Ways of Being
Welcome spiritual explorers, contemplatives, writers, thinkers, parents, and anyone with an interest in learning to be more fully present in the world with yourself, others, and God. This blog is my attempt to be vulnerable and transparent about my own flawed, human, and sometimes-breathtaking journey as I explore and share ideas, resources, and realizations I’ve had along the way. If it encourages your soul, pull up a seat on my virtual porch and join me.
Episodes
Birth is a type of death and death is a type of birth. We tend to think of a life on a linear timeline, birth at one end and death as far from it as possible on the other. But if you place life on a circle, the two endpoints touch and meet, intertwined—perhaps one and the same.
You can read more of my work on my website: danielleklafter.com
Preparing these crabapples for edibility is not the most efficient or classically productive use of my time, yet there is also something about it that feels satisfying. Embodied. It forces me to slow down, inviting me to be fully present with the task.
You can explore more of my writing at danielleklafter.com
Why am I doing what I’m doing?
Who is it for?
What meaning does it hold?
The urge to compare can be paralyzing, but we can each only be who we are. How I can lean into who I am and what I do well to offer as a gift to the world?
Read and follow more of my writing at danielleklafter.com
At its best, is not the process of birth itself a form of surrender? One where my body delivers and yields, opening up to an embodied way of giving life that has been happening since women first knew existence. It should not be something where I am forced against my will to give or submit to what I do not want.
This essay is my wrestling through two polarized options and searching for a way to be empowered from my past abuse.
When it comes to writing, setting goals, initiating change, parenting, or a host of other things, can we hold two things true simultaneously? Here's a vulnerable take of my writing life this month, and the negative or positive self-talk that accompanies it.
Read or listen to more of my writing at danielleklafter.com
References:
- 1000 Words by Jami Attenberg
- Good Inside: A Practical Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want t...
Everyone needs voices and relationships in your life that call you on your own bullshit. Okay, I won’t speak for you. But I will speak for me.
Explore how negative self-talk gets in the way of possibility. In the writing life, or in anything else.
Resources:
- My website: danielleklafter.com
- 1000daysofsummer writing challenge
- Karen Russell's letter: https://1000wordsofsummer.substack.com/p/day-2-of-1000wordsofsummer-2024-d8e
- Caitie's b...
I'm haunted by the idea of viewing others as "the intimate expression of one's own being." This post explores the death of the ego in the journey towards higher and more unitive consciousness where we learn to view and relate to others in this way, and the ways I struggle with the gap between what I want to realize as true in my life and the stark reality of my stumbling mess that I live with now.
My inner state is cracking open with hunger for aspects of the Feminine Divine.
I grew up dutifully accepting the masculine nature of God, copying translations that use masculine pronouns to refer to the Hebrew term for Elohim, along with the somewhat hierarchical views those translations carried with them about men in places of spiritual power. But now, every time I refer to God and go to write the word “he” with a capital “H,” I’m...
An exploration of the scriptural tale of the rich young man through the eyes of this perspective:
“The Kingdom of Heaven is really a metaphor for a state of consciousness; it is not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns the world into a different place.” --Cynthia Bourgeault
Find more of my work on my blog: danielleklafter.com
...
What if I set aside instinctual judgments and assumptions about my relationships, choosing instead my most generous interpretation of what is going on?
Resources:
- Gurdjieff: A Beginner's Guide: How Changing the Way We React to Misplacing Our Keys Can Transform Our Lives by Gil Friedman
- I receive this daily quote about the Fourth Way Wisdom Work (part of the Gurdjieff Work) in my inbox each day from this website: https://fou...
How many times during a day or a week do you expect someone else to solve your problem? Or to put it another way: how many times do you feel internally upset or dysregulated and your automatic response is to believe that it’s something or someone else’s fault? What if there were another way that didn't leave you as a victim of your emotions, circumstances, roles, or relationships?
My Reading Trifecta:
- Soundtracks: The Surpri...
Do you ever go through life feeling like there isn't enough to go around? Not enough time? Not enough attachment from relationships? Not enough love? Not enough well-being? Not enough.... you fill in the blank. I sure do. Join me to listen to my musings on this topic and how I'm learning to exchange scarcity for abundance.
You can find this post at danielleklafter.com
On a day when so many feel much is at stake
I pray we remember nothing is truly at stake.
The things that matter most persist.
Transitions and change often come with grief. Even good ones. We usually can’t move to a new thing without leaving something (or many things) behind. Yet our true identity is more than these things we identify with.
Resources:
- A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
I had lots of misconceptions about the term "mystic" when I first heard it. This episode explores definitions and my own humble observations about what it means to be a mystic, interlaced with some thoughts of others on the journey.
Resources for further exploration:
- The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See by Richard Rohr (this was my inaugural book that I read)
- James Finley’s podcast Turning to the ...
No matter what I want to build into my life—a workout regime, a writing habit, a parenting shift, marital intimacy—I have to face resistance if I want to embrace that lifestyle or task. How can I work to Welcome resistance as part of the process of growth?
Resources:
- Thomas Hübl’s webpage: https://thomashuebl.com/books/
- An Acton Academy post about the Three Traps of Resistance, Distraction, and Victimhood: ht...
Shannon K. Evan's book Rewilding Motherhood: Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality is hands-down my favorite book I’ve encountered on motherhood thus far. This episode is part book review and part my reflections on what impacted me.
Resources:
- Shannon K. Evan’s webpage
- Rewilding Motherhood: Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality by Shannon K. Evans
- Link to pre-order her forthcoming book that re...
I made an assumption about a hiking trail in Nebraska but found unexpected gifts from it, providing lessons in being present right where I am at.
You can read more of my work on my blog: danielleklafter.com
Perhaps my five-year-old knows something in a simple way that seems complicated for the rest of us. This is a reflection on how Jesus never joined the political power-over hustle. He offers another way.
Resources:
- My recent post: Moving Beyond Political Bifurcation Towards the “Law of Three”
- The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault
- The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross by Brain Zahnd
This episode is an exploration of the spiritual "Law of Three" as applied to our current polarized political system. It's an invitation for you to consider your stance on how you approach politics (or any other apparently polarized or binary sphere of your life). How can we learn to open instead of dig in and further entrench in a gridlock of perspectives. Tread courageously.
References:
- The Holy Trinity an...
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