Category Archives: Listen With Curiosity

Uncovering your story of loss and grief through photographs

Most of the images I use on this website are my own. The two images in my header are examples. The nature image (original uncropped version to the left) is from a time when I was in a period of deep reflection. I was dealing with a lot of pain and a sense of loss – the dream had not worked out as planned and my body was consuming my energy – the bushes that seemed dead in their dryness and grayness captured those feelings for me.

At the same time, there was this incredible vibrant green moss – a sharp contrast. In the moment of taking the photograph I resonated with that contrast. I wanted to shift how I was feeling. As I look at the image now I see my pain and feeling lost. I also see the energy of growth and potential – discovering who I was and what I was meant to do in the world. The image gave me a way to honour both.

Fast forward a few years, one spinal fusion surgery later, a new career, and my “head shot” was taken in the back yard. I was using a tripod, a remote control for my camera, and I had music playing. I was literally swaying and dancing in different locations in the backyard, taking photos as I went. The smile is genuine. I was feeling happy. (One of the many shots from that day is on the right.) While it felt rather vulnerable to be doing this craziness in the backyard – what if someone should see me?? – I loved the sense of me capturing me with renewed energy and a new sense of purpose.

Did I have all of this understanding of what these photographs mean to me in the moments they were taken? No, but I do believe there was some inner knowing I was tapping into in those moments such as the resonance with the contrast of the dryness and the vibrancy in my nature image. What I am appreciating is that I took the photographs in the first place. The ongoing gift is that I can see more and new meanings in the images as time passes, connecting with the evolution of my story.

When I look at those photographs now, they represent the walk I have been taking with my life.

The Invitation…

Take photographs. They don’t have to be of you, but they can be. They don’t have to be of other people, but they can be. Be in nature. Be in a city. Don’t worry about the ‘rule of thirds’ and composition or having anything in focus. In other words this is not about taking ‘perfect’ pictures, just take pictures. And then give yourself a little time and space to really look at them and ask about you, the photographer.

What were you feeling when you took the photo?

What are you feeling now as you ponder the photo?

What are you wanting as you look at the photo?

What else are you noticing or resonating with in the photograph and in you?

Perhaps you will connect with a sense of loss, joy, anger, despair, possibility, hope, harmony – any or all of the above. Perhaps you will connect with a sense of the passage of time and remembering. Perhaps you will connect with hurt. Perhaps with healing. Perhaps with creativity and inspiration.

The meaning of the image for you, as is the case for me and my images, comes later. So the blurry image, the whonky placement, the different lighting – any and all of that might be where you see the meaning. So I say again, it is not about taking a perfect picture, rather it is about taking pictures and then giving them some purposeful consideration.

I encourage you to be fluid with timelines. Maybe you take the picture and look at it with consideration in a week’s time, or five weeks, a year, or five years later. (I’ve done all of that.) I value that my story evolves each time I look at the photographs.

What is the story of you your photographs are telling? What if your story of loss and grief can be found in your photographs?

If this theme of grief and photography has sparked an interested, here’s a few other links to get you started on your exploration….

http://blog.sevenponds.com/soulful-expressions/artist-andy-goldsworthys-brother-suffered-the-death-of-his-beloved-wife

http://blog.sevenponds.com/professional-advice/%E2%80%A8how-does-grief-affect-the-creative-process-an-interview-with-photographer-sarah-treanor-part-one

Photo Grief: http://www.whatsyourgrief.com/resource-for-coping-with-grief/ OR http://photogrief.com/

What if curiosity is all you need?

Inviting curiosity…

When I’m about to start working with a group that I have never worked with before I’m usually feeling a little anxious. I’m wanting to be there, but my needs for predictability, connection, contribution, they are all flaring up in that moment in part because I don’t know for sure what is coming next.

One of the ways I try and bring some ease in those circumstances is to invite my curiosity.

Who is out there?

What did they have for lunch?

I wonder what their hurts are?

What will I learn from them?

What will I discover about myself through our interaction?

How might I make a difference in someone’s life today?

Being purposeful about being curious shifts my energy from a sensation of constriction to a sensation of openness and possibility.

Friend or foe…

Imagine going into a job interview.

Imagine going on a blind date.

Imagine you are walking on the street and someone is walking towards you yelling loudly in a language you don’t understand.

Imagine you are approaching a customer service rep at the counter after delayed or cancelled flights and there is no clear indication of how you are going to get home.

