SARAH BOWEN - CREATURELY REFLECTIONS
Spirituality & Health|January/February 2023
(REV) SARAH BOWEN directs the Animal Chaplaincy Training Program at Compassion Consortium. Enroll at animalchaplaintraining. com.
SARAH BOWEN - CREATURELY REFLECTIONS

Aging with Cats and Dogs

“BUT MY DOG WILL NEVER DIE!” she tells me. I take a deep breath. “Wouldn’t it be great if there was no death?” I say gently. I censor myself before I add: I don’t know where we’d put everyone, though. Death is necessary to allow more birth to happen. Instead I offer, “Would you like me to help you plan for the best worst day?”

Let’s face it: Human/animal relationships are never long enough for our liking. And animal loss hurts. About 20 percent of people choose not to get another pet because of a prior pet loss experience. We are often undersupported when it comes to animal grief, and that has a lasting impact.

The final days of a pet’s life can be messy. Moreover, surprises happen as we age, and we wonder what will happen to Fido or Fluffy when we die. One of our readers recently asked Rabbi Rami about this, observing, “My dog will outlive me. I have no one with whom to leave her when I die, and I can’t imagine putting her in the pound. I’m thinking of having her put to sleep and burying her with me. What do you think?”

He answered her in his column in the Nov/Dec issue, asking a related question of his own, “What if your dog were to die before you? Would you have yourself put to sleep and buried with her?” Rami reflected that when we live with an animal, it is our job to give that being “the best life possible whether or not you are part of it.” Our editor, Ben Nussbaum, asked me if I’d be willing to weigh in, too. I quickly agreed.

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FLERE HISTORIER FRA SPIRITUALITY & HEALTHSe alt
Let's Not Limit Nature- According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, nature is first defined as "the external world in its entirety," with etymological roots from multiple cultures and originating meanings
Spirituality & Health

Let's Not Limit Nature- According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, nature is first defined as "the external world in its entirety," with etymological roots from multiple cultures and originating meanings

The ancient Greeks had no word for art. Many indigenous people have no word for religion. Art and religion were inherent to human life until outsiders needed to critique and study these concepts-so they named them. The legacy of the word nature is similar. We speak about nature as if we are separate from itas if, like a starkly delineated shadow on a sidewalk, you can stand with one foot in nature and one foot outside of it.

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3 mins  |
July/August 2024
Recognizing and Tuning Into Medical Intuition- How one woman learned to trust her instincts and heal her body
Spirituality & Health

Recognizing and Tuning Into Medical Intuition- How one woman learned to trust her instincts and heal her body

How one woman learned to trust her instincts and heal her body. According to Wendie Colter, founder of The Practical Path (a trademarked intuitive development program for health professionals) and author of Essentials of Medical Intuition: A Visionary Path to Wellness, intuition permeates every aspect of our lives. Some call it a gut instinct. Others call it a hunch. Still others receive messages from their higher self. But whatever the name, that sense of knowing, feeling, or sensing can guide us toward healing.

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7 mins  |
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The Neuroscience of Getting What You Want - Manifesting is a process whereby you utilize the power within yourself to have an intention occur that ultimately is not pure self-interest,"
Spirituality & Health

The Neuroscience of Getting What You Want - Manifesting is a process whereby you utilize the power within yourself to have an intention occur that ultimately is not pure self-interest,"

Manifesting is a process whereby you utilize the power within yourself to have an intention occur that ultimately is not pure self-interest," .What it takes to hit all your goals is a fierce dedication to your quest over time and that means sinking your goals so deep into your subconscious that your conscious mind automatically tracks paths to take you to those goals like a bloodhound on the scent of synchronicities.

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TIME TO TAKE THE RISK
Spirituality & Health

TIME TO TAKE THE RISK

We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.-Hildegard of Bingen, 12th-century Benedictine mystic, medical practitioner, writer, and composer

time-read
2 mins  |
July/August 2024
The Essence of FRIENDSHIP
Spirituality & Health

The Essence of FRIENDSHIP

A DEEP DIVE INTO WHAT MAKES THE BEST FRIENDSHIPS

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7 mins  |
July/August 2024
QUEEN DIAMBI KABATUSUILA SHEDS A NEW LIGHT ON AFRICA
Spirituality & Health

QUEEN DIAMBI KABATUSUILA SHEDS A NEW LIGHT ON AFRICA

In 2016, before she became queen of the Bakwa Luntu people of the Dimbelenge territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Queen Diambi Kabatusuila was a 48-year-old therapist going through a difficult divorce, living in Boca Raton, Florida, and having a recurring dream about an old woman in an African village.

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5 mins  |
July/August 2024
Over the MOON About Helping Animals (and Their People)
Spirituality & Health

Over the MOON About Helping Animals (and Their People)

Since I was a child, I've had a ritual: Every night, I go outside and search the sky for the moon and stars. I marvel at the magnificence of a dark, crisp, clear, midnight blue sky and its symphony of constellations, occasional meteors, and the glorious moon herself-each illuminating the vastness. This simple practice always gives me the deepest peace and centeredness. It aligns my internal compass every night before bed.

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6 mins  |
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ENLIGHTENED PERSPECTIVES: AMANDLA STENBERG CHANNELS 'THE FORCE'
Spirituality & Health

ENLIGHTENED PERSPECTIVES: AMANDLA STENBERG CHANNELS 'THE FORCE'

Journalist KAREN BRAILSFORD was over the moon when actress and musician AMANDLA STENBERG agreed to meet her over Zoom for this heart-to-heart about spiritual matters for Spirituality & Health: A Unity Publication. Brailsford, a lifelong seeker who feels blessed to be Stenberg's mother, once captioned an Instagram photo of her daughter with Michael Bernard Beckwith of the Agape International Spiritual Center: \"When your master teachers run into one another at a Hollywood event.\" Brailsford says she has learned a great deal from each one.

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10 mins  |
July/August 2024
Unlikely Lightworkers from Liverpool
Spirituality & Health

Unlikely Lightworkers from Liverpool

The Beatles were more than musical masters-they were spiritual pioneers.

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6 mins  |
July/August 2024
ANTI-RACISM IS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Spirituality & Health

ANTI-RACISM IS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

GROWING UP in very charismatic and evangelical Christian spaces, I was told that the Devil's greatest trick was convincing us that he didn't exist. I feel a similar vibe when it comes to the big three systems of oppression-capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy-in New Thought and other spiritual spaces. These systems managed to convince some of us that they don't exist, we are immune from them, talking about them isn't helpful, or we will overcome them just by doing our spiritual practices.

time-read
2 mins  |
July/August 2024