​“It is not nice to fool with mother nature.”
 
In 1977 Chiffon margarine had a very popular ad which featured an often repeated  phase “It is not nice to fool mother nature.”  Of course the claim was that their margarine could not be distinguished from real butter.
 
I remembered this catchy ad this morning while reading the latest news about the reaction to the coronavirus.   In just the time I have been doing my life dance, there has been a lot of progress in extending the life span of humans. Better access to food, amazing progress in medical science, and many other factors have contributed to this fact.  We have not had a virus as virulent or deadly as the coronavirus since AIDS.   Our reaction to the AIDS virus was also much different since it initially seemed to target a section of the population which was not valued by the larger society. HIV also was and is more difficult to transmit than the coronavirus. 
 
We have made great strides in the last 80 years in polluting our air and water as well as destroying the ecological balance in many parts of the world. 
 
In short we have lived as if we can make significant changes in some part of universe without affecting all parts of the system. We like to think that we and not mother nature are in charge.  In other words we think we, like Chiffon margarine, can fool mother nature. Yet, mother nature will continue to remind us that we are not in charge; that we cannot prevent all illness all or events such as tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and fires. 
 
We also cannot ignore certain segments of the population without eventually all segments being affected. 
 
We need to use the visit of the coronavirus to remind us humans:
 

• We are a world economy.   What affects one part of the economic system will eventually affect all parts.
• We cannot extend the life span of humans without supporting a health care system which quickly and efficiently responds to all who need care regardless of income, status, or other factors.
• We cannot treat the environments as if it exists outside of a total system.
• We cannot ignore or prevent the natural evolution of pathogens such as viruses.

 
We can build walls, play politics with tariffs, cry “American First” or in many other ways delude ourselves into thinking that we are self-sufficient and independent of each other and the environment, but mother nature will always let us know, despite the claims of Chiffon margarine, that systems are systems are systems.   All part of the system affect all other parts.  If we want some people to live longer we have  to ensure that all people have access to quality health care and access to good housing, clean water, nutritious food, and a safe environment.
 
If we want to earth to continues to support this life dance we have to stop polluting the air, water, animals and the habitat of animals.
 
If we want to limit the death rate from new illness, we have to build a health care system which is able to respond in an efficient and equitable manner.
 
If we want to avoid the necessity of mother nature limiting the population of the world we may have to take responsibility for limiting the number of births in all parts of the world.
 
Catchy phrases such as that used by Chiffon margarine will not fool mother nature.
 
Written March 18, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 

​Newsflash!
 
It seems that it is easy for us humans to fall into the trap of forgetting  life, at best, is only two minutes long. Not much matters except how well we take care of each other.  Of course I realize that at age 79 it is relatively easy for me to accept that life is only two minutes long.  It was just the other day that I was in first grade wildly in love with my teacher Mrs. Williams and heart broken when she announced she had married another man. Despite  my acute existential angst life went on.  I would experience many joys and disappointments over the years.  Sometimes, if awake,  I would move from disappointment to seeing an opportunity.
 
As schools, companies and other organizations are responding to the coronavirus by increasingly going on line for meetings and classes.  Seth Godin in today’s blog “ The conversation - A short manifesto about the future of online interaction”  suggest that we now have an opportunity to reexamine the purpose and format of meetings. Experts have known for a long time that our ability to attend in meetings in very limited, especially when someone is talking at us and not with us. All too frequently whether in the board room or the classroom someone is talking at us and not with us. Perhaps we are the one talking at people.   Mr. Godin is suggesting that  we have an opportunity to consider having conversations with each other. (sethgodin.com)
 
Once again, I am reminded  when anyone of us are presented with something such as the coronavirus and all the changes which are being made in response  we can either wring our hands and complain or we can embrace the opportunity to be creative and to reexamine our dance of life.   Even for those of us who have a daily practice of being intentional about our spiritual goals for the day it is easy to see and “not see”; to look at situations and events with the same myopic vision  or hear with the same expectations and boxes we have practiced for a long time.
 
