Dr. Howell’s Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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Love at First Sight
November 21, 2023
Sometimes, when we see an object for the first time, it captivates us. Though the thing is not a person, place or experience, when we first see it and it attracts us, this is a type of love at first sight. If the love comes from our soul instead of our ego, then that object represents a quality deep within us.
Love at First Sight
November 20, 2023
When you do something for the first time and fall in love with it, chances are it is an aspect of your soul. Yes, the activity you engaged in resonated in your depths and made you more expansive, full and happy.
Love at First Sight
November 19, 2023
We sometimes fall in love with places at first sight. We come upon the site; it feels beautiful and we want to stay. We may feel awe, excitement or enchantment. We may feel like we’ve been there before, even though we haven’t. We love its terrain, atmosphere, culture, architecture, nature and scenery. We love the people and may even feel like we have come home.
Love at First Sight
November 18, 2023
We are attracted to many different people, activities and situations. Some are fleeting or short-lived, some remain all our lives. Our deepest attractions remind us of our profound connection to our soul and to the Divine. Therefore, they are priceless.
Love at First Sight
November 17, 2023
Sometimes, we are attracted to or even fall in love with people, situations and things that are not as they seem. In these instances, our ego is drawn to the appearance of a person, situation or thing. Remember, the ego’s perceptions are colored by its story, desires and fears.
Love at First Sight
November 16, 2023
Have you ever been in love with something right off the bat? I was invited to a cardio class at the YMCA called Zumba about fifteen years ago. The music got right into my body and moved me seemingly without exertion. The workout was painless because the fantastic music filled my every cell and transported me to places worldwide. It was love at first move.
Love at First Sight
November 15, 2023
I was twenty-four, and my friends Tommy and Suzan Armstrong had arranged a blind date with one of Suzan's good friends. It was to be a double date with Tommy and Suzan on a Sunday afternoon. My blind date was a college senior at the time, and we met her at her parents' home.
Abundance
November 14, 2023
Many people’s Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations are abundant with food, family, friends, merry-making and gifts. For many families, there is also an abundance of love. Why? Because when we are with the people we love, our hearts overflow with fullness, affirmation and happiness.
Abundance
November 13, 2023
Instead of instructing us to achieve financial prosperity, Rabbi Jesus tells us how to fill ourselves with the life force. When we receive overflowing love, energy, contentment, enthusiasm and peacefulness, we receive the life force. Of course, we are conduits of this force in our ego state, but once we’re aware of the life force Jesus asked us to seek, to knock for and to thirst for, we have a more abundant life force than the ego alone could ever create.
Abundance
November 12, 2023
Abundance is generally associated with financial prosperity. For example, a family always has more than enough, or a person receives a windfall just when she loses her job. Then there’s the person who always lands on his feet after a financial setback. Abundance seems to flow to them.
Abundance
November 10, 2023
A mindset of scarcity blocks us from abundance. We choose something we value, and we think it is our life’s blood. In scarcity, we focus on accumulating and protecting our most valued things because we fear losing them. Therefore, we stockpile these things to prevent our life’s blood from “hemorrhaging.” Some may call this approach self-reliance, and others may call it isolationist or the silo phenomenon. In any case, the mindset of scarcity thinks that abundance is created only by our own efforts.
Abundance
November 9, 2023
People of conscious faith approach abundance quite differently from people who are primarily ego-driven. Ego-driven folks either work for a constant flow of abundance or complain about a lack of abundance. Neither strategy works. But those striving for conscious faith are aligned with the natural rhythm of the universe. They understand abundance is like the ebb and flow of the ocean's tides.
Abundance
November 8, 2023
So many of us fear scarcity which is, of course, the opposite of abundance. At times, there is real scarcity. For example, in the American Great Depression of the 1930s, jobs, food, clothing and everything money could buy were scarce. Money itself was scarce. The entire world was in a global financial crisis.
Resilience
November 5, 2023
In a trauma requiring resilience, we nurture ourselves unfailingly. We do not distract ourselves from our needs by focusing on the needs of others. In self-compassion, we attend to our needs, and then compassionately extend ourselves to others. In this way, we open ourselves to the love of others and we are affirmed, even in the midst of turmoil.
Resilience
November 3, 2023
We receive and give Divine energy, resources, presence and wisdom. We absorb these gifts and freely let them flow through us to others. We do not withhold ourselves or our soul from others.
Resilience
November 1, 2023
By becoming conscious of the Divine, we manifest our higher self. Through our higher self’s qualities, we adapt to adverse circumstances that our egos alone could never do. So, instead of disintegrating into blaming others, crumpling under the Inner Critic, panicking, losing hope or going into despair, we pull from a treasure chest of spiritual capacities.