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“Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand.”
~Patti Smith

Welcome to 2022 - we have a new look for the new year and are eager to share it with all of you. Check out the re-vamped website here and let us know what you think. Feel free to share this newsletter and consider following us on Twitter and Instagram for resources throughout the month - you can find it here and here.

As we face another winter surge and all of its challenges, community will be our salvation.

In this recent profile of Dr. Oz you can see how our pervasive death anxiety and denial is exploited in the pursuit of some faux 'optimal health' goal. This article also highlights the intersection of that with the denial of our connectivity to others. The both/and of the individual embedded in community gets twisted into a more commercial 'have it your way' approach that leaves us vulnerable to disinformation.

You can find the article here.

Mamie Till-Mobley, mother of Emmett Till, is centered in the first installment of the limited series “Women of the Movement” on ABC. Portrayed by Adrienne Warren, her incredible fortitude in the face of the devastating loss of her young son was an essential spark in the civil rights movement. She insured that her child did not die in vain.

You can read more about the series here.

Maxfield Parrish was an incredibly successful, mostly commercial visual artist at the turn of the 20th century. His illustrations, often for calendars and advertising promotions, were saved and hung on walls by countless people who were enchanted by his unique use of rich colors and depiction of worlds that captured the imagination, bringing a spark of joy to everyday life.

You can find more about him here and see some of his work here.

BJ Miller, the hospice and palliative care specialist, talks with Oprah Winfrey as part of the Super Soul conversations. He speaks to the lingering energy in the room after a death and the pervasive normalcy of the experience if we can be present for it.

You can find it here.

Developed as a protocol by Harvey Max Chochinov and his team, dignity therapy "...speaks to that need to find meaning in life and does it in a very structured and successful way." At the moment it is practiced mostly in Canada due to the challenge of incorporating multiple conversations into US hospice protocols.

You can read more about it here.

One of the best ways to insure our happiness is to practice kindness - both to others and ourselves. Make a practice of noticing how you speak to yourself as a start and consider if you would talk to anyone else that way. Sending compassion our own way can change the world one moment at a time.

You can find out more about some of the research here.

There is always uncertainty in life, generally more than we like to admit. In these pandemic days as our sense of equilibrium is repeatedly rocked it's good to remember Jung's counsel that "...if you do with conviction the next and most necessary thing, you are always doing something meaningful and intended by fate."

You can find further amplification of his thoughts on this approach here.