What can we learn from the visit of the Coronavirus?   At the very least we can learn or relearn:
 

• The extent our time and energy allocation align with our professed core value system.
• Whether our health care system is designed to serve everyone or just those who are especially privileged, and those at the lower end of the economic ladder.
• The extent we appreciate how our individual and collect behavior affect everyone on the planet.
• If we are clear about the purpose of our educational system.  Is the purpose to teach that success is having more than more neighbor?
• If all or most of our interactions with others is designed to enrich the lives of us and them, to obtain or deliver a service or profit at the expense of others.
• If our goal is to dominate and subdue the earth/universes or to learn how to live in harmony with it?
• What we can learn from each other.
• Who would help us if we were suddenly without financial resources.

 
I can embrace the arrival of the coronavirus as an opportunity to learn how to more effectively live my life in community with others and mother earth or I can wring my hands and miss an opportunity.
 
Written March 17, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                                                   

Mental Health versus physical health?
 
Last week I attended a symposium sponsored by the local Tuberculosis Association.  The symposium included talks on  Current Epidemiology and New Screening  Guidelines for Health Care Workers, Current management of Chronic Heart Failure, and Sleep Apnea.    The symposium was designed primarily for respiratory therapist and others working in a
“medical setting” such as a hospital or a physicians’ office. I may have been the only mental health counselor in attendance. I was questioned as to why I was attending.     I found the conference very educational and valuable because I work with/for individuals in my mental health counseling practice who arrive with a variety of symptoms and diagnoses.   Sometime folks arrive because the physician cannot identify a “medical” reason for the symptoms and assume the symptoms are related to some “mental” condition.     It is my job to attempt to validate that assumption or tell the client and the referring physician that I strongly suspect the symptoms may be related to an unidentified physical issue.  For example. I was seeing someone with a history of depression related to an abusive marriage relationship.   She also had been diagnosed with lupus, sojourns syndrome, and fibromyalgia.   Her depression had not responded to the combination of psychotherapy and medication.  It became so acute that she could not perform  basic tasks.   She was admitted to inpatient psychiatric care so the psychiatrist could explore more aggressive treatment.   After a month of aggressive treatment her depression was worse.  I “thought” that something else might be the cause of her depression. The psychiatrist kept yelling at her about  not “wanting to get well.”  After much pressure from me and her family, tests were finally ordered which revealed an adult hydrocephalic condition.   Surgery was scheduled during which a shunt was implanted.  Soon her depression lifted.  In another case of an acutely depressed patient,  a tumor was hiding behind a bone and, thus, not showing up on the tests.  Eventually the tumor did show up and, luckily, were successfully removed.  The acute depression was soon lifted.
 
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking we have a physical and a mental body.  Yet, we know that thoughts which arise from a physical process are the command center of the body.  The other parts of the body sends messages back to the brain.  It is an interactive system. A man I know who has a history of experiencing events through the lens of fear just called.  He has been working out of town and now has to fly home.  He is physically feeling weak, shaky, and frightened which in turn affects how all organs in his body functions.   When he feeds the fear it gets worse until, if not careful, he will not be able to function.  Shortness of breath, shaking, upset intestinal system,  and possible  headache will be just a few of the physical symptoms of his anxiety which triggers his thought process which increases his anxiety which …
 
I need to remember the same symptoms can be triggered by other medical conditions.
 
I strongly suspect our diagnosis and treatment of those who initially present themselves to a medical doctor and those who present themselves to a mental health counselor could be better served if:
 

• All health care professional remember the body is one interactive unit which exist the context of larger interactive systems
• Taking a good history and practicing active listening is necessary if one is going to approximate a decent educated guess about the cause of the symptoms.
• All health care professionals remember that when those trained as physicians/nurses, NA’s, PA/s and related professions work closely with those who study the body from the vantage point of emotions and thought processes one is better able to approximate an educated differential diagnosis.

 
It is true that if the primary issue is a heart condition one can predict what medications or devices might best  help a particular patient.  It is also true that the state of mind of the treating health care workers and the patient will affect the outcome of the surgery.  Other factors such as family system,  money, racism, sexism, and stressful events will affect the diagnosis and outcome of treatment.
 
Our mental bodies are physical and our physical bodies are mental.   If we want to provide the best possible care we would do well to make sure we are ready to listen to the body of the individual patient, to the system in which the patient lives and works and the perspective of our colleagues.
 
Once a differential diagnosis or diagnoses is made treatment can be provided by appropriately trained specialists working closely with each other.  the patient and his/her family.
 
