Frederic C. Craigie, PhD
Welcome! You can scroll down to see the long-running welcome text below, with a brief introduction to the website and explanation of the “Goodness of Heart” theme.
MAY 2021
Spring brings glorious warm weather to Maine, where all of us who garden eagerly await the traditional time for putting plants in the ground on Memorial Day. I write this from my seasonal home in Tucson, where hundred-degree days have arrived, and most plants that are in the ground either have deep roots or benevolent human assistance.
I’ll be doing a teaching session later this month on the healing power of intention. Most of us who work in health fields are intentional about bringing compassionate presence to the people we work with. The particularly intriguing aspect of healing intention for me, though, is distant intention-- how the intention that we hold for other people may touch their lives at a distance, when they can neither see nor hear us.
There is really quite reasonable laboratory research about nonlocal connections among people. In one recent study, couples (one of whom had cancer) were separated out of contact and had a succession of short periods where one person either held the other person in healing intention, or not, according to a random schedule. Researchers found that the skin conductance (an indicator of autonomic nervous system activation) of the person to whom intention was directed was significantly greater during the intention periods than the non-intention periods.
Studies outside of laboratory settings are methodologically quite complicated. There is some thought-provoking research on the health benefits of intercessory prayer, for instance, but there are so many methodological confounds that it is hard to be very definitive about it.
For now, anyway, holding other people in a spirit of loving-kindness or healing intention might very well touch them in some way, and even without discernable distant effects, can warm your heart for having paused to give wings to your caring and love.
For this month, I’m pleased to report another award for Weekly Soul; Honorable Mention (i.e., “third place”) in the 2020 Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards competition in the category of Inspiration/motivation.
And, as always, see the short quotation/reflection updated weekly on the Weekly Reflections tab.
Take care for yourself, and take care for your neighbor.
Fred
I’ll be doing a teaching session later this month on the healing power of intention. Most of us who work in health fields are intentional about bringing compassionate presence to the people we work with. The particularly intriguing aspect of healing intention for me, though, is distant intention-- how the intention that we hold for other people may touch their lives at a distance, when they can neither see nor hear us.
There is really quite reasonable laboratory research about nonlocal connections among people. In one recent study, couples (one of whom had cancer) were separated out of contact and had a succession of short periods where one person either held the other person in healing intention, or not, according to a random schedule. Researchers found that the skin conductance (an indicator of autonomic nervous system activation) of the person to whom intention was directed was significantly greater during the intention periods than the non-intention periods.
Studies outside of laboratory settings are methodologically quite complicated. There is some thought-provoking research on the health benefits of intercessory prayer, for instance, but there are so many methodological confounds that it is hard to be very definitive about it.
For now, anyway, holding other people in a spirit of loving-kindness or healing intention might very well touch them in some way, and even without discernable distant effects, can warm your heart for having paused to give wings to your caring and love.
For this month, I’m pleased to report another award for Weekly Soul; Honorable Mention (i.e., “third place”) in the 2020 Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards competition in the category of Inspiration/motivation.
And, as always, see the short quotation/reflection updated weekly on the Weekly Reflections tab.
Take care for yourself, and take care for your neighbor.
Fred
WELCOME. Thanks for stopping by. I hope that this site offers you meaningful ideas, helpful resources, cool images and the opportunity to have some dialogue about spirituality and life-well-lived. It's also the portal for information about my books, Positive Spirituality in Health Care and Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful and Peaceful Living.
Why GOODNESS OF HEART?
In our culture and language, the word “heart” usually signifies depth and authenticity. We say, “What I know in my head is fine, but it’s what I know in my heart that really matters,” or “She’s not always consistent in what she does, but she has a good heart.” “Heart,” I think, has to do with the recognition of who we are… who we really are… and what is sacred in how we wish to be living our lives.
“Goodness” of heart signifies mindful awareness of who we really are. If you cherish kindness, or compassion, or understanding… if these qualities are sacred for you… then “goodness of heart” means to hold these qualities in front of you, to remember that this is who you really are, and to allow the energy of these qualities to direct and empower you as you move through your life.
In our culture and language, the word “heart” usually signifies depth and authenticity. We say, “What I know in my head is fine, but it’s what I know in my heart that really matters,” or “She’s not always consistent in what she does, but she has a good heart.” “Heart,” I think, has to do with the recognition of who we are… who we really are… and what is sacred in how we wish to be living our lives.
“Goodness” of heart signifies mindful awareness of who we really are. If you cherish kindness, or compassion, or understanding… if these qualities are sacred for you… then “goodness of heart” means to hold these qualities in front of you, to remember that this is who you really are, and to allow the energy of these qualities to direct and empower you as you move through your life.