Imagine you feel guilty about something you could have done, an action you should have taken.

Being curious doesn’t equate with putting yourself in harms way. It doesn’t excuse bad service. It doesn’t deny the reality of difficult circumstances. It can however invite us to see the humanness in others and it invites us to acknowledge the humanness in ourselves.

In unknown, awkward, or difficult circumstances our starting point is often fear or anxiousness. Our amygdala, part of the limbic region in our brain, is playing a constant stream of “Am I safe? Do I belong? Am I safe? Do I belong?” In other words we’re a little on edge and we’re checking each other out to assess friend or foe.

When compassion feels hard…

Am I not just advocating being compassionate? Nope. I appreciate the language of compassion and empathy. On some level I resonate with the statement “All you need is love.” But in my reality, and I suspect it is the same for others, sometimes I can’t jump right into love. I have my own things going on – maybe I’m triggered by the circumstances and/or what someone has said – and so love, compassion, empathy feel hard to connect with in those moments.

What I can direct my energy towards however is curiosity. I don’t have to love you or even like you in that moment. But if I can be curious, it feels like I’m leaving a door open, I’m open to possibilities. If I’m there with curiosity, then I’m listening with a willingness to be changed.

Our human needs for sense and meaning making, for learning and growth – these are the foundations for curiosity. I think curiosity is also interwoven with empathy, but sometimes we can’t jump right into each others experiences from a place of shared resonance. But I can be curious. I can be wondering what is going on for you.

And when I’m in one of my own funks, when things are not going right, or actually might feel terribly wrong, I can be curious about what might be going on for me. Which of my needs are not being met? You have the same options when you’re in a funk, when things are not going right – what might your present experience be asking of you? Which needs of yours are not being met?

And by the way your brain seems to function well under conditions of curiosity as well – at least from the stand point of learning and memory.

So the next time you’re feeling a little on guard or triggered be curious about the person sitting across from you. And if you are being really hard on yourself, be curious about the person in the mirror.

Willing to try being purposeful with your curiosity? Let me know how it goes in the comments below…

What if…your anger is a window into what you are passionate about?

Wanting to find your passion for that next career, but not feeling it?

Wanting to make changes, but not sure what to move towards?

When my grandmother first went into the hospital at the end of her life she was in a room with two beds. It seemed the polite thing to do to say hello to the person in the other bed, particularly when he had the bed closest to the door. So each time I came into or left the room I acknowledged the man with a hello.

My grandmother was eventually moved to her own room. For whatever reason, I made a decision to keep visiting the gentleman in her old room. It became clear that other visitors were sparse, that he too was terminally ill, and that he welcomed the conversation.

I came away from that experience with very mixed emotions. Part of me was incredibly sad. I was in anticipatory grief, leaving my Grandmother’s bedside knowing I would not see her alive again. I was also angry.

I could not stop thinking about the gentleman who was dying and who had had limited attention. I felt a sense of injustice. No one should die alone!

I did not know what palliative care was at that time, other than my grandmother had been declared palliative and I knew that meant she was dying. When, how, what it might look like – I had no insights.

My anger both for the man in his aloneness, and anger in judgement of myself – for not knowing how end of life worked – sparked me to look into hospice and palliative care and step into training.

I now know that palliative care and palliative wards tend to operate differently than other parts of the hospital. It is, generally speaking, about comfort care rather than curative care. My hope is that the gentleman I paid several visits to was indeed able to experience comfort in the care he received while at the hospital.

Palliative care wards also tend to have volunteers who come and visit on a daily basis. I have also come to appreciate that some individuals do want to be alone as they draw to the end of their life. Others welcome connection. The gentleman clearly wanted the hellos.

Sometimes anger is a signal that something or someone matters.

Perhaps a value you hold dear is being violated and it is sparking anger. Perhaps you see someone else’s pain and you want to alleviate it, you want to help them, but you don’t know how. Anger or frustration, a sense of fire in your belly, might just be a call to step in, to be curious and follow your energy.

While I have been in and around loss, death, and grief in a professional capacity for several years, I’m still surprised to find myself in this space. When I left academia I was a business school professor. I have advanced degrees in engineering. None of that is about grief or bereavement support. Now I help people step into some pretty tough circumstances in their lives. And I love what I do. The surprise to find myself doing this work is paradoxically accompanied by a deep knowing I’m in a space I’m meant to be in.

