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Barbara Scoville, LCSW

~ Pioneers of Peace™

Barbara Scoville, LCSW

Monthly Archives: May 2015

Eyes to See: The Gift of Being Present

29 Friday May 2015

Posted by Barbara Scoville, LCSW in Emotion School, Mindfulness, Resilience

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Compassion, Courage, Eyes to See, Mindfulness, Presence, Sacred Space, Tara Brach

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I declared today a “vacation day” and drove to one of my sacred spaces in the mountains. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to see a bald eagle perched atop a tree. It was a beautiful sight to behold; especially when it lifted off and flew away with fluffy white legs blowing in the wind.

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Today I longed to see the majestic bird again. I kept my eyes up, searching the treetops as I drove. It wasn’t meant to be.

How many other birds and wildlife did I miss searching for what I thought to be the prize?

How often in life do we search for what we believe to be the answer, when there are miracles right before our eyes…eyes that do not see because they are looking for something different.

Therein lies the gift of mindfulness; to be present for what life is offering up. Tara Brach asks us to clear a path in the forest of our mind. What might we find if we sit and wait for what appears?

Look what I found when I came home.

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Sending love,

Barbara

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Get Me Off of This Merry-Go-Round; An Introduction to Mindfulness

25 Monday May 2015

Posted by Barbara Scoville, LCSW in Emotion School, Life Mastery Skills, Mindfulness, Resilience, Wellness

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Step Off the Merry-Go-Round

Barbara Scoville, LCSW

Unknown

How many times have you heard the idiom, “ Get me off of this merry-go-round!”?

It’s an expression that conjures up a familiar, commonly shared image of someone “mindlessly” attempting to run faster than their legs can carry them; often but not always, directed by someone other than the person who is doing the real running. Around and around we go, doing, doing, doing; believing we don’t have a choice and resenting the demands placed on our time that keep us from doing what we think we would “rather” be doing.

One mother complains, “I don’t even have time to go to the bathroom.”  A college student says, “It’s like being in prison; my time is not my own; if I’m not studying, I’m working, and if I’m not working, I’m studying.” A grandfather says, “I want to write my family history, but my kids count on me to babysit…

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Destination: REAL

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Barbara Scoville, LCSW in Uncategorized

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Throughout your life, seek to be “Real”

Barbara Scoville, LCSW

Get Real!

Are you for real?

Be Real.

Really?

“Where is she going with this?” you might ask. Well, last week I heard two comments that caught my attention and gave me pause to think. One was, “I just want to be real,” and the second was, “I don’t know if he is being real with me.”

“Interesting,” I thought. “These are words I hear so often that their meaning is taken for granted; but “What exactly do they mean?” In my mind’s eye I saw two images.

The first was of a person unzipping the suit he was wearing and letting it fall to the ground. After the suit fell to the ground a new suit unzipped, and it too fell to the ground. This went on and on until the person was left standing in simple clothes, radiating authenticity, wearing his “real” self.

The second image was of…

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Stages of Life

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Barbara Scoville, LCSW in Caregiver's Storyboard, Emotion School, Mindfulness, Resilience

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Tags

Aging, authentic self, Compassion, Courage, Emotion, empathy

 The peony life cycle is not unlike our own

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“Every stage of life is beautiful”  

Barbara Scoville

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Paper Cranes and the Creative Release of Painful Emotion

14 Thursday May 2015

Posted by Barbara Scoville, LCSW in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Another oldie but a goodie…enjoy

Barbara Scoville, LCSW

P1010607A beautiful young woman once shared with me how she used her talent for art to channel negative emotions.

It was a normal session. We talked for about twenty minutes, and then she began searching through her purse. She eventually found what she was looking for and pulled out three of most beautiful paper cranes I had ever seen.

I was mesmerized by their beautiful colors and then before I knew it, she began to unfold the cranes until they were their original square shape. She held them up for me to see.

Each square revealed a work of art expressing dark emotion. The pictures were dramatic and even a little scary. While in the shape of a crane, the horrifying images were completely undetectable.

I asked her if she was hiding her emotion metaphorically behind a pretty picture, or if she was releasing her demons into flight. I…

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