Helen House, one of my CTI Faculty colleagues is currently in the ICU in a Michigan hospital suffering from pneumonia. Whenever one of the CTI Staff, Faculty or any of our loved ones is sick we all send prayers and good wishes for their quick recovery. Yesterday, two of our other colleagues decided to turbo-charge these prayers by suggesting that we all pray together at 10 AM PST for a half hour. Immediately, faculty from all over the globe emailed and said that they would participate in the prayer circle at the same time. We just received the good news that Helen’s health is improving specifically after this infusion of loving and healing energy that we offered together this morning. Prayer works! Read the rest of this entry
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Posted March 5th, 2011 by Judith Cohen, MCC, CPCC
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Posted August 11th, 2009 by Judith Cohen, MCC, CPCC
This weekend the members of the class of 1969 at John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview, NY got together for our 40th reunion. Unfortunately, I was not there and judging from the pictures I missed a wonderful event. I chose not to go for several reasons. However, the primary reason was that I was just back in NYC in June and I will have to go back again this fall. I felt that three trips back east in such a short period of time was too much. As it turned out, I got to see several people here on the west coast before they left for NY. I told them to take lots of pictures which they then generously posted on facebook.
My dear friend Jan whom I’ve written about in prior entries here and here visited me this past weekend. We met during our freshman year of college and have been close friends ever since. In 1971, Jan transferred to another college for the remainder of her education. I frequently visited her there and became friends with many of her new friends. One woman in particular named Deb was especially fun to be with and very smart. I would spend time with her whenever I came to visit Jan. Although we have kept up with each others’ lives through Jan, I hadn’t seen Deb in probably thirty years. Coincidentally, Deb ended up being in town at the same time as Jan and the three of us had a reunion this past weekend. Read the rest of this entry
Posted July 4th, 2009 by Judith Cohen, MCC, CPCC
Whenever I think of July 4th, I think of freedom. When I got up this morning I read a bit from Mary Pipher’s excellent new book, “Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World”. I was powerfully moved by this sentence: “Religions are metaphorical systems that give us bigger containers in which to hold our lives.” Although I meditate and have read many books on Buddhism, I’m not officially a Buddhist. However, Buddhism has allowed me to explore the idea and the experience of freedom in a way that I hadn’t previously encountered.
True freedom for me is freedom from my obsessive self-castigating thoughts. My mind produces thousands of these thoughts each day. Mindfulness is the larger container that allows me to notice them and not become one with any single one of them. I’m not often successful in remaining unattached to individual thoughts. They are so inviting, with their magnetic pull toward a seemingly stable identity of me as an insufficient, narcissistic and selfish person. In those moments of ego identification with those thoughts I’m steadfastly not cognizant of any of my altruistic and generous thoughts or actions. I hate myself for not living up to my own ideals and even worse for hurting others by my own insistence on any thought or action that could relate to my own well being. Read the rest of this entry
Posted May 15th, 2009 by Judith Cohen, MCC, CPCC
What’s the big deal about opportunity? The answer lies in its very definition. According to the Random House Dictionary an opportunity is “a situation or condition favorable for attainment of a goal.” The Opportunity Game is played by shifting every situation or condition so that it is favorable for the attainment of some goal that is important to you. Naturally, there are many opportunities that you seek to avoid. Those that deliberately cause pain, injury or death to yourself or others are clearly opportunities to be avoided. However, even in seemingly negative situations there are possibilities to be explored.
The key to becoming masterful at playing The Opportunity Game is to be agile in mind and heart. In the game of life, the rules frequently change, often without prior warning. You must be prepared to catch whatever is thrown your way and run with it to the finish line. Your ability to quickly shift your attitude or perspective about any given situation will afford you far more opportunities for success than if you are stuck in a mindset that doesn’t support you. An old Taoist parable speaks well to this issue:
When an old farmer’s stallion wins a prize at a country show, his neighbor calls round to congratulate him, but the old farmer says, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” The next day some thieves come and steal his valuable animal. His neighbor comes to commiserate with him, but the old man replies, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” Read the rest of this entry
Posted May 12th, 2009 by Judith Cohen, MCC, CPCC
Jan Cook
Dear Jan,
As I write this blog post, you are in surgery, your chest splayed open and your precious heart is in the healing hands of your doctor and surgical staff. May all who are working with you and on you right now experience the deep and abiding love you have for us all and restore your physical heart to its pristine magnificence. Your spiritual heart is and will always be perfect.
Hundreds of people, known and unknown to you are praying for your quick and safe recovery. It is the power and intention of your heart that has called us all forth to bless you, caress you and heal you at this time. I’m reminded of all of the people known and unknown to me who prayed for my cancer recovery and I feel honored to be able to share my healing prayers and wishes with you now.
Our bodies constantly provide opportunities to remind us of our fleeting existence. I keep being awed by the language our bodies use to communicate with us. You who are so loving and compassionate now have an opportunity to heal your “broken heart” by opening your physical heart to your doctors and all the rest of us who send you healing. Life may be fleeting but the love we all share with one another is the womb that births us and surpasses time.
When you awake later today may you truly awaken to your own magnificence. Let go of perfectionism. Let go of having to do it right. Let go of shutting yourself out of your own wise and loving heart. Let your heart continue to be your teacher. Despite its physical imperfections, it has and will continue to serve you well. Allow your heart and mind to join together in the depths of each one of the cells of your body. This sacred union produces wisdom and love; your birthright and your gift to the world.
Continue to remember Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s “Four Worlds Mantra”:
I am holy.
I am clear.
You are loved.
It is perfect.
And so it is!
With love,
J