You may think from the title that this post is about being selfish or taking advantage of people. It’s actually about learning to love more. And it’s not written for sadists or manipulators; it is for caretakers and co-dependent types. We each have different styles of loving, and with them, comes different healing work toContinue reading “Don’t Be Afraid to Hurt Those You Love”
Seeing My White Privilege
I don’t like the word, “privilege.” It connotes the idea of something better, something earned; and whiteness is neither. But the phrase #whiteprivilege has proved useful in explaining the differences in daily experience between people who are white and people of color. This is an essay I wrote several years ago under the title, “WhyContinue reading “Seeing My White Privilege”
Beginning to Breathe
As our world grinds to a halt – Flights canceled, production stopped, commutes erased – Our planet, for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, Reverses the flow and begins to breathe. She is healing, shedding, transforming. And this virus, ironically, attacks the human lungs. We gasp for air. What do we do now? AreContinue reading “Beginning to Breathe”
Kol Nidre
My Grandpa Abe almost never set foot in a synagogue, but the one time of the year when he took pride in climbing the steps of the bimah was on Yom Kippur Eve. It was then that he played the mournful melody of the Kol Nidre on his bass for our whole congregation to hear.Continue reading “Kol Nidre”
Nelson
“You’re one of us,” Nelson said. I looked at my friend, equally surprised by the compliment and bewildered by the spin of his words. I had accepted the epithet, “gringa,” long ago; I knew I wasn’t really one of the Afro-descendent or indigenous Chachi people, the two ancestral groups living in that region of theContinue reading “Nelson”
You Don’t Have to Believe in Yourself
On really hard days, if I’m lucky, the theme song to the children’s show, “Arthur,” pops into my head. “Just believe in yourself,” a voice sings, “Well, that’s the place to start…” I smile, feel refreshed, and keep running up hill, ready to face my demons and what felt, just a moment before, like theContinue reading “You Don’t Have to Believe in Yourself”
Between Terror and Enlightenment
I once read the Tao Te Ching from cover to cover in a single afternoon. Sucked in and mesmerized, I had no words; simply, the truths of the Chinese classic resonated with my soul. This is how it is to flow with the universe. I emerged from my office as if to another world, myContinue reading “Between Terror and Enlightenment”
Life with No Teacher
Do you crave someone who has all of the answers? A teacher who will step in and tell you what to do? Or, at the very least, someone to offer guidance, to tell you when you have strayed from your path, and when you are back on? – I have often wished I had suchContinue reading “Life with No Teacher”
Looking Forward, and Looking Back
This picture is from 2004, the year our middle child was born. I am looking forward, and I am looking back. That is the essence of this blog, the Emerald Shaman. What essential pieces of our humanity have we lost moving forward, and how do we recover them? How do we reconstruct them in newContinue reading “Looking Forward, and Looking Back”
Seeing Healing
Last month, I brought home from my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah reception three plants wrapped in foil. Since our apartment is small, I left them on the balcony. I thought it would be a good way to let Nature take care of the plants and not to have to worry much about them. After a fewContinue reading “Seeing Healing”
Alyssa Luboff, Ph.D. 