Dr. Howell’s Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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Relevance Part 7
February 10, 2025
I have a chair whose leg is broken. You can't tell that the leg has been cracked in two pieces and glued back together. The chair has been very sturdy ever since it was repaired. It's never faltered in the 42 years since its "accident" and repair. Every time I sit in it or look at it, I recall a story held deep in my heart.
Relevance Part 6
February 9, 2025
Walking from my car to the recreational center, four thirteen-ish boys were standing by the bike racks, near the front door. They were talking animatedly. Amid their muffled conversation were spontaneous bursts of laughter. I told myself, "I remember those conversations when I was about thirteen or so — we were learning about ourselves, others, and life. We asked each other questions that we could not ask of our parents or adults. In those conversations, we ‘tried on’ different aspects of ourselves to see what would fly and what wouldn't. We listened to our friends’ stories, learned who they were and how we could relate to them, and we told stories of our own. And we laughed! Oh, how I remember those conversations.”
Relevance Part 5
February 8, 2025
What do we find to be relevant to us? The short answer is anything that helps us is relevant. This would be a straightforward statement to live by, but the clincher is how we interpret the words "we" and "us." Do those words refer to our ego, soul, or both?
Relevance Part 4
February 7, 2025
Some of us are stretched with too many commitments, but we maintain them even if we lack time. We hang in there because they are relevant to us. When we do as many relevant things as possible, it may feel good that we can keep all the balls in the air. But there is a price to pay. And that price can be our sense of happiness and calm — our physical health and well-being. Even our spiritual growth can suffer. Being stretched spreads us too thinly, and we are not present for any of it. We wonder why our lives are so unsatisfying and exhausting even while we do so many wonderful things.
Relevance Part 3
February 6, 2025
At ICB, we receive many responses to online evaluations from people attending our many events. They are thoughtful enough to take their time to evaluate our conferences, workshops, intensives, programs within intensives, online offerings, and our spiritual pilgrimages, to mention a few. When we ask for opinions and ratings for any given program, we usually receive as many types of views as there are respondents.
Relevance Part 2
February 5, 2025
Are you perhaps interested in rock collecting, jewelry, Pomeranians, Brazilian postage stamps, heavy metal music, the BBC news, action figures, or satellites that monitor cloud movements? If not, chances are that these topics are irrelevant to you. But some of them may very well be interesting and, therefore, relevant. It just depends on the things that make up our personal worlds.
Relevance Part 1
February 4, 2025
The word “relevance“ has a curious etymology. Its original Latin root is “relevare,” which means “to lift up again” or “to lighten.” The notion of lifting up or lightening connotes the idea of support. So, if something has relevance, it essentially means it supports something.