It all began in anger, a sense of injustice, self-judgement, and questioning.

So what might your anger be igniting in you?

The next time you are angry at a circumstance, feeling a sense of injustice, or going on about how the system needs to change, I invite you to take a step back and ask what your anger is asking of you.

Perhaps you too will uncover a career calling, or a new way of being in the world.

What if..we could gracefully give ourselves time as needed in the challenges of life?

what if we could gracefully give ourselves time as needed How long does it take to grieve a loved one who has died?

How long does it take to grieve an ending relationship?

How long does it take to make a career change?

How long does it to take move and settle in to a new city?

How long does it take to have cancer?

Often language implies there is both timing and an ending to these types of challenging life scenarios.

“You’ll be better in no time!”

“Give it a week and you should be back to normal.”

“You’ve been sick/grieving/grumpy/sad for long enough now.” Likely followed by a “Get over it.”

“I imagine you can have a new job and be settled within 6 months.”

Many of our corporate policies incorporate timelines and endings as well.

Three days of bereavement leave.

Two weeks of sick leave.

Six months of extended disability leave.

A month of accommodation benefits as part of a moving allowance.

These messages have us believing we can measure and monitor the events of our lives based on some chronological, prescribed time window.

Your body, mind, and spirit have their own sense of time.

The more work I do facilitating bereavement groups, the more I appreciate that the journey of grief takes as long as it takes. One thing I know for sure – we do not “get over” or “get through” a significant loss in 3 days.

When I think of my Grandmother who died six years ago it is always bitter sweet. Seeing a cookbook on my shelf that reminds me of her – a sweet memory – is often linked with a jolt of sadness – that I can no longer call her. That burst of grief is very real and while I no longer grieve her as I once did, I’m not “over her”, I still grieve from time to time.

And healing from my spinal fusion surgery – depending on how you want to measure it 6 weeks or years. My back pain sparked a period of deep introspection and I began healing my spirit before the actual surgery. My scar healed in a matter of weeks. It took at least a year for the bones to fuse. It took many moons for my body to begin to realize that when I was invited to an event, such as going to see an art exhibit, it didn’t have to go into resistance and protection mode. It wasn’t going to hurt any more, but parts of me weren’t aligned with that yet. How long does rewiring chronic pain take?

What if we could gracefully give ourselves the time needed in the challenges of life?

There are two Greek works for time – chronos and kairos.

“Chronos is clocks, deadlines, watches, calendars, agendas, planners, schedules, beepers. Chronos is time at her worst. Chronos keeps track. …Chronos is the world’s time. Kairos is transcendence, infinity, reverence, joy, passion, love, the Sacred. Kairos is intimacy with the Real. Kairos is time at her best. …Kairos is Spirit’s time. We exist in chronos. We long for kairos. That’s our duality. Chronos requires speed so that it won’t be wasted. Kairos requires space so that it might be savored. We do in chronos. In kairos we’re allowed to be … It takes only a moment to cross over from chronos into kairos, but it does take a moment. All that kairos asks is our willingness to stop running long enough to hear the music of the spheres.”

― Sarah Ban Breathnach

While I don’t necessarily agree that chronos is time at her worst – when scheduling an appointment for example, I’m glad there is a way to represent that in quantitative time – I do believe chronos time can be counter productive. Applying a time measurement to many aspects of life can set us up to hold ourselves to a standard that is not real, rather it is arbitrary. It can also feel like trying to live to a moving target.

Tool: How about stepping into life changes, growth, and healing without strict timelines? Rather than a focus on chronos time, how about exploring kairos time? It is not about speed. It is about being human. It is about allowing. It is about alignment. It is about knowing we have arrived, when we have arrived, not by the date on the calendar.

So the next time someone tells you how to heal faster, or says “You should be over it by now,” gently let them know you are gracefully living by kairos time.

Text and Images Copyright © Dr. Catherine Hajnal 2015. All rights reserved.

What if being sad is as worthy as being grateful?

I’ve noticed several posts on social media relating to gratitude and being grateful as we launch into 2015. I made my own contribution offering that the words “I am grateful for _______” (fill in the blank) could be a great way to start the year. I was intrigued by one post’s suggestion to start a gratitude jar that you could put little notes of expressions of gratitude into over the course of the year and then review them at the end of the year. The visual of the growing gratitude in the jar appeals to me.

