Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Saying Goodbye
“Goodbye.” What feelings, thoughts, images, or experiences come to mind when you see that word? Depending on the context, “goodbye” can take on a lot of different meanings. “Goodbye” can signal a temporary parting, or it can represent something more permanent. And when it represents a more permanent situation, saying goodbye can carry bittersweet feelings.…
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Being a Wounded Healer
Having known pain, I can enter into the dark, inner places without fear. Having walked through pain, I know the light of healing guides the way. The Wounded Healer is an archetype which describes a person who is effective at bringing healing and empathy to others because they themselves have recognized and healed from their…
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Embodiment of Sound
Like all of us, I don’t always practice what I preach. Doing what I do for a living, I know about the healthful benefits of making music and how vocalizing is an effective way of relieving stress. Yet I don’t always practice that for myself. But today was different. Today I remembered to create time…
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Examining A Transpersonal View of Aging
For the past month or so I’ve been gradually reading the latest issue of The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, which happens to be devoted to the concept of transpersonal gerontology. I’d never heard of this concept before, and it has been a slow and steady process going through the issue as I’ve been finding each…
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Inspiration in Solitude
How often do you feel alone? How often are you actually alone? When you feel alone, what do you do? When you are alone, how do you spend that time? I ask these questions simply to make a distinction between one’s sense of feeling alone, as opposed to being alone. The latter experience of “alone”…
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Playing with Shadow
Shadow. What comes to mind when you think of that word? You may envision a shadow that is created when the path of a direct light source is obstructed by a physical object, but what I’d like to share with you today is the psychological understanding of “shadow.” In psychology, shadow is a concept that…
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Balance Within Resistance
Balance. For many people this seems to be ever elusive. What does it mean to have balance in one’s life when there are *so many things* to do? Between possible family responsibilities and professional obligations, how does one find time for themselves? And in those perhaps seemingly rare instances when one does find themselves with…
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The Quality of a Life Well-Lived
“Quality of Life” is a topic that is often on my mind as a result of the work I do in hospice. As a music therapist working with those who are at the end-of-life, I use music to provide physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual support to people during the last months, weeks, days… sometimes hours…
Got any book recommendations?