All quotes from
Carl & Howard's book
Even as a
prisoner, whether of illness, financial problems, or other circumstances, you
have the capacity to choose your attitude, to transcend suffering, and to find
meaning in life. Choice elevates the
spirit by allowing you to exercise your responsibilities to yourself and your
faith.
Trusting
and loving unconditionally – it’s the task of the beginning, and ultimately
will be the task of the ending.
Rituals
and ceremonies help orient us during crises.
They facilitate connections, helping us to reframe our experience in
more functional ways.
Staying
connected with love is the best safeguard against the fear and hopelessness
that can steal the spirit.
For a
ceremony to be most effective, it must have a clear purpose.
Vulnerability
is simply an opportunity for new learning.
You can
approach contemporary diagnostic and therapeutic procedures as if they were an
invitation to personal growth rather than something out of a medical
textbook. Ceremonializing “routine”
medical procedures expands them into events that invite fuller participation
in, and responsibility for, the healing process.
Growth has nothing to do with adding on; it has to do with letting
go.
Ceremony
is a way to reconnect with the dreams of our lives, to cleanse ourselves of old
expectations, and to make new commitments.
It has
become apparent that healing is complex and mysterious. Pharmaceuticals, surgery, and incantations
all have magical powers. Each has a
unique place in the healing mystery and none stands alone.
