Serious illness, deep grief, dramatic changes in our circumstances at work or in the family often call us to examine the great questions in life, which are present whether we’re consciously aware of them or not:

  • Who are we?
  • Where do we come from?
  • Why are we here?
  • Where are we going?
  • To whom (or what) are we accountable?

These are questions about the meaning of life. We may answer them from a philosophical or spiritual perspective. We may live our entire lives without facing them. But often, in the face of a difficult illness, loss, or sense of our aging, they have new urgency. It can be comforting to address them together.

Acceptance

A Conversation with a Widow’s Nervous System

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The pain of loss is such an isolating experience, where the outside and inside of us are not aligned. We are out of sync with humanity, and yet we are inside an experience that each and every one of us will have.

Managing the Time Warp of Loss: Why Do They Want to Marry the Widow off?

When our parents die, no one tries to comfort us by saying, "You can love like this again with a new mother, new father, or a different grandparent.” Yet, with the loss of a spouse, people quickly start talking about a new companion, a new sexual partner, a new friend.

Healing Sound Bath

Usually on the second Wednesday of most months, we push all the furniture aside in the Fireside Room upstairs and Deborah Koff-Chapin sits in a semicircle of her crystal bowls and tea lights in near-darkness...

Catch and Release

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Catch-and-release is essentially what we do at Healing Circles Langley.
Courtesy of Callanish

Gracious Listening

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Among other things, gracious listening requires a hospitable heart, a compassionate presence, and a commitment to not "fix."

Healing from Chronic Pain

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It wasn’t an experience I was eager to revisit. Pain (mostly migraines) and fatigue dominated my life for 15 yrs. I cannot offer a formula for my return to health…

The Circle is Big Enough

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A circle is big enough for all of us. For all parts of us. And for all stages of our life journeys.

Deeply Buried

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One man’s unwavering courage to heal his unattended sorrow changed many lives.

Healing Circles: A Poem

Healing Circles Langley host Judith Adams remembers how she survived her husband’s death by banding with others.

Death and Dying

Nicci de Wet-du Toit

Sitting at the feet of masters

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Death in all forms has been a part of my life since I was a six-year old growing up in South Africa. Each death felt like something that was connected to me got lost or broke off. I was drawn to discussions about death and found it odd and irritating…
Christine Flagler

The gift of living with cancer

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Christine was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 39, and when it recurred at 42, her doctors told her she probably wouldn’t survive. Now, at 80, she’s lived with cancer for more than half her life. “When I didn’t die…
Lori Tupper

The tightrope

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Every morning, I wake up and walk the line to the bathroom (as most people do), but two years ago, when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, the line became a tightrope. My balance became very important to me as the cancer…
David Talmor

An elephant-sized impact

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I could say that participating in the “Dying Without the Elephant” healing circle changed my life, but that would be an understatement. It changed my death, which turns out to have an even greater impact. I have what Robin Williams had:…
A single tree in winter against a blue sky

Finding meaning in circle

by Chris Camarata I've been facilitating a healing circle on death and dying for more than a year with Nicolas and Robin. Nicolas had been studying these often-avoided topics and wanted a forum where people could talk openly about their feelings…
elephant sitting on bench

Dying without an elephant

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Toward the end of my brother’s life, he spent every waking hour in a faux-leather armchair by his living room window. He was companioned by the puff-puff-puffing of an oxygen concentrator, a walker with a basket full of pills, a laptop that…

Let the Sacred Festivities Begin

Christina Baldwin was the "sacred emcee" at Kelly Lindsay's celebration of life. What follows is her introduction, which makes more sense if you kept up with Kelly's CaringBridge blog. Christina and Ann Linnea are founders of The Circle Way…
Veins of a leaf

Poems and Essays Written in Honor of Kelly

Gathering by Gary Vallat (written after a massive circle for Kelly that took place at Soundview Center) For Kelly and Diana Lindsay The crowd enters the sanctuary milling about appreciating the beauty of the place, anticipating the…

Tributes to Kelly Lindsay

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Tributes from Healing Circles Langley Kitty Adams: Kelly’s mind was brilliant, but it was his warm welcome that drew me into HCL. In my raw state after the death of my husband, every time I walked through that door, Kelly greeted me with…

Pain and Suffering

Women Sharing, Women Witnessing

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Responding to national news, we invited sexual abuse or assault survivors, to share her story with other women whether she had told it before or was just finding the courage to tell it now.

