Encased In Armour

Martin Buber: Between Man and Man Each of us is encased in an armour whose task is to ward off signs.  Signs happen to us without respite, living means being addressed, we would need only to present ourselves and to perceive.  But the risk is too dangerous for us, the soundless thunderings seem to threaten…

What I Need

I talked with a client recently who had an aha! moment during the session where she recognized she was trying to make the lovely new man who had come into her life an answer to everything that wasn’t working in her life.  You know, the prince who comes to take the princess away so they…

What Do You Really Want?

Ever notice that spouses, significant others, and children will tell you all year long what they want ad naseum? But when it comes to Christmas time it’s like they all become Buddhist monks not attached to anything except the need to shrug and say “I don’t know.  Whatever you want to get me is fine…”…

Pick Your Battles

There is a lot of resignation and long-suffering and just going through the motions that happens at Christmas time.  Some people like conflict and to stir things up, most have enough to do making sure the holidays happen they way they are supposed to and when the day comes they just want to slide into…

Lighten Up

Ok, so things are ramping up. If it isn’t social obligations, his office Christmas party it’s her office Christmas party.  We’re coming up on holiday shipping deadlines, prepping for Christmas travel, desperation levels are rising in the shopping area, and the sounds of wrapping, decorating, and swearing are beginning to resound throughout the world.  With…

The Perfect Christmas

To my mind the only way in which a Christmas should be perfect is that everyone had a gloriously, deliciously good time full of laughter and joy and contentment…an possibly egg nog…or Mimosas…there could be mochas…  Ahem…where was I?  Oh yeah, perfect.  So one of the biggest killers of the Christmas spirit and spoiler of…

Loving Kindness

It’s interesting to be writing about Chesed from the Kabbalah Tree of Life during the Christmas season.  Chesed is the home of loving kindness, benevolent rule, grace, majesty and so many things which this time of year is supposed to epitomize. The thing about Chesed is that, while its as active as any of the…

Giving What You Want

You know that old joke that the cliché husband gives his wife tools for Christmas because he knows she won’t use them so he’ll get to?  Yeah.  That’s giving people what you want.  Sometimes it works out because you and the receiver have similar taste or like exactly the same things, but most of the…

The Art of Giving

‘Tis the holiday season and a great many people face the same annual conundrum: WTF do I get them?!!!!   Others just KNOW what to get so-and-so and still others are going to get them what they have always gotten them.  Some people are hard to shop for, others are amazingly easy, and still others are…