Having a gratitude practice can be considered a positive way to be in the world and it is often described as part of being mindful or present to what is unfolding in your life. Gratitude can also help to reframe a difficult or challenging set of circumstances. Seeing the learning in a trying scenario, or appreciating the flashes of positive in an other wise difficult situation can be a way to cope and bring some ease.

I had a recent experience with a holiday not turning out as expected. No where in the vision of the holiday was there a dead car battery, a flood in the basement, a lingering cold, an eye infection, and a sprained ankle.

I’m all for having a gratitude practice but I’ll be honest, I was having a hard time being genuinely grateful when I reflected on the various trials and tribulations of the holiday. Sure I came up with the gratitude words – gratitude for the services being available, gratitude for the sprain not being worse – but the felt sense of gratitude wasn’t there. When I expressed the words, there was a sensation of suppression or denial, like some part of me was not getting the acknowledgement it was needing. The words felt hollow. I was grudgingly grateful!

Here’s a gentle caution around gratitude. Sometimes we’ll focus on the “positive” or “good” as a strategy to avoid what we are truly feeling in the moment. A gratitude practice can be used to try and bypass having to step into expressions of pain, sadness, anger, or frustration. That’s not positive thinking or reframing, that is denial.

Sometimes crap happens. The place to start is to acknowledge the pain, or sadness, the losses – the things that didn’t turn out as expected. They are just as important and worthy of expression as any expression of gratitude. Absolutely step into gratitude when you are ready. I can be thankful for the roadside assistance I was able to call when I needed a boost for the car, but I needed to start by acknowledging that having to call for road-side assistance was not fun and that I felt frustrated and anxious in the circumstances.

So what did I do when I got home from my holiday? Did I give up on the gratitude jar idea? Nope, but I did modify it slightly. It took the form of starting two jars – an Expressions of Gratitude jar and an Expressions of Loss and Grief jar. I reflected on my trip and expressed both the good and the painful. Both jars are important. Both jars are worthy. As a set the jars are a form of self-empathy honoring all of my experiences and the emotions associated with them.

Invitation: when you invite yourself to express gratitude, check-in and see if there is anything else needing expression too. Honor all of your emotions.

Injury versus Illness

Is there a difference in how you hold yourself when you have, say, the flu versus a sprained ankle?

I’ve discovered that I can be far more gentle with myself when I have an illness like the flu. I can give myself permission to be tired, to adjust my eating patterns, to feel a little out of sorts, to put off cleaning.

Sure, I’ll be irritated because things aren’t getting done. I might even notice the dust bunnies more than usual because I feel less energetically able to do anything about them. There however won’t be a voice of “Suck it up and get moving.” I can lie down, read a book, nap, catch up on my Internet viewings, etc. without a sense of guilt or that I’m doing something wrong.

Conversely, I recently sprained my ankle and I notice I’m not giving myself much permission to be anything other than ready and raring to go. You see I don’t see myself as “sick”, therefore part of my belief system has me saying , “I’m okay and able to work so let’s be creative, keep evolving my business, and don’t forget about the vacuuming!” And yet when I try and do those things – like vacuuming (I sure hope my physiotherapist isn’t reading this), or sit at my desk for an afternoon, I’m exhausted and my pain levels shoot up.

In either scenario, whether illness or injury, my body has healing to do.

And maybe therein lies the invitation…

It’s not about getting into inner debates about how sick I am, or how injured I am. Is it a grade 1 or grade 2 sprain? Do I have a high enough fever to warrant not going to the office? Rather it is about hearing my body telling me it needs to heal. Period.

The body knows. It gives signals – low energy or pain or both. We may have shivers, a fever, or a need to walk differently because our foot and ankle don’t move they way they normally do. All of it is our body asking us to go forward gently and hear the call to healing.

And if we’re listening, we’ll “hear” the healing too. The decreasing pain levels. The return of energy. The walking that gets that much less awkward. The sense of more choices. Seeing the sunshine in the day.

So the invitation is to be gentle with yourself, whether you’re ill or injured or both! Listen to your body and what it is asking.

What if your body really is your greatest ally?

Text and Images Copyright © Dr. Catherine Hajnal 2014

How long does healing take?

A recent ankle sprain has me working hard at speeding up my healing.

I’m told “Four to six weeks – at least – before I can begin to think about doing my regular activities.” Forget about it! One, two weeks tops! The brace? The ice? Don’t really need ’em . I can heal better and faster than any statistic. I’m a good healer!

