Addicted to Meaning
Sean M. Swaby
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

"It seems that we are all addicts. Shopping, TV, the computer, technology, the internet, food, coffee and even chocolate have become objects of our addiction. It is hard to find something that we can enjoy without the risk of becoming addicted. One might even wonder if we are all destined to become addicts?..."
(Full Article)

A Little bit of Kindness Helps the Medicine go Down
Daryl Busby, Ph.D.
President, Canadian Baptist Seminary
(ACTS Seminaries, TWU)
Langley, B.C., Canada

"Kindness: this is one of the so-called "Fruits of the Spirit" that constantly eludes me. I can do "kindness" for a while; but then, impatience, weariness, exasperation and downright nastiness take over. Unfortunately, these responses are not included in the list of approved "Fruits of the Spirit"..."
(Full Article)

A New Year’s Reflection:
In the Meantime
05/01/2006
President-Elect's Column
Bill Evans, Ph.D.
Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA

"I often remember how a former professor of mine, the late Dr. Carlyle Marney, once said in class, “most of life is lived in the meantime, and unless one learns to live life in the meantime, one is less than half alive!” What did Marney mean by that?..."
(Full Article)

Beating the winter blues
Eddy Elmer
Burnaby, B.C.

"As the days get shorter and we enter the thick of the winter season, there is no shortage of advice for how to deal with the proverbial winter blues. Turn on the TV, open any newspaper, or browse through any magazine, and you'll be sure to find all sorts of 'quick, useful strategies for lifting your spirits.'..."
(Full Article)

The Buddha on Compassion: An Existential Approach
Chen Yu-Hsi, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Religious Studies
Fo Guang University, Taiwan

"Love and compassion are the two key components of the Four Noble States of Mind revealed by the Buddha. In their eagerness to live a moral life, some Buddhists may regard love and compassion as a moral or ethical norm to live up to, or as a lofty ideal to 'advocate.'..."
(Full Article)

Caught between two cultures
Caroline Fei-Yeng Kwok, B.A., B.E.D., M.Ed.

"...I feel as if I belong to North America and, of course, to Canada in particular. I work here as a teacher of English as a second language and I have friends here. Really, if you ask me where I'm from, I would say that I am from Canada. I am proud of the fact that I am a Canadian. And above all, I'm proud of the fact that I am a Canadian of Chinese origin..."
(Full Article)

Contentment as the Way of Nature: Insights from Taoism
Chen Yu-Hsi, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Religious Studies
Fo Guang University, Taiwan

"Mainstream psychology is not concerned with greed, or excessive desires, as a morbidity that can lead to emotive disorders and mental suffering. Instead, it hypothesizes that the gratification of desires and wants is a necessary condition for mental health and happiness..."
(Full Article)

Discovering the soul and the symphony within the void
Jane E. Nelson MA Student at the Edward De Bono Institute
Malta, Europe

"...At first I listened carefully but time passed and I began to get used to the quiet. But it wasn't quiet, the air was full of sound. I began to turn my attention to what I came to call, the music of the day or indeed the music of the moment. ..."
(Full Article)

The drug experience: Satisfying the yearning for meaning and spirituality
Executive Director's Column - March 2006
Geoff Thompson, Ma, CCC
Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

"I work at the Maple Ridge Treatment Centre, a large residential facility for men suffering from substance addictions. My clients and their families come to us looking for answers, and perhaps their most common question is: Why would anyone use alcohol and drugs if they lead to severe suffering?..."
(Full Article)

Finding Meaning Through Intuition
Cathy Patterson-Sterling MA, RCC
British Columbia, Canada

"Sometimes people are able to recognize their higher purpose or potential for having greater meaning in their lives because they feel moved by their own intuition. Individuals experience their intuition when they have a deeper sense of inner wisdom as to what actions they should be doing..."
(Full Article)

The First Precept: Reverence for Life
Thich Nhat Hanh

"The First Precept is born from the awareness that lives everywhere are being destroyed. We see the suffering caused by the destruction of life, and we undertake to cultivate compassion and use it as a source of energy for the protection of people, animals, plants, and minerals..."
(Full Article)

Generosity is a two-way street
Carolyn Cooke
Vancouver, B.C., Canada

"The most interesting thing about generosity - and one thing I am just now learning - is that there is a generosity at work in receiving as well as giving..."
(Full Article)

The Importance of Empathy
Christine Bruun
Professor, Department of Psychology at Rockford College
Rockford, IL

"The value of empathy is widely recognized. Both anecdotal sources and empirical research provide evidence for its positive effects. The renowned Viennese psychiatrist, Alfred Adler, noted that to have empathy is "to see with the eyes of another, to hear with the ears of another, to feel with the heart of another." This description is markedly different from "sympathy," in which there is distance between the observer and the experiencer..."
(Full Article)

