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The Danger of a Mask: The Judas Flaw
The reason nearly every horror villain wears a mask is that a mask can turn anyone into a monster. Not every mask is monstrous, of course, but the moment we begin to hide our true face, the moral slide has begun. In an American literature course I once taught, I asked the students to choose the one poem that really hit them during the class and write on it. Most of them chose We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar: We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes… They each wrote about the same thing; how every day they had…
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How to Possess Your Soul in Troubling Times
By your patience, possess your soul said Jesus in Luke 19:20 after warning his followers of persecution and hard times. The phrase possess your soul really hit me. After all, my husband was laid off unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago and if anything, I have not felt in possession of myself. Angry, frustrated, and disappointed, yes. Patient? Not particularly. We seem to be living in times where possessing your soul or exhibiting patience is no longer a virtue. The talking heads on cable news interrupt and berate each other nightly, their main purpose to inflame their audience. Patience does not get ratings. Losing it nightly in front of cameras…
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Your Amygdala and Jesus: Setting Your Brain Free
The amygdala, part of your limbic system, is responsible for the flight or fight impulse. For most of us, we simply think this means that some of us are fighters and others of us freeze like deer in the headlights. This grossly oversimplifies the complexity of our responses to danger. In actuality, we each develop a variety of responses to situations, both internal and external. And since our amygdala is often thought to be the seat of our anxiety, we should get to know that part of our brain. In inner healing circles, we call the amygdala “the guardian”. Andrew Miller, who runs Heart Sync Ministries, really pioneered this way…
Healing Through Art & Words
