Thank you! And I hope all is well with you and with everyone at Integrity House!

Eager to hear how it goes! I've not attended but it's definitely been on my radar. So let me know. And thanks!

So beautiful ... thank you.

Hi Annemarie, I can't begin to speculate why different folks can or can't be vulnerable - I can barely figure out why I have trouble with vulnerability when I do. But your thoughts seem pretty compelling, especially when you suggest that beneath anger, violence and depression may lie deep wounds that deserve our compassion and love, rather than disgust. Decades ago I worked in juvenile court and child welfare at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. I learned the addicted mothers who were losing their kids had experienced traumas in their own childhoods; almost all had be sexually abused and/or were raised by parents with active alcoholism or drug addictions, were neglected, many physically abused. Psychologists found these mothers -- despite their chronological adult age -- had emotional ages of around 8-9 years old. Those facts completely altered my perceptions of the courts and child welfare scene. The judge assumed she was talking to a grown woman about the steps necessary to get her kids back -- get a job, find a stable apartment, stay in treatment. But, in fact, the woman standing before that judge was emotionally as immature as any normal 3rd grader, still confused, battered and longing for the adults to take care of her, for the world to feel safe & make sense. We are always accountable for our own thoughts, actions, words and decisions. (And I do believe each of us can find ways to soften our own selves, open up to safe vulnerability in ways that feel good.) But before passing judgment on others -- or offering either punishment or help -- it's best if we know where they're coming from. Thanks. Jeanne

Thanks!

Perhaps it's a sign of success, instead? That the depth, soul and vibration of the conversation suddenly exceeded the existing technological amps? Or the richness of the full community could no longer stay contained within the designed small groups, a weird kind of breaking through the veil? I'm so sorry I couldn't be on, but eager to access the mp3 or transcript, look forward to the next one, and so grateful for your efforts!

Hi David, Loved your comment that I talk about energy work as if it were real -- I do I do I do believe it's real (which can make for entertaining conversations, particularly with my scientific and physician friends!) Sounds like you have an excellent massage practice and clientele. I know several other massage therapists who share similar approaches -- with exceptionally loyal & enthusiastic clients. I don't get the resistance, frankly. But then there are so many things about modern life I don't understand. Thanks for reading & keep in touch.

Congratulations! Unfortunately I'm scheduled elsewhere on April 1 -- can folks access a recording, even if I can't participate? And I'm so looking forward to future Conversations. Thanks so much for leading this initiative!

Love this!

Thanks for your comment and I enjoyed looking around your site - very cool work. I've been hooked on homeopathy since my daughter was a toddler (now she's 18) and this little sugar pill immediately cured an ear infection resistant to 3 previous antibiotics. Even her pediatrician marveled at the results. I've since studied homeopathy and many other energy healing systems. (I have a couple of other related posts under "alternative route" category). The marketing disaster (great description!)? It's a different paradigm and philosophy; there's no concept or language for energy in Western medicine. Western medicine doesn't incorporate energy systems, anatomy, physiology, pathology, diagnosis, treatment ... it just doesn't fit so it's understandably really hard to incorporate or understand it. Makes it difficult for energy systems to shove into current double-blind study designs, too, since energy treatments are far more individualized, tailored and non-diagnosis driven. Plus, I find just as some meds don't work with some folks, some energy treatments don't work with some people. My daughter & I have fabulous luck with homeopathy, but some friends have no success at all. And finally, the thing that makes energy treatments so magnificent is also the thing that turns them into marketing disasters: the right remedy is so subtle, so gentle, so profound that it leaves me without any memory of having the problem in the first place. It's not just that my allergies subsided; it's as if I never had allergies in the first place. Which makes it really easy to forget or dismiss that perhaps it was those little, inconsequential sugar pills that did the trick.

My blessings, heart and love to you.

Beautifully said.

Thanks, Lou. I'll pass it to Debbie, too, who came over this morning way dejected.

Paul, Thanks for reading & commenting! And would love to hear more about your continued commitment & efforts to live deliberately in a complex, fast-paced world. I find my priorities and my sense of presence are sharpening each moment -- my list of what's important shrinks rapidly and I'm increasingly focusing only on 1 things at a time. Not even by choice, necessarily -- to do otherwise just makes me so dizzy these days! I appreciate getting to know you, too!