Magnify the Problem

February 1, 2024

Many of you may see or hear this title and wonder, “Huh? Why would I want to magnify the problem? Don’t I want to get rid of it? Surely, it makes no sense to want to make the problem bigger than what it already is.” Indeed, I cannot emphasize the prevalence of ideas of what might be called common psychology, or common consciousness, strongly enough. Within this consciousness the automatic reaction is to want to destroy the problems we encounter, and as quickly as possible. Read Field Note

Inner Work for Integrating Alienated Identities

December 1, 2023

As many of you already know the topic of inner work is one of my most central interests as a therapist, educator, and human being, and this practice is of course not entirely new or novel. However, our culture, being overwhelmingly outward-focused, relentlessly enables such impression that it is new!. We just have to look around to see all the ways people are offering outward-focused solutions to any and all problems we humans encounter. Read Field Note

Close Relationships: There You Go Again!

November 1, 2023

This Field Note is a co-authored dialogue in which Heesoon and I engage in an exploration-and-discovery conversation about relationship. More than being “about” our relationship, this dialogue bears fruit from and for our relationship. I certainly made some discoveries as we proceeded with this process. We offer you this open conversation not so much as a window into us rather as a possible window into yourself and your own close relationships. Read Field Note

Life Force

October 1, 2023

In this Field Note, I will focus on how we feel energetically within as we go about our days in the world, and how we feel in terms of connection to the primal source of this energy, if indeed there is such. If this latter is not available you can use your wild imagination to conjure it up. Read Field Note

Inner Work: Foundational to Contemplative and Holistic Education

July 1, 2023

This is a ‘Bonus’ Field Note. I had intended to take a break until October. What follows is an academic journal article publication, for which my colleague and friend, Dr. Thomas Falkenberg (University of Manitoba), and I were interviewed by Dr. Heesoon Bai. The Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education is a new journal in the field, and our article is about inner work: a perennial topic for me, as you, my readers, would know. Read Field Note

Preparing For That For Which You Cannot Prepare

June 1, 2023

As you no doubt know, a prologue is what comes before what is the main body of, what will follow, in this case, the June Field Note. I woke up this morning and had the thought that the core of what the Field Note is about, the unexpected, the unwanted, and the horrible, and on further reflection I new that it is about anything unexpected, even those happenings that I might prefer and like. Read Field Note

The Practice of Practice

April 1, 2023

If you are like me and I would suggest most other people (that you know), you may find, at least at times, taking up a practice and staying with it to be difficult. Presumably we get into a practice (whatever it is) because we are interested and feel that it offers something of value for us. But somehow, one way or another, we often enough find ourselves not doing the practice. Some familiar practice examples of this are diet, exercise programs, meditation, and the whole range of life and skill building practices that we are keen to adopt. Read Field Note

Strong Feelings: Really Feeling Them Makes You Stronger

March 1, 2023

This Field Note is about educating and expanding intimacy in relationship and, by extension, your very sense of being: being alive, being real, being authentic, and being present. I will underline the importance of developing our capacity for feeling strong feelings, expressing them in a coherent and clear way, to be able to hear the strong feelings of others and understand them, and to enjoy the liberation into empowerment and wellbeing that such ability provides. Read Field Note

The Pursuit of Enlightenment:The Cure for All Ailments of All Kinds

February 1, 2023

Welcome to my first Field Note for 2023. My very great good wishes to all of you for the coming year. May you discover yourself increasingly and experience ever deepening understanding of life—your life, and life as a whole. And perhaps, just as importantly, increasing discovery as to what you do not know, clues about what you may indeed never know, and how to live fully into the valuable experience of not knowing. Read Field Note