Spirituality, Therapy, and the Good Life

We have a new calendar of events that you can find here It not only lists events that occur at SagePlace but will include other events that we believe might be of interest as well.

Read Full Post »

There’s an interesting article and video about NeuroStar Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a new treatment for major depression for people who haven’t experienced success with antidepressant medications. You can read more about it here .

http://www.youtube.com/v/J7zFXl8QpfQ&hl=en&fs=1

Read Full Post »

I have always been a firm believer in the power of music and other forms of art to not only touch, but to even transcend.
Here’s just one example. I’ll be adding more…

http://www.youtube.com/v/SZPf5HIeX7g&hl=en&fs=1

Read Full Post »

On Friday, April 3rd, SagePlace will host an all day workshop for mental health professionals entitled, The Use of Ritual and Narrative in Working with the Dying. The workshop will begin at 9:00 and conclude at 4:30.

On Friday, May 1st, SagePlace will host an all day workshop for mental health professionals entitled, From Quake to Quest: Promoting Post Traumatic Growth

As we are committed to supporting mental health and allied health professionals by offering high quality training as well as providing opportunities for growth, renewal and self-care, our workshops are small, occur in a warm and inviting home-like environment, and focus on meting the individual needs of each participant. Because of this commitment, we limit attendance to 10 participants.

To register call: 207-620-0792 or register online by visiting the workshops’ webpages which are linked to their prospective titles. Pre-registration is required as attendance is limited to 10 participants.

Read Full Post »

Today prime minister Gordon Brown gave a speech to congress, one that I believe is well worth taking thirty minutes to listen to. Among the many statements that resonated with me were:

“The very creation of America was a bold affirmation of faith in the future, a future you have not just believed in but built with your own hands…”

“on 20 January, you the American people began to write the latest chapter in the American story, with a transition of dignity, in which both sides of the aisle could take great pride. President Obama gave the world renewed hope, and on that day billions of people truly looked to Washington DC as ‘a shining city upon a hill’…”

“We have learned through this world downturn that markets should be free but never value-free, that the risks people take should never be separated from the responsibilities they meet…”

“In our families and workplaces and places of worship, we celebrate men and women of integrity who work hard, treat people fairly, take responsibility and look out for others. If these are the principles we live by in our families and neighbourhoods, they should also be the principles that guide and govern our economic life too.
In these days the world has learned that what makes for the good economy makes for the good society…”

“An economic hurricane has swept the world, creating a crisis of credit and of confidence. History has brought us now to a point where change is essential. We are summoned not just to manage our times but to transform them.

Our task is to rebuild prosperity and security in a wholly different economic world, where competition is no longer local but global and banks are no longer just national but international.
And we need to understand what went wrong in this crisis, that the very financial instruments that were designed to diversify risk across the banking system instead spread contagion across the globe. And today’s financial institutions are so interwoven that a bad bank anywhere is a threat to good banks everywhere.

So should we succumb to a race to the bottom and a protectionism that history tells us that, in the end, protects no one? No, we should have the confidence that we can seize the opportunities ahead and make the future work for us. …”

And so I say to this Congress and this country, something that runs deep in your character and is woven in your history, we conquer our fear of the future through our faith in the future.
And it is this faith in the future that means we must commit to protecting the planet for generations that will come long after us. As the Greek proverb says, why does anybody plant the seeds of a tree whose shade they will never see?

The answer is because they look to the future.

And I believe that you, the nation that had the vision to put a man on the moon, are also the nation with the vision to protect and preserve our planet earth.

And it is only by investing in environmental technology that we can end the dictatorship of oil, and it is only by tackling climate change that we create the millions of new green jobs we need
For the lesson of this crisis is that we cannot just wait for tomorrow today.

We cannot just think of tomorrow today. We cannot merely plan for tomorrow today. Our task must be to build tomorrow today…”

“And if these times have shown us anything, it is that the major challenges we all face are global. No matter where it starts, an economic crisis does not stop at the water’s edge. It ripples across the world. Climate change does not honour passport control. Terrorism has no respect for borders.

And modern communications instantly span every continent. The new frontier is that there is no frontier, the new shared truth is that global problems need global solutions.
And let me say that you now have the most pro-American European leadership in living memory. A leadership that wants to cooperate more closely together, in order to cooperate more closely with you…”

“So once again I say we should seize the moment — because never before have I seen a world so willing to come together. Never before has that been more needed. And never before have the benefits of cooperation been so far-reaching.