Healing from Chronic Pain

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It wasn’t an experience I was eager to revisit. Pain (mostly migraines) and fatigue dominated my life for 15 yrs. I cannot offer a formula for my return to health…

Strategies for Pain Relief

Deepening our understanding of the Healing Circles Agreements is a lifelong study.

Meaning and Purpose

Opening to Miracles

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Commonweal inspires Harmony Hill to launch its own Cancer Help Program.

Bringing Healing Circles to Nurses

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Organizations are collaborating to help nurses bring healing circles into their work.

10 Tips for Getting Started

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How we got started at Healing Circles Langley feels like a miracle—outside of any norm we could have conceived. The right people showed up time and again to co-create, serve, and stretch us to do more. Capturing that process in ten tips seems…

Commonweal Cancer Help Program Alumni Circles

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We bring forth our most authentic selves, share what is most important, are present with our own and each other’s hearts, share joys and sorrows, and through this, do the soul work that feeds us most profoundly.

Uncertainty

Managing the Time Warp of Loss: Why Do They Want to Marry the Widow off?

When our parents die, no one tries to comfort us by saying, "You can love like this again with a new mother, new father, or a different grandparent.” Yet, with the loss of a spouse, people quickly start talking about a new companion, a new sexual partner, a new friend.

Sitting with Uncertainty

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The following discussion (originally posted January 22, 2012) is an example of circle taking place in many forms. Because Terri Mason asked the original questions, this post is attributed to her, but many others contributed. In the thread below,…

Riverbank

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A writing prompt in a healing circle contrasts past and present.

The Faces of Fear

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Participants in a Callanish circle were invited to name the many faces of fear.

Uncertainty 98249

Anxiety over the uncertainty inherent in living with cancer can be crippling. Kelly Lindsay found a way to become a thriving Uncertainist.

Forgiveness In Healing

Fred Luskin, PhD, author of Forgive for Good reads and discusses what he considers the best thing he’s ever read on forgiveness: Mary Oliver’s poem titled “The Settlement.”

Decision-Making Under Pressure

This guide can help those who have been newly diagnosed with cancer make the many decisions that face them.

To download it, click the image below.

Spirit and Soul

People gathered in circle

Starting Healing Circles in Communities of Faith

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Learn how Healing Circles Houston helps faith communities benefit from healing circles by partnering with them.

Opening to Miracles

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Commonweal inspires Harmony Hill to launch its own Cancer Help Program.

Listening Within

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The quality of listening to others relates directly to the quality of listening within. But it’s not easy.

Depth without Digging

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After one circle struggled and ended, Commonweal Cancer Help Program alumni found a way to build a circle that lasts.

The Spirit in Everyday Life

Milagros have been used for centuries throughout Latin America and represent the universality of humans acknowledging the presence of spirit in everyday life.

