Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the many people who have joined our newsletter list this month (and to the few people we forgot to add in previous months and just added -- sorry about that). We're glad you're here!
Happy Rosh Hashanah! The Jewish New Year started earlier this week and, like the American New Year, it is a traditional time to reflect on the past, ask forgiveness and make amends for any mistakes that were made, and resolve to make any changes necessary in the year to come. The timing of the holiday this year feels quite significant given the economic woes our nation is grappling with right now. But also positive.
No spiritual tradition says to focus all your attention on worrying about your worst possible nightmares. As one of our clients wrote to say to us recently, that's like praying for bad things to happen! Instead, no matter what your spiritual orientation, conventional wisdom is to focus on joy, on love, on faith, on possibility. The highest benefit for all concerned.
Sometimes things have to break down before they get better. We've been grappling with that ourselves these days. If you've been following our blogs you know that Paul's laptop broke, then the fan in the office, then his coffee carafe, and most recently we discovered that the UPS back-up power supply that is supposed to prevent our work from being lost if we have a power outage isn't working either. (That one has probably not worked in quite a long time.)
The upshot of all these breakdowns is that we became aware of issues that needed to be addressed. Habits of behavior we had fallen into, habits of thinking, hidden issues that were there all along. And we've been starting to address these things.
And that's what's happening in our nation today and around the world. It's a good thing! People are starting to pay attention again. Change has already taken place. Actions have been taken. Today's news is that the $700 billion bailout passed the Senate and is going back to the House. Many of us have had strong reservations about this plan but the good news is that if it passes it won't have passed without discussion, without public opinion being heard, and without thought being put into how to put checks and balances into place.
If we learn from the mistakes of the past, and make sure positive actions are taken to ensure we're on the right track, positive possibilities are likely to have come from this situation for all concerned.
Both of us have written several blogs (in our own ways) about the economic and political crisis. Paul's hit on issues of impermanence, how our external environment reflect inner ones, and the existential quandary about half full or half empty cups not addressing the totality of the question. (http://paulhood.blogspot.com/) Sheryl's blogs show her only partly hidden political activist leanings and a few lessons gleaned from her immigrant grandparents. (http://healingcommunication.blogspot.com/)
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WE'RE STILL IN SANTA CRUZ -- STILL AVAILABLE FOR IN-PERSON SESSIONS
We're still needing to find a new home, still investigating possibilities, but we ARE still here and still doing in-person sessions in the same place.
We intend to continue to offer sessions in a professional but comforting private environment where your confidentiality is ensured as it should be with any counseling or professional healing service. From the very beginning of our practice having a setting that respects our clients' privacy has been a very important thing and that's still a responsibility we're taking seriously even in the midst of the changes we're needing to make.
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THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this email with a note saying you like us. It's easy!
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Interested in a session? Send us an email or give us a call at (831) 325-4076.