This experience has given me the opportunity to notice my desire to speed up my healing, to put it on a timeline of my choice. A couple of observations:

Our language around healing implies there is both timing and an ending to our healing.

“You’ll be healthy in no time!”

“You’ve been sick/grieving/grumpy/sad for long enough now.” Likely followed by a “Get over it.”

Our many and varied health practitioners frequently give us timelines.

“Give it a week and you should be back to normal.”

Or they offer solutions that imply I can speed up, or at least control my healing.

If I eat the right thing…

If I do the right exercise…

If I take a pill…

If I get a good night’s sleep…

If I meditate…

If I follow these 3 easy steps, I’ll be better in no time.

Many of our policies incorporate timeline and endings as well.

Three days of bereavement leave. Two weeks of sick leave. Six months of extended disability leave.

These messages have us believing we can speed up our healing, that we can, at the very least, control it and make it happen to a certain prescribed time window.

The more work I do facilitating bereavement groups, the more I appreciate that the journey of grief – also a healing journey of sorts – takes as long as it takes. One thing I know for sure – we do not “get over” or “get through” a significant loss in 3 days. Each individual is different. Each circumstance is different. Each set of losses is different. The accompanying journey and its timing is different.

How long does it take to get over someone? (If we ever actually “get over”….)

How long does it take to make a career change?

How long does the process of cancer, spinal fusion surgery, or depression take?

Here’s where I’ve landed as I’ve explored my push to heal faster…

My ankle is going to take as long as it takes. I believe my actions have the capacity to slow down my healing, but I’m realizing they can’t speed up my healing.

I don’t think we have the power to speed up healing – your body , mind, and spirit have their own timelines . Those timelines could entail minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, or a lifetime!

I do however believe we have the power to enhance our healing.

For example our reflective practices, exercise, living life on purpose, being vulnerable, stepping into rather than away from our emotions – all of these have the potential to encourage and enliven our healing. This is in no way an exhaustive list – you have your own practices and approaches. Those may include medications, doctors, counselors, coaches, intuitive readers, or not. They may include eating certain types of food or not. Whatever your practices, I don’t believe we can control our healing, but I do believe our actions/choices can be in service of it. Perhaps a subtle, but I believe significant distinction.

Your invitation – to step into life changes, growth, and healing without strict timelines. It is not about speed. It is about being human. It is about allowing.

What if we could gracefully give ourselves the time needed for the “stuff” of life?

Living Your Dash

I can’t remember when I first heard about the poem The Dash by Linda Ellis. What I do know is that every time I read it I renew my desire to live my life on purpose – to continue to do work that feeds my soul, to do one thing a day that scares me (encouraging my evolution), to step into the emotions that feel difficult or uncomfortable, to let the good stuff sink in including expressing gratitude and love, and to see the possibility in whatever is showing up in my life.

Here’s the general gist of the poem. (I encourage you to read it in its entirety here.) On a tombstone there is a beginning date and an end date. In between those two dates is a dash. That tiny dash represents the fullness of your life. The question the poem raises is what do you want to do with your dash?

The intention here is not to instill fear of the end-date (the second date on your tombstone). Stirring up panic and a sense of scarcity of time is not the vibe I personally want to have clouding my dash. The reality however is we generally don’t know when our end-date is coming. We imagine living a long and fruitful life and yet anything could happen.

Here’s the approach I’ve taken. I’ve asked myself what do I want to be doing now so that if I found out I was terminally ill and going to die within a month or two I would have some degree of ease because I had been living my life on purpose, because I had been making choices in awareness of the reality of not knowing when the end will come. I don’t think it is possible to live without regret (the words that come of my mouth some times – yeesh!), yet I do think it is possible to minimize regret through actions like vulnerability, compassion, empathy, and a willingness to ask for re-do’s or acknowledge mistakes.

Do the people you love and who matter the most to you know it through your words and actions?

Is the work you are doing feeling your spirit – does it make your heart sing?

Are you learning from and in the discomfort that life gives?

Are you being gentle with yourself? Do you acknowledge your self-worth?

Are you having fun?

I ask these questions not to invoke shame or a sense of “not enough”, rather they are invitations to reflect on how you are living your dash. You are worthy and enough no matter how you are living your dash. AND you have agency in how you live your dash. I realize sometimes it can feel like you have anything but power and possibility in your life. This is the gentle reminder that there is always choice. That you can bring “creator” energy to your daily life.

