Category: Healing
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for the women
for the womenby Lindsay L. O’Connor A social media post that went viralasked women what they would doif there were no men on the planetfor 24 hours.The answers would make you weep…“Go on walks at night.”“Dance around town at 3am without fearing for my life.”“Wear whatever I want.”“Leave my drink unattended at a bar.”“Get a…
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in the ring
In the RingLindsay L. O’Connor Well today, I was just fighting with God.I mean fighting. I woke up early, stomach upset,and was just “doing panic” for an hour.I reminded God of all the lovely ways God has helped me through panic before,but God would not be moved. “We’ve done this before,” I said.“Remember the reassurances?The…
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to Sabbath like a lizard
To Sabbath Like a LizardI didn’t read my Bible today.I sprawled out on our aging deckand kicked off my shoes.The skin of my bellyinadvertently made contactwith the sun-warmed wood underneath.I can see why lizards do this, I thought.I heard the leaves rustle overheadas the breeze swept through my haira dog barkeda bird warbledI became aware…
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this is why it hurts
this is why it hurts Did it hurt, the first time you gave yourself away? Did it sting, when the little pieces splintered into fragments that you wished you could take back, offered up like candy on the altar of broken relationships? Unaware, perhaps, of the crime you were committing, you were focused on perfecting…
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Welcome to the In-Between
Welcome to the In-Between Welcome to the in-between. I’d tell you to pull up a chair, but the furniture here never seems to quite fit. I’d say, “Make yourself comfortable,” but we’d only laugh— as though comfort were not the one most pressing desire at the forefront of your mind. God is here; this I…
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…even then, you were loved.
Even then, you were loved. When you did something great, something terrible, or nothing at all… When you felt the pressure of praise for performance and when you felt completely and utterly unseen… When God’s voice was loud and clear, and when God was eerily silent… When your pain was unbearable, and when your joy…
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all bodies are good bodies
Maybe instead of lamenting weight changes during traumatic seasons, we could practice saying, “This is the body that carried me through such a difficult time. Thank you.” Self-love and self-compassion can extend to these miraculous bodies we inhabit. Our bodies carry the joys, trauma, and scars of surviving in a beautiful, painful world. When we…
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transformation
Image text: It can be hard to empathize with someone else’s story when you’re drowning in your own. If you’re in survival mode, don’t let shame be piled on top of it all. Let go of the need to perform and instead, try to allow. The lessons of transformation will present themselves. Sometimes the best…
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liminal space
“Much of the work of authentic spirituality and human development is to get people into liminal space and to keep them there long enough that they can learn something essential and new.” -Fr. Richard Rohr “Liminal space” derives from the Latin for “threshold.” It is the space where we are no longer where we were…
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belonging vs. fitting in
Image contents: a poppy in a field of larkspurs. Text says,“‘If I get to be me, I belong. If I have to be like you, I fit in.’ Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown” I’ve long grappled with a sense of not quite fitting in wherever I go and have always wondered if everyone else…
Lindsay L. O'Connor 