Is it a spiritual crisis or mental illness?

A spiritual crisis is when someone’s identity, purposes, values, attitudes, goals, or beliefs, are drastically challenged, often by unforeseen events. This results in upheaval and a dramatic change in focus in their lives. It may or may not involve a mystical spiritual experience, and it may or may not trigger a mystical spiritual experience.

It’s a Question of Life and Death

It’s a Question of Life and Death The real reason why I urge people to seek joy… Recently someone unsubscribed from my newsletter, politely and usefully leaving the comment that they are “beyond” what I offer. It made me wonder, did they know what is truly available and offered? Is Alchemy really only about a warm fuzzy feeling? No. There is a purpose with far more value beyond that mere band aid.

The Alchemy of Death

The Alchemy of Death Ring…Ring… “Cindy! The phone’s for you,” my friends called. This was unusual. I was in college and had just turned nineteen. I did not often get calls up there, in New Liskeard, 160 km north of North Bay. On the other end an unrecognized voice said words I will never forget: “Hello, this is your long lost Father.” In some kind of limbo, I thought of my Dad and, partly stunned, I said, “My Father’s not lost.” Reaching around in my memory, thinking about my Dad at home who raised me and how this was not his voice, I remembered what was not high in my consciousness; that I had another “Dad”. My blood father. It …

“Don’t Quit” poem

–My Father wrote this famous poem It appeared far and wide on posters, bookmarks, etc. as “author unknown.” In memory of Lawrence J. Wilcox (1940-2010) It became so popular so fast, that there was no way of correcting this, and truly, Dad was elated just knowing it was helping so many people. With his passing, it is time to let it be known that he wrote it. I actually read this poem before I was re-united with Dad (at age 19), after which time we became very close. He had submitted the poem to a publisher, who never responded, but later used it. From that he learned and shared with me a clever way to protect your work: mail yourself …

True Infinite Love

True Infinite Love A gift arose with the early morning sun on my stroll today. I had been contemplating the massive changes in my life and my experience of life since last April (when I discovered the joy we all are), when a big picture understanding struck me. In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) it is known that we hold values that drive our attention, intention, behaviour, and beliefs. Beliefs cluster around values, and while we can loosen, erode, and replace beliefs one by one, it is a tedious and slow process because there can be many of them, and also perhaps  because they are important to supporting the more important, larger value they are linked to, and so we cling to …