Human Needs
Reflections on the deeply human needs that shape our lives, to be seen, heard, welcomed, accepted, understood, loved, remembered, and witnessed; to belong, to matter, and to know we have a place.
-
Human Needs | To Be Calm
Before we can ask what a life means, there are needs that allow us simply to inhabit it. To be calm is not the same as having nothing to worry about. Human life rarely offers that kind of certainty. Calm is the experience of having enough internal quiet that we are not being pulled in… Continue reading
-
Human Needs | To Be Safe
Before we can ask what a life means, there are needs that allow us simply to inhabit it. To be safe is one of the most basic human needs, but safety is larger than the absence of immediate danger. We need environments, relationships, and circumstances that allow the body and mind to loosen their constant… Continue reading
-
Human Needs | To Rest
Before we can ask what a life means, there are needs that allow us simply to inhabit it. To rest is more than sleep. It is the human need to stop carrying, producing, solving, responding, and enduring for a while. Rest gives the body and mind permission to loosen their grip. It creates a space… Continue reading
-
Human Needs | To Be Present
Before we can ask what a life means, there are needs that allow us simply to inhabit it. To be present is to be able to recognize that we are here, in this moment, inside the life that is happening now. It does not require perfect attention, constant gratitude, or the ability to quiet every… Continue reading
-
Arriving at 56
Today, at 12:10 in the afternoon, I will officially be fifty-six years old. I was born at Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, on September 6, 1970, which makes me a Virgo by date and, depending on who you ask, apparently explains quite a bit about me. I can certainly recognize some of those traits… Continue reading
-
Human Needs | To Live
Before we can ask what a life means, there are needs that allow us simply to inhabit it. To live sounds like the simplest of human needs. We are alive, therefore we are living. But being biologically alive and experiencing ourselves as participants in our own lives are not always the same thing. To live… Continue reading
-
Behind the Puddle | To Everyone Who Came to See What Was Behind the Puddle
When I began writing Puddle Stories, I wasn’t trying to create anything. I was actually feeling rather lost and isolated, and this little puddle outside my door had quietly become a place where I could sit, notice, and find pieces of myself again. Eventually, I began sharing some of what I was seeing and thinking,… Continue reading
-
When Loving Someone Has to Look Different
There are kinds of grief that arrive after someone dies. And there are kinds of grief that begin while someone is still very much alive. When someone we love is living with dementia, the losses rarely arrive all at once. They come in pieces. A conversation that no longer happens the way it once did.… Continue reading
-
The Human Needs
Behind the Puddle began with a place. It began with a chair, a shallow body of water, familiar wildlife, changing weather, and the decision to become more attentive to what was already happening around me. But over time, it has become about more than the puddle. It has become a way of noticing what it… Continue reading
-
The Human Need To Be Heard
There is a difference between someone hearing our words and feeling heard. Most of us know the difference. We know what it feels like when someone is waiting for us to finish so they can speak. When our story becomes an opening for theirs. When we answer a question only to realize the answer was… Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.