Written March 16, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 
 
 
 
 

​Sunday Musings – March 15, 2020
 
Just a week ago many of us were busy adjusting to the beginning of daylight savings time.   Although we were certainly aware of the coronavirus and the fact that its visit would increasingly affect our lives in these United States last Sunday was fairly routine.  There was very little talk of school and church closings. The stock market has yet to react to a series of events happening in many parts of the world and few people in the United States were preparing to hoard available supplies of such items as toilet paper.   Even by Tuesday when I attended a lecture at the Ohio County Library and Wednesday when I attended a symposium sponsored by the local Tuberculosis  Association there was a sense of normalcy although there was, among some, an appreciation for the extent of the affect the coronavirus was to have on life in these United States.  By Friday many public events such as symphony performances, plays, conferences and many other events were being canceled.  School closing were announced and many  were apparently preparing for the rapture. Their primary concern seemed to be to ensure that they had clean houses and bodies.   Toilet paper and cleaning supplies flew off the shelf ensuring that many would be found wanting when the rapture comes.   To be sure, no one wants to run out of toilet paper, especially if one is lucky enough to enjoy the wonders of indoor plumbing.  It also make good sense to have supplies to ensure most surfaces are kept free of potential viral germs.  Yet, it was obvious that many were convinced that the rapture selection committee  criteria were to be who could  be the most self-centered and hoard the most.  Stories related to these actions made for many Saturday Night Live type jokes and provided comic relief for many.  Yet,  if one looked carefully many were sharing time, money, and supplies with neighbors.   As school closings were announced neighbors were volunteering to help with child care.  For those whose habit it was to pray to a God of their understanding,  prayer became  an action word.
 
My Grandma Fannie, if viewing the scene from her eternal home in the universe, is surely smiling.   If living she would have had the continuously refilling coffee pot on.   The actions of the Jesus of the New Testament would  have seemed minor compared to her ability to feed hundreds,  if not more, from one loaf of bread and one chicken.    I would, even as child, be awed by her ability to feed and offer coffee to all who stopped to visit for as long as they visited.   I was perfectly aware that money was in short supply since there was secrecy about one’s fiancés. There was no shame to not being able to compete with those who had the big house on the hill overlooking the homes of the lesser ones.  Grandma in her homemade dress using her dish towels made from feed or flour sacks demanded that every day be one of gratitude and sharing; that if one was lucky enough to have some books, music, a radio and some pretty things one did not hoard them or hold them up as a symbol of one’s eliteness.
 
Of course, not everyone was able to understand and accept that all people are equally deserving  of all the resources. Even then, here was hoarding, crime and all the “sins” of excess and self-centeredness that are present today.  It was not even close to a perfect world.   Yet, just as there are today, there were people such as Grandma Fannie trusting the miracles of the never empty coffee pot or pantry. 
 
My prayer is that today I trust in such miracles; that I honor the faith of Grandma Fannie and all who know that one loaf will always feed the multitude. 
 
Written March 15, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 

​Viva la United States -  A spiritual awakening
 
 
From New York, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas. New Jersey and every
 
state in the union arrives the good news.
 
TOILET PAPER IS SELLING OUT.
 
Yes, it is true
 
At long last a spiritual awakening has begun.
 
The purchase of many rolls of toilet paper can only mean one thing.
 
Time to rid ourselves of the human waste.
 
No more bullshit
 
Gone with the malarkey
 
Goodbye to the hooey.
 
So long to the gibberish.
 
Adieu to the horseshit.
 
No more poppycock.
 
Facts spew forth?
 
Perhaps a bit of genuineness.
 
No more reason to spin
 
or to build a house on sand.
 
I fear the rawness will be evident by roll 2.
 
Yet, let the purge continue.
 
By roll four
 
the light may find its way to the heart. 
 
The tress will gladly donate more to again fill the shelves.
 
Viva la trees.
 
Viva la toilet paper.
 
Visa la spiritual awakening.
 
Viva la United States
 
 
Written March 13, 2020
Jimmy  F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 
 
 
 
 

The best laid plans.
 
