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I am a pastor and a clinical psychotherapist. My life's passion is defining healthiness from a human perspective and paralleling it to the holiness of God, divine perspective. Shifting perspectives creates a paradigm that is alongside of rather than over and against. The parakalein of God and the paradoxes of humanity are redefined. Humanity is all about winning and yet we are losing ground everywhere. Divinity is all about letting go of the desire to win and the fear of loss. The Divine embraces the world with loving care regardless of anything.

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8 years of hard Goodness, Deepening Peace and Love

Posted by Don Paine

I sat in a room overlooking Monument Beach Bay on Cape Cod, with 28 or so people all introducing themselves.  When it came my turn I said something I had not thought of before it was as if it just cam out of me.  Some of what I said was previously felt, thought or experienced but none of it had been strung together as the string of words came out of my mouth.  Today I know why it happened that way! Here is a recollection of that moment:

(Written as on September 7th, 2012)  "As I sit here today I reflect on this place, a beach where my father taught me to swim some 50 years ago.  I think of how the strangle hold of death has gripped me over the past 7 years.  Nearly 8 years  years ago a young woman client of mine was killed by her husband who then killed himself. I began my IFS (Internal Family Systems....www.selfleadership.org) . Then Nearly 6 years ago, my father died during level 1 training.  Then 3 years ago my brother and Karen Reed (my co-presenter of IFS) both died suddenly 5 days apart.  I descend into the death pangs of hell itself, was depressed, despairing  and had lost all sense of Self or  Calmness or Compassion in me.  With the help of supportive and loving family and wife and with the help of an IFS therapist,  I was immersed in death and emerged out to life.  Out of the depths of despair into the depths of compassion. I am here today, alive and well and wanting to deepen my experience of life and relationships.  Anyone who wants to go swimming with me when we are done I am going swimming in honor of my dad and in honor of new life."

It was well received.

Today, October 1st is the eighth anniversary of the murder of my client who began my journey into a deeper depth of appreciation for life and death than I could ever know without experiencing both the trauma of death and the wonder of life.  A person who shared in the trauma of her death shared today in the wonder of her healing in a special way.  Amazing connections continue to happen in the road that intersects the grace of living and the grief of losing.

I know today better than ever the wonder of this 8 year journey into the depths of Love and Peace of Death and Grief to a renewed sense and presence of the Glory and Grace of God.

Thank you Liza Warner.
You died on this day and you live in so many today!
"Be the Change"

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