11 Comments
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Megan Meyer's avatar

In my spiritual / emotional cabinet I always have on hand; music, always music, it’s healing properties are extraordinary. Plus...space to think, process & order my thoughts and feelings (some literal space to just sit and meditate, sometimes white space on paper), and nervine herbs to help calm me physically.

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Kevin LaTorre's avatar

I'm with you on the need for music as a balm: listening to, playing, and singing it. I need how self-effacing and self-removing music can be.

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Kevin LaTorre's avatar

I'd say that "medicine" for daily and mental use is some blend of slowed-down things. Hearing music (actually hearing it), reading poems, walking (our dog is game for walks always), and others, since these things return the brain to the body, as it were.

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Megan Meyer's avatar

A blend of slowed-down things...Yes! Couldn’t agree more

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Sarah's avatar

I am kind of confused about this space. It seems like you open it up to be welcoming to everyone and even embracing of traditions that are extra-Christian (at least from the current church's viewpoints) but then I heard you make comment that reign it back into "these experiences within these beliefs." I am not trying to be critical, just trying to understand. I love your space but after I shared my experience of how I hear the Holy Spirit I felt like the following post was a doctrinal "boxing in" that made me feel uncomfortable to share here.

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S.E. Reid's avatar

My apologies, Lily! If you're confused, that's entirely my fault. All ARE welcome in this space, to share in any way they like (within the boundaries of kindness and respect, of course, which you all do so beautifully). And I LOVED what you said about the Holy Spirit! Without different viewpoints we simply cannot grow. My views that I write here are my experiences based on my beliefs. I present them here so that you can take them or leave them, or even question them! The "arms" of this newsletter are open to all, and your humble narrator is a Christian of a particular tradition, so that tradition is where my writing flows from. It's something I won't be able to help, but that doesn't mean you have to agree with me. Far from it!

I love that you and your unique voice are here with us, Lily, and I hope you will feel comfortable enough to stay and continue to challenge us with your thoughts!

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Sarah's avatar

That response did my heart good and was so healing for me, thank you. I do not think you are at fault, simply that the default of saying "We" when speaking doctrinally has the unintended consequence of creating a feeling that the "We" does not include those who may feel those doctrines - and in some cases the energies and language associated with them perhaps more so than the doctrines themselves - creates a roadblack to feeling the welcoming space that occurs when each of us speaks to our authentic spiritual lived experienced from "I."

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S.E. Reid's avatar

Thank you so much for your genuine feedback! That's very helpful to hear. ♥️

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Sarah's avatar

I'm so glad you received in love and receptivity and I feel your True Heart. Thank you for modeling Christ-likeness :) Your way of being in the world fills God with plenty of smiles, I'm sure of it :)

And as for your post...I THOUGHT about harvesting and storing my rose petals but I couldn't do it. I love them far too much! I loved watching the bees enjoying them and it was balm for my soul that needed some joy and gentle upliftment! I selected the ones that had dropped that were still radiant and eat them with gratitude on the spot! I also harvested some cilantro and our first little pepper. I have mason jars for harvesting and storing but I've never used them.

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Alex's avatar

I live EVERYTHING about this back and forth exchange! So awesome to see dialogue and a genuine search for understanding rather than the polarized bickering we see so much of these days. Thank you both of you for modeling something so positive.

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Sarah's avatar

Since you mentioned herbals, pardon the geek in me:

The ethanol extract of the eight active plants showed different activities against an array of Gram positive, Gram negative bacteria and fungi. All of these plant extracts were active against Salmonella typhimurium, while no activity was detected against Aspergillus niger, a filamentous fungus, but some extracts were active against the yeast Candida albicans. Escherichia coli was not affected by any of the ethanol extracts except for that of Rosa damascena receptacles. This extract and the Narcissus tazetta (aerial parts) extract were the only ethanol extracts that showed any substantial antifungal activity against Candida albicans, which is very interesting and is reported here for the first time. Preliminary screening of some Colombian medicinal plants showed in vitro antimicrobial activity of several crude extracts of such plants [16]. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was susceptible to the ethanol extracts of Rosa damascena receptacles (95% inhibition), Inula viscosa flowers (92% inhibition, and Verbascum sinaiticum flowers (70% inhibition). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6257285/

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