Loss

Vietnam team

Healing Circles in Vietnam

Healing Circles in Vietnam started with a group of friends who found respite in circles and hope in the Healing Circles Global community. We accidentally came across one another and decided to bring circles to the people and causes we care about…
elephant sitting on bench

Dying without an elephant

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Toward the end of my brother’s life, he spent every waking hour in a faux-leather armchair by his living room window. He was companioned by the puff-puff-puffing of an oxygen concentrator, a walker with a basket full of pills, a laptop that…

Let the Sacred Festivities Begin

Christina Baldwin was the "sacred emcee" at Kelly Lindsay's celebration of life. What follows is her introduction, which makes more sense if you kept up with Kelly's CaringBridge blog. Christina and Ann Linnea are founders of The Circle Way…
Veins of a leaf

Poems and Essays Written in Honor of Kelly

Gathering by Gary Vallat (written after a massive circle for Kelly that took place at Soundview Center) For Kelly and Diana Lindsay The crowd enters the sanctuary milling about appreciating the beauty of the place, anticipating the…

Tributes to Kelly Lindsay

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Tributes from Healing Circles Langley Kitty Adams: Kelly’s mind was brilliant, but it was his warm welcome that drew me into HCL. In my raw state after the death of my husband, every time I walked through that door, Kelly greeted me with…

A Conversation with a Widow’s Nervous System

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The pain of loss is such an isolating experience, where the outside and inside of us are not aligned. We are out of sync with humanity, and yet we are inside an experience that each and every one of us will have.

‘I Am Rushing:’ a Mantra of Love and Memory

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I have just returned from spending time with a dear friend and her husband. They are living in what I have come to call “Illness Time” ­ not a period of time spent ill, but time itself defined by illness.

Managing the Time Warp of Loss: Why Do They Want to Marry the Widow off?

When our parents die, no one tries to comfort us by saying, "You can love like this again with a new mother, new father, or a different grandparent.” Yet, with the loss of a spouse, people quickly start talking about a new companion, a new sexual partner, a new friend.

A Theme a Month for Hospitals

Being able to anticipate a theme over the course of a month guides us into deeper meaning and clarity.

Intentional Healing

What Makes a Circle Healing?

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The only person who can accurately perceive a circle to be healing is the individual circle participant. Healing, as with pain, is what the person says it is.

Starting Commonweal and Healing Circles

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 If it provides refuge, touches your heart, and guides you on your path, it is a healing circle.

What is Intentional Healing?

Intentional healing is the conscious sustained effort to enhance the healing process. Healing itself is natural. Intentional healing is a conscious strategy of supporting this natural healing process.

The Power of Story in Intentional Healing

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Our stories can readily become the most powerful guides we can find to intentional healing.

Social Support

Vietnam team

Healing Circles in Vietnam

Healing Circles in Vietnam started with a group of friends who found respite in circles and hope in the Healing Circles Global community. We accidentally came across one another and decided to bring circles to the people and causes we care about…

Safety in Numbers: Five Circle Agreements

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For everyone in the circle to feel truly safe, the underlying assumption must be that everyone in attendance will honor the Circle Agreements, and that the Host and Guardian will be resolute in attending to them.

What Makes a Circle Healing?

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The only person who can accurately perceive a circle to be healing is the individual circle participant. Healing, as with pain, is what the person says it is.

Through Healing Circles, Nurses Gain a Renewed Passion for Their Profession

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Nurses create circles of hope and healing each time they accept the invitation to be part of an intimate moment of a person’s life at birth, in illness, and at the moment of death. It is in this sacred space where nurses have the greatest opportunity to create environments of healing.

Catch and Release

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Catch-and-release is essentially what we do at Healing Circles Langley.

Dropping in for a Cup of Tea and a Circle of Two

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As humans, we are happier and healthier if we have someone to talk to when we need it. For people who are newly diagnosed, grieving, at a turning point, or simply needing to connect, we offer circles of two at Healing Circles Langley.

10 Tips for Getting Started

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How we got started at Healing Circles Langley feels like a miracle—outside of any norm we could have conceived. The right people showed up time and again to co-create, serve, and stretch us to do more. Capturing that process in ten tips seems…

The Healing Power of Love

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A terminal diagnosis led to 10 lessons on love and the start of Healing Circles Langley.

Asking Open and Honest Questions

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Learning to respond to others with honest, open questions instead of counsel, corrections, and advice can be a life-altering practice.

Header photo courtesy of Callanish