Integrity and Honesty
Célia Maria Leal da Costa
São Paulo - Brazil

"Those two words - integrity and honesty - remind me first of all of my grand-father: A jurisconsult, father of 14 children, throughout his life he has always emphasized honesty and character strength..."
(Full Article)

Life is about letting go
Paul T. P. Wong
Ph.D., C.Psych.
Toronto, ON, Canada
?/08/2006

"Surrounded by mountains of boxes piling from floor to ceiling, I feel like being confined in a prison of my own making. I am now paying dearly for having accumulated so much earthly goods."
(Full Article)

Living with Dignity and Palliative Counseling
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D.
President, INPM
and
Catherine Stiller

"Euthanasia and assisted suicide continue to spark strong emotional reactions and heated debates. Proponents on both sides of the controversy have presented compelling arguments based on individual rights, compassion, medical ethics and societal responsibility..."
(Full Article)

Meaning of Life and Meaning of Death in Successful Aging
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D.
President, INPM

"I can never forget the angry reaction from a number of seniors right after the key- note address on successful aging at a major gerontological society convention. The speaker was a prominent authority on the topic, yet his message was met with disapproval and even anger from a small group of seniors standing close to me..."
(Full Article)

Personal growth through Acceptance and Surrender
Nikhil Gangoli

"One of the most useful concepts to grow spiritually and becoming happier is the method of acceptance and surrender..."
(Full Article)

Pope John Paul II on the Meaning of Life and the Dignity of Suffering
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Coquitlam, B.C., Canada

"Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005. A sea of pilgrims are descending on Rome to pay their last respect to their long-serving, long-suffering spiritual leader. The world is united in celebrating his lifetime extraordinary achievements. Accolades and tributes continue to pour in from all over the world, and significantly, from prominent leaders of other faith traditions..."
(Full Article)

Responsibility
Karen Schultz, author, MA IO-psychology, and Lieutenant Colonel
Vordingborg, Denmark

"When I was practically finished with my BA in psychology and had to take a six-month internship as part of my masters degree, I realized what responsibility means from an existential perspective. The memory is still so crystal clear that I can put a date to that day when I fully realized what existential thoughts are..."
(Full Article)

Reverence for Life
Albert Schweitzer

"I am life which wills to live, in the midst of life which wills to live. As in my own will-to-live there is a longing for wider life and pleasure, with dread of annihilation and pain; so is it also in the will-to-live all around me, whether it can express itself before me or remains dumb..."
(Full Article)

Reverence of Nature and a Higher Power in Indigenous Peoples' Cultures
Rosemary I. Patterson, Ph.D.

"For thousands of years Indigenous people around the world have demonstrated in their cultures and rituals a kinship with nature, gratitude for the bounty of natures' provisions and reverence to a higher power credited with setting this in motion..."
(Full Article)

Spiritual vision and the Meaning of Life: A Reflection
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Coquitlam, B.C., Canada

"...What makes Salvation Army such a great and enduring organization? One of the secrets of their success is their spiritual vision - They firmly believe it is not enough to "take people out of the slums," but we must also "take the slums out of people," as their founder General William Booth used to say..."
(Full Article)

The Stages In-and-Out's of Life
Michael Levy
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.

"...each stage in everyone's life there is always a fork in the thoroughfare and the path they pursue will have a dramatic effect on how they act out their roles. In early child hood there is little choice for most children, as they have to follow their parent's beliefs and traditions..."
(Full Article)

To Make A Difference
Arlene Taylor, PhD
Napa Valley, California, USA

"It was my first night shift on the obstetrical unit, my first hands-on experience outside of clinical labs. As a nursing student I’d recently finished the OB/GYN course work, which made me eligible to work as a nurse’s aide. Such a deal, and I needed the money!.."
(Full Article)

Taking Ownership of Life
Tara D. Miller
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

"Sometimes it is difficult to see our own potential. It is strange to wonder how we get to the place we are at in life, and why it is us, and not someone else. What is it that drives one individual to become successful, and limits another individual?..."
(Full Article)

The true meanings of self-discipline
Steve Wilson
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, USA

"Taken alone the word discipline is often synonymous with punishment. All too often self-discipline is the internalization of some authority exercising raw power. Consequently, we learn to discipline ourselves by beating ourselves up..."
(Full Article)

True; yet Blue
Marie Amos
Chilliwack, B.C., Canada

"When I was a child, my mother said that in order to have a friend one must first be a friend to others. This adage has proven to be selectively true over the years. With every rule there are exceptions, and one can be a friend to others without receiving friendship in return..."
(Full Article)

Where has my Contentment Gone?
Tara D. Miller
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

"If life is a question of contentment, then the answer will be defined by our life's meaning. Too often our hearts, which were once content to find passion in our work, our family, our love, somehow begin to question the meaning of it all..."
(Full Article)