Articles

Welcoming Prosperity and Growth

By Beth O'Hara - February 2010

The transition from winter to spring is a time for creating new beginnings and fresh practices.  It is a time for incorporating different routines, changing habits, and hatching new ideas.  

Core Emotion of the Heart Types

By Deborah Ooten and Beth O'Hara - December, 2009

Bea Chestnut asked 2 insightful questions:  Why are there so many theories about the core emotion of the heart types, when there seems to be a consensus on the core emotions of the other two triads?  Which of the varied theories is correct or most helpful approach to understanding the underlying experience of the heart types?

As we started exploring these questions, we only came up with more questions.  The largest question is:  Is the Enneagram of Personality limited in its scope and has it gone off course?

Unconditional Love

By Beth O'Hara - May 2009

Unconditional love is something we all desire and aspire to, and yet many of us have rarely or never experience it. Have you ever felt completely loved for who you are without requirements of you to change?

Musings on Aspects of the Self

By Beth O'Hara - July 2009

Ego, Body, Gut, Heart, Mind, Soul, Spirit…We know we have all of these aspects in ourselves, but what do they mean?

School of Life

By Deborah Ooten - August 2009

As we prepare to send our children back to school we might want to visit our own arena for learning, LIFE. As adults we are faced each and every day with opportunities for growing and learning about ourselves. The challenges that come to us are often in the form of attachments to thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The ways in which we relate to ourselves, others and to God often give us a great deal of feedback regarding issues, beliefs, and concerns that we need to shift or change.

Conscious Health and Healing

By Deborah Ooten - June 2009

As I age, my attention goes more frequently to health and wholeness. Many of my friends, colleagues, and family members have begun to deal with illness—specifically, cancer. I am struck with the many different types of cancer and will focus on two to increase our awareness of these two types. I also want to encourage “conscious health and healing” and learning to respect the “inner physician” that resides in each and every one of us.

Letting Go Consciously

By Deborah Ooten - April 2009

Letting go is difficult. Whether we are talking about a season, an old habit or even a relationship, letting go is hard to do. Yet there comes a time in our lives when we know that something must be released for us to continue on the journey to wholeness.

Recover, Renew and Regenerate

By Deborah Ooten - March 2009

Spring is the time that we begin to recover from the darkness of winter, renew our commitment to life and regenerate our desires for healthy and soulful living. When we think about 2008 and the difficulty and division that was generated nationally and globally, we can certainly see that recovery, renewal and regeneration are in order for the healing of the individual, community, nation and globe in the year 2009.

The Holy Ideas

By Ron Esposito - March 2009

The ideas of Holy Perfection, Holy Will, Holy Law, Holy Origin, Holy Omniscience, Holy Faith, Holy Plan, Holy Truth and Holy Love are cornerstones of the mystical tradition that cut across all boundaries and dogma to reveal what is Real.

Response Versus Reaction

By Deborah Ooten - February 2009

Relationships of any kind often have moments of difficulties. Many of these difficulties arise from a type of reactivity that occurs in each one of us. Reactions arise from body, mind, or heart centers of the individual. The reaction comes from that aspect of ourselves that we call the personality or the ego. The personality or ego is a defensive structure that we develop and put into place by the time we are about seven years old and then we spend the next 45 years or so perfecting the ego. Carl Jung says that after the first 50 years of our lives we attempt to disengage the ego/personality so that we can then interact with each other in a way that is more in line with our God Self or Higher Self.

The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues

Book review by Ron Esposito - February 2009

Maitri, in addition to being the author’s last name, is a Buddhist term for loving kindness for oneself, the prerequisite of compassion of others.

Reflections and Resolutions

By Deborah Ooten - January 2009

The New Year is generally a time to reflect back over the previous year, taking stock of what we have accomplished and reflecting on what we will work on to continue our growth. I believe it is best to organize the way we reflect into three categories or centers of being: body, mind and heart (or soul).

Holiday Giving and Receiving

By Deborah Ooten - December 2009

In Seven Laws of Spiritual Success, Deepak Chopra says “The universe operates through dynamic exchange…giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And in our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe (God) circulating in our lives.”

Holiday Relationships Made Easier

By Deborah Ooten - November 2009

As we go into the holiday season, the most difficult thing to manage can often be our relationships with one another, whether we are relating to our spouse, primary partner, children, parents or friends. Some basic rules of engagement are important to keep in mind as we eat, drink and make merry over the next couple of months.

Deepening Consciousness Through the Body

By Beth O’Hara - October 2008

We have 3 centers of intelligence: the head, the heart, and the body. Increasing our consciousness is dependent on observing the habits and deepening our awareness of each center.

Conscious Play

By Deborah Ooten - October 2008

The fall season is approaching and with it comes the need to reflect on how we play and prepare ourselves for this transitioning time of year. This is a time of winding down just before we begin to build back up for the holiday season. Adult play is sometimes very complicated and hard to achieve in our fast paced, striving centered culture.

Natural Cycles of Life

By Deborah Ooten - September 2008

Like nature, people cycle through distinct seasons. Autumn is the season of "harvest" - it is a time when we turn our attention inward to reflect on what the year has brought us so far. It is also the time to take stock of what we need to carry us through the winter.

Building Awareness with the Enneagram

By Ron Esposito - August 2008

The Enneagram has been my main tool for self-study and spiritual growth over the past few years.  It is a psycho-spiritual personality assessment tool that shows the roadblocks that get in the way of experiencing wholeness with myself, others and God.

Balancing Work, Play and Self-Care

By Deborah Ooten - June 2008

At times, our lives take on a momentum of their very own and we live life at top speed. It is vital that we begin to slow down, take stock of how we spend our time and energy and look at what life has to offer us. Three areas of life: work, play and self-care, must remain in balance for us to be in optimal health.

Love

By Deborah Ooten - February 2008

The month of February often conjures up the word LOVE. I wonder if we even know what the word means. We sometimes say things like, "I love my beer," or "I love gardening." To me this seems like a watering down of a very deep and meaningful expression of a sometimes rational and sometimes not-so-rational feeling.

Pathways to Serenity

By Ron Esposito - May 2008

Serenity: A feeling of calm; untroubled without worry, stress or disturbance.

Serenity, like happiness, is a by-product.  We can become more serene by practicing a number of mental and spiritual attitudes.  Like planting a garden, we will reap what we sow in consciousness.  Plant watermelons, get watermelons…  

John of God

By Deborah Ooten - September 2007

I usually don’t say “yes” to things that are really outside my comfort zone. But I agreed to visit John of God, in Brazil. Little did I know what would occur, or the healing I would experience.