When I think of the phrase, “The best laid plans of mice and men” I think of Grandma Fannie.  The phase “The Best Laid Plans” is the title of a novel by Sidney Sheldon. Some have suggested that the inspiration for the title  may be a poem by Robert Burns “Tas a Mouse” which is about the nest of a mouse which he inadvertently destroyed when ploughing a field.
 
Grandma Fannie was a scholar – always reading and learning – but was also a very hard working practical woman. She, often wove spiritual reminders into the tapestry of the day whether that involved weeding the garden, gathering eggs, tending to flowers or  feeding the farm animals.
 
“The best laid plans of mice and men” was her way of reminding her grandchildren and others that while it was important to have a clear, prioritized list of tasks which needed accomplished, it was equally important to stay open to changing those plans.    She was not referring  to changing plans so that one could play or go take a nap.  She reminded us that one needed to be able to change one’s agenda when a need arrived which was higher on the list of core values.  Being a responsible person in terms of farm chores was important but if a person  needed a listening and empathic ear, that took precedence. Of course, sometime one could do a farm chore and  also listen attentively to another person.
 
Juist this morning I was reminded of Grandmas Fannie when I was about to cross some items off the list of tasks and a person called and needed to talk.  
 
Sometimes the interruption is not by a person but the power goes off, the car will not start,  the car has a flat tire, or something else happens which makes it impossible  to continue one’s compulsive need to complete certain tasks.  When I was young and had less grasp of the importance of what Grandma Fannie was saying, I would become very upset and sometimes even angry when something or someone interrupted my very important schedule.  When we are young we often feel as if we are or should be the center of the universe.  Our self-esteem might be fragile and we are prone to take even acts of nature personally.  As we age, if lucky, we know that life shows up  regardless of who we are; that we are not in charge and while it is important to make plans we must also remain flexible.  
 
Grandma Fannie also often reminded us children, “When one door closes another opens.”  I would be well into my adult years before I trusted I will always get what I need to grow spiritually. That is not to suggest that the God of one’s understanding directs very aspect of life, but it does suggest that  one can always use what life presents as an opportunity to grow spiritually; an opportunity to practice the prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” (short version)
 
Written March 11, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 

​Who am I?
 
If we were to follow the example of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Who am I” we could conclude that we were nobody.  Of course the point of her poem is that the opposite of nobody is somebody who has “to tell one’s name – the livelong June – to an admiring bog”.  
 
It is a major political year in the United States near the end of which a new President of these United States will be selected.  Already in the course of this election season many candidate have been labeled by those branding and marketing them, by the professional observers, the public and their opponents. None of the labels will suggest that the candidate is a “nobody”.  Yet, it is important that the rest of us avoid the trap of thinking we know the particular candidate as a person.  We will, of course, have to make an educated guess as to the character and ability of the candidates. The candidate himself or herself may, if not careful, adopt the persona which they took on or were assigned during the campaign.  
 
All of us take on various roles in our community, work and personal lives.  It is easy for any of us begin to identify with the role to the extent that we  lose touch with who we thought we were or who we thought we  were in the process of becoming.  Often others help to facilitate this identification by identifying us as “white collar, attorney, laborer, health care worker, farmer, gentleman farmer, actor, politician, clerk, small business owner, information technologist specialist, repair person, clergy, writer, criminal, addict or some other label.  None of these labels tell anyone much about our character.
 
I recall attending a weekend men’s retreat during which we were not permitted to reveal to the other participants what we did for work, our education, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, race or cultural background.  Even the costume/dress we wore was monitored..   The goal or challenge was to get to know each other in terms of core values.
 
In our school systems  many of our students learn that they need to become educated for a work role or profession.  They are often unable to clearly identify a core separate from that role.  We would do well to help students identify a set of core values which delineate their character;  who they are regardless of their education or physical ability.  This core then defines their spiritual intentions regardless of the work role or costume. They become the people who first see a sacred individual whether that person is a customer, colleague, patient, inmate, or neighbor.  They become that person who others describe as the same person regardless of the setting in which one encounters them.
 
The nobody in Emily Dickinson’s poem is that person who we are when no one is looking; when there is not an admiring bog. This is the nobody all of us can take to our jobs and other roles. It is our core self.
 
Written March 10, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 
 

 
The need to love and be loved
 
The March 5, 2020 episode of On Being features a conversation between Krista Tippett and Nicolas Christakis, sociologist and physician.   Dr. Christakis is also the director of the Human Nature Lab at Yale University.  
 
