In a world that is becoming increasingly virtual, how do we connect and sustain mutually supportive social relationships with each other? I returned to UBC, my alma mater, to give a workshop for professors and students of the Faculty of Language &...
Experience writing as a catalyst for personal growth, creative self-expression and mutual support. Discover a place of connection and belonging in a circle of creative inspiration and compassionate witness. Through the four practices of Writing Alone Together, you...
A human being is a part of a whole, called by us “universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison...
In March, I was invited to UBC to participate in a panel on “Jobs Outside Academia” for students in the faculty of education. A friend and colleague, Heather Duff, suggested to the organizing committee that I be a part of the conversation because of the...
I give births. I enjoy giving births. Helene Cixous Everything is alive now. Spring brings permission to begin, again. A fresh perspective, as if we could be virgin, (re)newed. This past weekend saw me fulfill a dream, long ago hatched. A dream begun inwhen I first...
This week’s post is a favourite passage from Nancy Houston’s exquisite novel An Adoration, in which the character Fiona says: Mama claims that people can’t exist in and of themselves, they’re a patchwork of everything they’ve seen and done, their heads are teeming...
In this peaceful place time slowsdownwith onestepafter another nowhere to gobut here Hear the flow of breath creek, life Finda spot to rest and write whatever comesfrom presence, memory Hold gentlyas if the soul has already leapt Listen a...
The middle of September and I have finally found my way back here. A business mentor of mine with whom I recently reconnected when I was surprised by her presence at a friend’s dinner party in Kelowna a few weeks ago expressed glee at the mention of my chosen respite...
I can hardly believe that it’s done! I am now officially Dr. Ahava Shira or Ahava Shira, PhD. In preparation for my defense, I sat a 7-day silent meditation retreat at Stowel Lake Farm here on Salt Spring with teacher Adrianne Ross. The silence was gorgeous,...
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