Integrative Health Education for Anxiety and Depression, LGBTQIA+ Psychotherapy
  • Home
  • Contact & About
    • Contact and Hours
    • About
    • Good Faith Estimate Law Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Specialities
    • Anxiety, Insomnia & Pain
    • Energy Psychology
    • Couples Counseling >
      • Couples Therapy
      • Gottman Method Couples Therapy
      • Initial Couples Evaluation
      • Couples FAQ
      • LGBTQI Couples Therapy
      • Benefits of Queer Couples Therapy
    • Stress Reduction
    • Body LIberation
    • Adolescent Counseling
    • Psychotherapy
    • LGBTQI Therapy
  • Classes & Trainings
    • Nourish Your Mood Program, Sundays, online, March 2023 >
      • Nourish Your Mood Dates
      • Payment Plan Nourish
    • Nourish Your Solstice Mood:  - 12/18/22
    • Stress Reduction Class Oakland >
      • Stress Reduction Registration
      • Video of Orientation to Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction
    • Teaching Testimonials
    • Workplace Trainings
    • Continuing Education
  • Audio, Video, & Resources
    • Holistic Mental Health free ebook
    • Media
    • Mood Foods Interview
    • Health at Every Size Interview
    • Video of Orientation to Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction
    • Ease for Zzzs: Eating and Energy Medicine Practice to Nourish Sleep
    • Nourish your Mood Webinar for Therapists
    • Resources >
      • East Bay Farmers Markets
      • Happiness and Food Books
  • Blog

Breathe:

More Kindness for Ourselves and Each Other

Fingers and Forgiveness on September 11

9/19/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
I heard a great teaching story from Sufi mystic, spiritual leader and professional musician Imam Yassir Chadly about how all of us – yes, including spiritual leaders, can be vulnerable to reactivity, and can transform our reactivity into forgiveness.

Imam Chadly was speaking at the Open-Faith Salon, at Jewish meditation center Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley at an event, “Ecumenical Exploration of Forgiveness,” exploring forgiveness from Jewish, Muslim/Sufi, Christian and native Hawaiian perspectives. The Open-Faith Salon is dedicated to the memory and legacy of our beloved teacher –- African-American, queer, deeply feminist, leader in Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities -- Sheikh Ibrahim Farajajé, “whose work to build bridges between different faith communities remains an inspiration to all who seek to create peace and understanding through interfaith dialogue,” according to the Open Faith Salon.


Picture
Imam Chadly talked about being cut off by another driver. Like many of my favorite spiritual teachers, he made us laugh with clear observations, like noticing how difficult it is to drive at 5 in the evening “because everyone is hungry.” Reflecting on being cut off by the driver, he gave a concise and beautiful teaching about the impermanence of our thoughts and feelings, saying "I was very upset  because at the time I was very important."

I was very upset  because at the time I was very important.
Picture
When the other driver gave him the finger, he responded in kind, and then immediately felt regret for his behavior and wanted to find the other driver to apologize. But the other driver had already gone, “so I had to give it to the One who has no beginning and no end”.

Imam Chadly suggests that we establish an annual Finger Day. “First time you wake up in the morning, give someone the finger. Then you buy a Hallmark Finger Day card. Next week, someone gives you the finger, you say, ‘Oh, sorry, that was last week. You're late.’ ”


Picture
Knowing how people are, I can only imagine the responses to someone else hearing that they are too late for Finger Day. Yet telling MYSELF that I'm too late for Finger Day could be brilliant.

This warm and funny teaching reminds me of a classic intervention around worry, which is to schedule the worry. The assignment is to worry every day for example between 5 and 5:30. When worry arises at other times, the reminder is, oh, it's not the right time, Worry Time will be at 5 o'clock.

Happy Finger Day!




1 Comment

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    AIP
    Anxiety
    Autoimmune Protocol
    Class
    Engaged Buddhism
    Environment
    Food As Medicine
    Forgiveness
    Global Warming
    Ibs
    Insomnia
    Interfaith
    Joanna Macy
    Love
    Lovingkindness
    Mbsr
    Meditation
    Mindful Eating
    Mindfulness
    Pain
    Paleo
    Recipes
    Sh'ma
    Standing Rock
    Water Is Life
    Water Is Medicine
    Water Protectors

    Author

    Reba Connell teaches Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindful Eating classes in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland.

    She has completed several levels of study in teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, including a professional training program under the direction of Dr. Saki Santorelli and Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and a training in teaching Mindful Eating, through UCSD.

    She is deeply engaged with science-based and traditional approaches to healing through food and self-care. Her trainings include Food As Medicine; The Gut Brain; and Preventing and Managing Chronic Inflammation: Special Focus: Nutritional Interventions.  She has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1999.

    Finding mindfulness, movement, and food to make big differences in her own healing from chronic pain, she feels called to share what she is learning with others and to help people make their own discoveries. She is committed to a feminist approach that honors all body shapes and sizes while collaborating in radiant wellness.

    Archives

    January 2020
    February 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015



Want to talk more about how I could help you? Call 510-594-8224.

You can leave a message at any time.
You can also leave me an encrypted email here.




Integrative Health Education for Anxiety and Depression,

Emotional Freedom Techniques and Energy Psychology, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction,

Mental Health Nutrition, Body Liberation, LGBTQIA+

Couples Counseling & Psychotherapy


Continuing Education for Psychologists, Therapists, Nurses, and Health Coaches


Oakland, Rockridge, Berkeley, East Bay, San Francisco Bay Area, live online in California

Spanish-speaking therapist • psicoterapia y consejería en español

Privacy Policy


Copyright © L. Rebecca Connell. All Rights Reserved. Images courtesy of Margaretta Mitchell, deflorare.com, Sally Baker, and L. Rebecca Connell.