So when people here and in other countries ask what more can we do now to bring an end to this downturn, let me say this – we can achieve more working together…”

“No one should forget that it was American visionaries who over half a century ago, coming out of the deepest of depressions and the worst of wars, produced the boldest of plans for global economic cooperation because they recognised prosperity was indivisible and concluded that to be sustained it had to be shared. And I believe that ours too is a time for renewal, for a plan for tackling recession and building for the future. Every continent playing their part in a global new deal, a plan for prosperity that can benefit us all. First, so that the whole of the worldwide banking system serves our prosperity rather than risks it, let us agree rules and standards for accountability, transparency, and reward that will mean an end to the excesses and will apply to every bank, everywhere, and all the time…”

“I am confident that this president, this Congress and the peoples of the world can come together in Copenhagen this December to reach a historic agreement on climate change…”

As I listened to Brown’s speech, the dreamer in me again begins to stretch and stir. In this time of crisis, it is absolutely essential that we create a positive vision that we can believe in and can thus create. Surrounded by bad news and pointed fingers, I need to hear words of hope, of commitment, and of vision, not only from the leaders of my own country but from others who share this small, fragile, sacred blue world.

Read Full Post »

I read a quote this morning by Robert Brault that has stayed with me throughout the day. It was, “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Today I held the big hard working hand of my 76 year old father and as we walked together hand in hand, I was never more aware that this simple uneventful day (in my own life) did indeed contain the ‘big’ things…

Read Full Post »

Speaking of Faith has an interesting and thought provoking program available via podcast entitled, “The Soul in Depression. It can be downloaded and listened to here or you can read the transcript here. The description on the program’s webpage reads, “One in ten Americans, and even more dramatically, about one in four women, will experience clinical depression at some point in their lives. We take an intimate look at the spiritual dimensions of this illness and its aftermath.”

Read Full Post »

My husband and I made a decision several years ago to simplify our lives, and from the moment that we made this commitment it has become an evolving and not always linear process .
We wanted to take some personal responsibility for the preservation of the natural world, we wanted to bring what mattered most to us — family, friends, personal and spiritual growth – into sharper focus, and we wanted our daily lives to be more consistent with our deepest values. We’ve given up a number of possessions, downsized our home and our incomes, and transformed our vision of the ‘good life.’ Still, in general though, the steps we’ve taken have more often been tentative than bold, and we’ve a significant distance yet to travel before our lives satisfactorily approximate our vision.

It’s not been easy to maintain our commitment to simplicity in a culture that has been as materialistic and as competitive as ours has been in spite of the inestimable cost of rampant consumerism to our planet and to our mental and spiritual health. And yet with the rate of job loss and business closings rising, and the stock market continuing to fall, I am unsettled and confused. On the one hand, I want to continue to encourage living more simply and sustainably, and on the other, I want the future of myself and my fellow Americans to be secure, and I fully recognize that this requires a healthy economy. In spite of the messages from the media that seem to imply otherwise, I don’t believe that these two desires are in conflict. I believe that we can behave more responsibly fiscally, environmentally, socially, and morally and still stimulate the economy. And, I also believe that we can live more simply and at the same time more abundantly.

I’m going to be adding links to websites and articles regarding simple living on a regular basis. To begin with you might want to check out the following articles:

Simplicity and President Obama’s Inaugural Address

Are We Ready for a New Kind of Capitalism?

The Overspent American

Simplicity and the good life — this side of going hobo

Read Full Post »

An integral component of the SagePlace mission is to support the development and deepening of spirituality. One method of doing this will be to offer discussions, retreats, celebrations, and book groups where inquiry and exploration is warmly welcomed and absolute certainties are rare. This coming Sunday at 1:00 pm SagePlace will be hosting a discussion based on a dialogue between Rev. Alan Jones from Grace Cathedral and Peter J Gomes, Harvard professor, paster and author of The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus. The conversation between Jones and Gomes can be downloaded and listened to here. If you plan on attending, please listen to the discussion online first and be prepared to share your observations, reactions, etc

In his book Gomes writes, “Thus, when Christians state categorically that Jews, or Muslims, or believers in other faith systems are outside the provisions of God, they utter arrogant nonsense. A respected agnosticism is called for when often there is offered in its place a self-interested certainty. If God is the God of all, and not just a tribal deity, then God has made provision, not necessarily known to us, for the healing and care of all his creation, and not simply our little part of it.” He also wrote, “It may be scandalous if we actually tried to apply it in our communities … to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love our neighbors … those are dangerous things.” We would be interested to hear your response to these and other statements.

You can also listen to Gomes on NPR’s Book Tour here

All views are welcomed. We only ask that individuals be respectful of the beliefs and perspectives of others. Contact tammie@sageplace.com for further details.

Read Full Post »

In an article entitled, “Uncovering Your Own Spiritual Wisdom,” Reverend John Robinson provides instructions for accessing our deeper wisdom through the use of a Socratic technique. I highly recommend that you give it a try. You can find a description of the exercise as well as additional guidelines by following the link highlighted above.

Read Full Post »