Dream like you’ll life forever. Live as if you’ll die tomorrow. ~James Dean

I’ll be speaking on this topic on Sunday February 23rd as part of the service at the Centre For Spiritual Living Vancouver. Please join me if you are interested in reflecting on how you live your dash. [11 AM Creekside Community Centre, Olympic Village, Vancouver]

Life is ONE BIG IMPROV

Think about where you were and what you were doing exactly one year ago. Did you know then what you would be doing right now? Did you know then what life was going to bring your way in the last 12 months?

Maybe you had an inkling. Or you set some intentions so you had a rough idea of what you were hoping you’d be doing and where you’d be on the journey of life right now.

But for the most part, we have no way of predicting with clarity exactly what life will hold. Let me speak for myself anyway – I generally have no idea what I’m going to be doing a year from now. Yes, I have a plan. Yes, I set intentions. And when I launch those intentions out into the Universe I always add “This or something better.” I’m open in my life to those things that are nowhere on my horizon right now. I’ve come to love those things – those people – those possibilities – that I can’t image in this moment.

Let me give you an example. I’d just finished my swim at Kits Beach Pool on Saturday late afternoon and was contemplating leftovers. Checked my phone and there’s an invite to dinner.

Everyday I read something or get a call or email from someone that takes me to an idea, a website, a possibility that wasn’t on the horizon at all before that moment. And here’s the thing, I want to fully step into those moments. I want to say yes to those moments. I wanted to say YES to dinner but….

Sometimes the voices of NO are way louder than the voices of YES. Now sometimes a NO truly is a NO. But sometimes, and for me often times, the NO is accompanied by the voices of

I can’t do that.
Not possible.
I don’t have experience or the skills.
I’m scared.
I’m not creative enough.
I’m not ________ enough. Submit your descriptor here!

In other words the NO is accompanied by some form of resistance. Sure that resistance is my friend – its trying to keep me safe – but gall darn it – what if that resistance is starting to hold me back?

In my dinner example, the first voices, when I received the invitation were:

I’m in yoga pants and my hair is wet – I’m not dressed for a dinner.
I don’t have anything with me. I’ll be showing up empty handed.
I don’t know these people that well.
The text came in over an hour ago. They’ve probably already started.

I stepped in guided by the principles of improvisational theatre or “improv”. I expressed some of my fears to my potential host. She said come, just come. So I showed up empty handed with wet hair and yoga pants. Met new people. Had a great time! Life gave me an offer, or a gift as it is often referred to in improv, and I said YES to it.

If you’d like to learn more about the principles of improv and how you can use them purposefully to live more fully in your life – to say YES to the possibilities that come along – come play with me in Douglas Park in Vancouver this August. For four consecutive Thursday evenings I’ll be sharing the principles of improv, we’ll be playing some improv games, we’ll be relating it to life, and we’ll be having FUN! I’ll be teaching a more formal workshop on this in September, and for now, come discover and have fun. Say YES – to one evening or all four! Notice any resistance and come anyway. When you started reading this blog you didn’t know you’d be doing improv in Douglas Park in August…

Details of the August Improv in the Park available here…

Love is…

How do you define love?

I was asked to give a talk at Unity of Vancouver earlier this month. The theme, given to me by Unity, was Love. As part of the preparation for my talk I asked myself “What is my definition of love?” Love is one of those words that we see everywhere, used in all kinds of contexts from “I love chocolate,” to “Love is life force energy,” to “Love hurts!”

My start was to define love as emotion and things evolved from there! I’m not going to give away where things ended up – you’ll have to listen to the talk for that (a big tease I know!) – but I will say that my definition was inspired by ideas from:

meta-physics and the New Thought Movement – and in particular a book entitled The Twelve Powers by Charles FIllmore. I focused on the two soul powers of love and wisdom.
the belly brain (the seed of your wisdom power perhaps…) and the heart brain (the seed of your love power perhaps…) – two concepts referred to in the context of Interpersonal Neurobiology.
a fun website I explored called www.canyoudefinelove.com.
many poems, words, and songs on love from the likes of Rumi, John Denver, Deepak Chopra, and more!
images of love from Gaping Void – here’s one of my favourites.

I hope my talk inspires you to connect with and listen to love – in all its shades and hues. You’ll find the talk here (mp3)…

P.S. Came across many jokes/sayings about love in my exploration as well. This one made me smile:

Do you believe in love at first site? Or should I walk past again?