Dr. Christakis “compellingly demonstrates that we come to social goodness as naturally as we come to our bloodier inclinations.”  As always I urge the reader to listen to or read the transcript of this conversation.
 
In my career I have often worked with/for those who have been violent.  My experience strongly suggested that all violent behavior originates from a fear of not being  recognized or respected.  That need, I believe, originates from a need to belong; a need to be loved. Many, I believe, settle for feeling important because they are fearful or have been taught love is not possible  Like any addictive substitute one is never “important” enough to fill the void.
 
I belief that Dr. Cyristakis is correct in finding humans evolved to take care of each other.  I would go so far as to posit that we have an innate need to love and be loved. Another way of saying that is that we have an innate need to experience belonging.  Brene Brown has written extensively on the need to belong.
 
If this is true then it is imperative that we be able to explain violence; all the ways we seek to hurt and even destroy each other.  We have to explain not only our willingness to build and use bigger and better weapons to use against each other,  but all the ways we disconnect from our shared humanness.
 
All of us  have, I am sure, momentarily reacted to some perceived or experienced emotional or physical hurt by using a word, a physical gesture or blunt force to disconnect from the source of perceived hurt.  It is, I believe, natural to react in this protective manner. Later we may realize that the behavior of the other had nothing to do with us and  reconnect with that person or at very least acknowledge that he or she is no better or no worse/harmful than we are.
 
Systematic violence such as all forms of oppression is based on the need or even the belief we have to base our worth on being more or better than.
 
 I am going to posit all systematic violence in the form of war such as the United States response to 9/11 requires that:
 

• We convince ourselves that we were blameless in creating the conditions which made it possible for the perpetrators to act in such a violent manner.
• We convince ourselves that responding with violence will reduce or eliminate future violence.
• We convince ourselves that we have nothing in common with those who responsible for the such destruction as that of 9/11.

 
Reactionary/impulsive violence is, on the other hand:
 

• An automatic response to some real (shared reality) or perceived danger – physical, material (scarce resources such as food) or  emotional.  This includes responses arising from an impairment of the brain caused by a chemical, a  trauma or  some other condition which impairs the functioning of the brain.
• Not necessarily an attempt to deny our interdependence
• Very often a response to our fear of the bond of love/interdependence being broken.

 
Violence – verbal, physical, or institutional – never leads to love or cooperation.  An individual or community may, in some instances, following violence have  a spiritual awakening.  This is not to suggest that the violence caused the spiritual awakening but it may be true that any of us might be so traumatized by a violent act that we decide that there has to be a better way to respond to the cycle of fear and violence.  Humans often use a trauma such as a death of a loved one to reassess their values and their behavior.
 
Many Germans, as a result of having to accept the reality of their neighbors being responsible for the Holocaust, have decided to devote their lives to doing their part to creating a more just and loving world.  Sadly, many of those who countries played a leading role in helping to create the conditions which allowed for the possibility of the Third Reich have learned little.
 
In other words, my experience tells me that Dr. Christakis is correct that humans want to love and be loved; that working together comes naturally to us.  We may come to believe that it is not safe to love or be loved.  We may come to believe that we have to settle for respect borne out of making people fear us which merely covers up or blinds us to the underlying desire to be loved – to belong.
 
If we want to reduce violence towards ourselves, each other and the universe, we will need to more scientifically examine our believe that responding to violence with more violence is going to lead to a more peaceful, just and cooperative experience of sharing the planet.
 
The story of Easter for Christians is not the success of the crucifixion but the fact of the resurrection; of the teachings of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself; to forgive 70 x 7.
 
Written March 9, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 
 
 

​Sunday Musings – March 8, 2020
Today I will dance
 
Today promises to be a spring like day here in Wheeling, WV.  Today I will dance.    
 
Yesterday, I attended a lecture by the entomologist Dr. Ryan Gott at Phipps conservatory.  His talk was entitled “Healthy Plants for a Healthy World”.   Dr. Gott is Associate Director of Integrated pest management at Phipps.  As a member of the Phipps team he is interested not just in insects, plants, the soil, and the weather which live in harmony with each other,  but also in all parts which are invasive and not able to help maintain a healthy, normal balance.  One could imagine him standing  in Phipps or in the back yard of his new home in Pittsburgh allowing all parts of nature to speak to him about how to design the landscape of his yard in a way which honors that particular area  but which will affect a much wider area of land and space.
 
