Writings of Mary Ellen Lucas

How to Forgive was written as a follow-up to my last column published in the Spring issue of The Owl Magazine on the physical and spiritual benefits we receive when we choose to forgive. Learning to forgive helps us heal and repair our relationships within our own selves and with others.

Harboring grudges and resentments can wall-off one’s spiritual heart and detrimentally impact one’s physical heart. Forgiving yourself and others is the remedy. Like a stent, forgiveness opens back up a blocked and constricted heart into a healthier flow. An open-heart then returns to its natural, unlimited capacity to love.

My column in The Owl Magazine Winter Issue is about creating a world anew framed by ethical cornerstones that can become the building blocks within family and societal structures.

Aldous Huxley was asked near the end of his life for a summation of the compendium of work he dedicated his life to explore: world-wide spiritual wisdom and ways to evolve into an enlightened society. His sheepish response was, "Try to be a little kinder." Embracing his idea of trying to be a little kinder could create a huge ripple effect. We don't need a majority to create change. However, we do need a personal commitment to be our best selves and ethical values may very well serve as behavioral guideposts to help us grow individually and collectively.

My column in the The Owl Magazine Autumn Issue is about evolving beyond the teachings of the religious institutions and evolving into a new spiritual vision. By widening the aperture of our perceptions, we would see: church is everywhere, the sanctuary is always open and includes everyone and the altar is the hallowed ground we stand on.

My column in The Owl Magazine’s Summer Issue features four amazing children who share timeless, insightful wisdom. They offer glimmers of hope for the future. One day, they will be adults and they have already seamlessly grasped, despite their young ages, how to be kindhearted and the need to speak with love (from the heart). One boy models what an intuitive, empathetic and compassionate response looks like. Another innocent boy shares what needs to be done with guns to keep kids and teachers safe.

These children value what a lot of adults seemingly have forgotten. Let us humble ourselves enough to recognize sometimes our children are our teachers. We have a lot to learn from them!

My column in The Owl Magazine’s Spring Issue describes how the wisdom of the trees offers a template, as models of rootedness, and can be an antidote to help support a child struggling with anxiety. Parents, grandparents and educators can learn a simple technique called “grounding” to help calm an overwhelmed child. Your child can learn how to ground themselves to avoid meltdowns. Read further to find helpful tips.

My poem Called Forth appeared in the Creation Spirituality Communities March / April Newsletter and is based upon Exodus Chapters 3 & 4. It never fails to make me smile that Moses tried bargaining with God. Why send Moses to free the people when his brother Aaron was so much more articulate and up to the task? A strong case. One I would have tried for I have one of those brothers! Yet, I know in life I have my part to do. We all do. May this poem offer you inspiration to go forth. May you trust that you are fully equipped even if you don’t feel ready or up to the task.

My column in the Owl Magazine's Winter Issue is on the importance of parents affirming their child's intrinsic beauty. I offer how-to-steps to encourage a child to learn to turn on the high beams of love light within their own hearts. We all need to be reminded our essence is beautiful especially since the culture has defined and deemed "beauty" in such narrow and shallow terms.

My column The Heart of the Matter for Spiritually Conscious Parents in The Owl Magazine begins on Page 42. The topic written about offers suggestions to parents about talking to a child about death. Children need open communication and loving support from their parents when they are grappling to understand the loss of a beloved family member or well-loved family pet.

Reflecting on Marisa Donnelly’s idea that joy heals the spirit may seem out of place and terribly naive in light of the grief and loss people have recently endured. However, I do believe joy is medicinal and joy is needed now more than ever.

Raised in the Catholic tradition by two parents of strong faith, faith must have been imparted to me through osmosis. For at a very early age, I believed without question God would support, protect and help me when called upon. I never could have conceived of a time when my faith and trust in God would be broken.

Over the last twenty plus years, I’ve had the honor of giving Reiki treatments to many people. The clients I’ve worked with, and continue to work with, mostly are religiously unaffiliated. In their own way, they seek a connection with the Great Mystery.

Is it possible for humans to learn a thing or two from Canadian geese? Absolutely! I have lived many years alongside geese as my neighbors and despite being loud and quarrelsome they are very entertaining neighbors. Their ongoing brawls inspired me to write my first children’s book, The Day the Goose Squabble Stopped.

Back in the day when I was a stay-at-home mom, “mindfulness” wasn’t even a word in my vocabulary. The only mindfulness I was aware of was my own mind-fullness just trying to navigate a busy, full schedule with three children. It wasn’t until later in life that mindfulness was brought to my attention through the examples my oldest son Sean exhibited.

Are you aware of the ever-present fear submerged in the undercurrents of our society? Do you notice our intolerance has escalated and we are triggered by those of different ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, and/or religious belief? How did we veer so far off course that our conversations turn into tirades? When did we lose our civility? And how is this affecting our children?