Dr. Howell’s Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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Make peace with your ego and discover your true path today. The path to wholeness starts now!
Divine Order 3
January 23, 2025
Strange and painful things can happen at any time. Something goes wrong, someone hurts us, or they are disappointed in us, there’s a great loss, we are victims of circumstances beyond our control — these are examples of big things that derail us. But there are also countless small things that do the same, like when someone doesn’t do what they promised, when there’s a fender bender, when we say the wrong thing, when we lose important papers, or even when we are running really late for an important event.
Divine Timing 3
January 16, 2025
The ego fancies itself as being the center of life and that life on Earth began with our ancestors. But that line of thought is flawed by its egocentricity. We tend to think our country's founding was long ago and that Columbus' voyages were way in the past. We picture Christ, Socrates, and other people of history as ancient. They were, but only if we view humanity as the center of the world and its appearance marks the beginning of time.
Revival Part 5
January 11, 2025
There is a lot of talk these days about being present. But there's little that explains what it means to be present. Oh, I know it means to live in the moment, but what exactly is the moment? Is then a moment each second or is it longer? How do we define the "present moment?"
Application Part 4
January 3, 2025
If something is not going right, is amiss, or unsettling, we have choices about handling it. If we take the path of least resistance, it’s usually our ego’s fixation and perception of the world.
Application Part 3
January 2, 2025
The issue of whether or not we apply our higher ideals to our lives is not a new topic. It has been under discussion for centuries. When we do not apply our values to the issues of life, it is because we are absent-minded, out of touch, avoidant, distracted, or enamored with other things. We may be unconscious or, in the worst-case scenario, hypocritical. All of us who fall beneath the saints and angels have been in one of those categories. And this has been true since the beginning of human history.
Application Part 2
December 30, 2024
Our most important project here on earth is to bring our soul to its wholeness. And we do that by growing in consciousness. The more we are aware of ourselves, the world, and the truth, the more we apply that awareness to our concerns, circumstances, and relationships. So, our soul reaches wholeness through the application of consciousness.
Making Peace with the Past Part 7
December 5, 2024
In the Book of Genesis (1:31), after God made everything, it is written, "Then God looked over all he had made and saw that it was very good!"
Making Peace with the Past Part 3
December 1, 2024
When a person says, “I want to redeem myself” or “Let me redeem myself,” they are saying they want a clean slate—they made an error and want to make it good. This means they need to do or give something to “even the score” as it were.
Making Peace with the Past Part 2
November 30, 2024
One of the ways of making peace with the past is to ask ourselves what haunts us and why. Doing this may not be as simple as it sounds because when we invite hurtful memories into our awareness, we naturally re-experience the hurt. For example, many victims of trauma do everything they can to avoid talking about the trauma because it is excruciating to re-visit it.
Making Peace with the Past Part 1
November 29, 2024
We judge our pasts, but we were not the people we are now when we lived that past. Therefore, we tend to judge our behaviors, actions, feelings, decisions, and thoughts of the past by who we are now. Monday morning quarterbacking gives the inner critic a license to judge ourselves harshly. If we try to make peace with our past by judging and punishing ourselves, we do ourselves a disservice. We can experience shame and remorse for past instances, which can weigh heavily. We can also live in the regret that, “If only I had done such and such my life would be far better than it is now.”
Psychology and Spirituality Part 4
November 11, 2024
Spiritual Consciousness profoundly determines the way we think and behave. Our soul sets the tone for our lives. As our deepest self, it knows our purpose and tries to accomplish it. The soul’s still small voice guides us if we listen to it, taking us to the relationships and circumstances that help achieve our purpose. Sometimes, those relationships and circumstances are not pleasant, but they are exactly what we need in order to grow our souls. Barriers to the soul’s expression include the ego’s passion, avoidances, traps, fixations, and an impervious allegiance to its perception of reality. Wars have been fought, and millions have died to defend their perceptions of reality, which may not have been accurate.
Rejuvenation Part 2
Nov. 2, 2024
One of the quickest ways I know to rejuvenate is to go somewhere away from our usual demands and stressors. It may be true "There's no place like home,” but that's true about home's negative aspects too. There is no place like home.
Your Life Story Part 3
Oct. 27, 2024
A Zen koan says, “What did your face look like before your parents were born?” That simple line is a lot to digest. It conveys the counter-intuitive thought that an original face preceded our current one. With that approach, believing that we existed before our physical birth is necessary. Such a thought supports the idea that we are, first and foremost, an invisible soul with its spiritual image.