Today as I greet this day I am acutely aware of all the suffering of the world; of all the ways we live in disharmony with the earth and each other.  I am reminded of war and all manner of violence.  I am also reminded of such invasive diseases as the  coronavirus and how many people are directly and indirectly affected by them.   I am reminded of the  ongoing opioid and other drug addiction which continues to affect many individuals and families.   I am reminded of all who grieve the loss of  loved ones and the  dreams they shared.  I am reminded of all the ways I attempt to work against and not with mother nature.
 
I am also reminded on this Sunday that it is a time to reclaim our dance with each other and mother earth; a time to reconnect with the best within us which “knows” that we would do well to remember that each action or inaction of ours affects the entire universe; that each action embraces and joins hands with each part of the universe or like a bomb spreads out in concentric circles destroying  all that it touches.
 
Today on this spring like day I will remember I have a choice to choreograph an oppositional defiant juvenile dance or I can relax and join the dance to which nature invites me.  This dance will continue to bring the full range of human emotions  including delight, grief and all those between these two extremes.  Today I will accept the invitation of Dr. Gott and embrace the life dance which nature choreographs.
 
Written March 8, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 

​The confessional booth
 
On March 4, 2020 Dave Davies interviewed or has a conversation with the author, book store owner and an enrolled Turtle Mountain Chippewa  Native American Louise Erdrich.   They discussed her newest book The Night Watchman  which is based, in part, on her grandfather’s fight to ensure that the United States government honored at least some of its treaties with Native Americans.   The many layers of broken promises will continue to unfold although much has already been lost.  It seems to me that we all daily experience the fallout from the losses of what we could have learned about the sacredness of our relationship with each other and with all of nature.  We need to reclaim what we can of that fallout.  Personally I know I could benefit from reclaiming my connections with my Cherokee Indians heritage.  I carry the rich history of my Aunt Pleasie and the Self family - her Cherokee ancestry -as  well as the history from the spiritual implants of my teachers from the Tlingit Indian community of Hoonah in Southeast Alaska.
 
Louise Erdrich runs an independent book store, Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, Minnesota which is a gathering place for ideas, adventures, dreams, romances (many proposals take place there), reclaiming part of oneself and even a “confessional”.  Ms. Erdrich says that one merely has to touch the confession booth.
 
I always remind the reader that it is never my intention to recap or repeat a podcast I  appreciated.  The original podcast stands on its own and I urge the reader of this blog to listen to that episode of Fresh Air.
 
Most religions and spiritual philosophies as well as programs such as the 12 step program address the fact that no matter who we are – age, education, culture, gender, sexual orientation, race, or other social constructs – at times we act in a way which falls short of honoring the sacredness of ourselves, other and mother mature.  Us humans have this need to acknowledge that which is patently obvious – our imperfection.  The confessional is a symbolic stop sign reminding us that before we continue this journey we have to return ourselves to ourselves – reclaim our sacredness.   Sadly, in some religions we are told we have to ask for forgiveness and then do penance.  Of course anytime we have hurt ourselves or others we have paid a huge price.  There is no need for further punishment.   Some misinterpret the 4th and subsequent steps  of the 12-step program of making amends as the equivalent of penance.  I understand it as doing one’s part to reconnect.   The person may or may not accept one’s amends but that is their issue.
 
I do not understand Ms. Erdrich’s book to be an attempt to shame or guilt any of us or our ancestors.  It does seem to me to be an attempt to honor the voices which bravely spoke out in support of community and the sacredness of land and all it contains. It is also an attempt in my mind to help the reader touch the confessional.   In a place where people gather to learn -to emotionally and spiritually gas up - there must be a place for non-judgmentally confessing one’s disconnections.  After all, we cannot learn until we reconnect.
 
When I am working with/for those who have been kidnapped by the dis ease of addiction I am inviting them and me to touch the confessional booth and to embrace our reconnection with ourselves and all that is.   I love that Birchbark Books offers a confessional booth in the midst of a place to celebrate and learn – a bookstore.
 
 
Written March 5, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org