating my body and heart. We live in a culture that conflates truth with facts, but truth is so much greater than logic. Truth is facts, science, experiences,…
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Quarantine Queries 5: How can I help little people with big feelings? Quarantine Calm Down bucket for Kids!
Quarantine parenting, like quarantine-everything, is HARD. I wanted to share something simple but helpful that my almost-9-year old and I put together after a difficult day in the world of parenting. First, a confession: These two books have been sitting on my shelf, unread, for several years now. If I’m honest, even though my degrees are…
Lindsay L. O'Connor 