Summer Fire Ceremonies Heal and Transform
Jane A. Simington PHD (2014)
What is it about the camp fire that mesmerizes? What is stirred within? What dormant memories are awakened?
Fire on most of the great Medicine Wheels of the world is the element associated with the South. Sacred teachings connected with the South are about summer; about growth and productivity. These reflections from nature, the sun-filled days and the long evenings of summer sunlight, are metaphoric reminders...
Fathering Continues Beyond the Grave
©Jane A. Simington, PHD, 2014
My last visit with my Father began three days before his passing. I had known him as a man of few words, so the intensity and depth of the conversation we shared about the life we spent together marked me indelibly. He emphasized that he wished he had been able to do more [for me], to give [me] more.
My simple response, Daddy, you gave me life; you gave me my education. I could ask for nothing more, affirmed the roles that he played in my life. I left...
A Mother's Voice: Indestructible Relationships to Survive a Child's Death
© Jane A. Simington, PHD
For more than thirty years, I have been a professional, helping people as they move through difficult life experiences. I am also a bereaved mother whose son was killed when he was 13 years of age. My therapeutic practice and my comments in this article, blend my personal and professional experiences of loss and grief. As a therapist, when I work with an individual or a couple who have lost a child...
A Time for Renewal and Transformation
This morning at dawn,
prodded by a magical stirring in the air,
I wandered a wooded area
to capture signs of spring I knew would be there.
The Geese are back, the Robins too;
Pussy willows? I saw a few.
Wild things need no temple;
they need no bells to ring.
The breezes coming from the South
have told them it is spring.
In this outdoor cathedral, standing on holy ground
I marveled at the lessons of rebirth that I found.
The unborn beauty...
Hope Helps Dreams Take Flight
As we grow and develop, our life becomes structured around our ability to trust. We normally rely on trust during the course of any day. We trust that we are safe in our homes, that the health care system will meet our needs; that the person will stop at the red light; that our children will come home safely from school each day. But what happens to us and our sense of trust when our lived experience does not match what we have always taken for...
Embracing a Life of Joy and Promise
Jane A. Simington, 2014
A number of years ago, a school therapist who worked with grieving and traumatized children told me her goal was to ensure that at the end of the school year each child in her programs would know that God loved them. I questioned whether it might be a better goal for each child to come to know self love, since it is difficult to see outside of ourselves what we do not see within.
Any major loss brings with it multiple subsequent losses, and most people,...
Celebrating Magic: Welcoming New Beginnings
January brings a fresh new year, a blank canvas waiting for creation, a phenomenal opportunity for investing in new opportunities.
The ancient Romans dedicated New Year's Day to Janus, the God of gates, doors, and beginnings. Janus had two faces, allowing him to look both backwards into the old year and forwards into the new one. His image reminds us that at the beginning of a new year we have an ideal time for both reflection and...
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Author
Dr. Jane Simington, PhD
Author
Dr. Jane Simington, PhD is a grief and trauma therapist, educator, researcher and best-selling author, with an educational background in both Nursing and Psychology. The success of Dr. Jane's methods in helping more than 400 people heal and rebuild their lives after tragedy is based on her ability to combine up-to-date knowledge of grief, trauma and suicide-related issues, with an extensive knowledge of alternative healing methods, including therapeutic art, guided imagery, and energy work. Dr. Jane Simington, PhD has received recognition and awards for her work, including being honored as a Woman of Vision by Global TV, and as a Woman of Distinction by the YWCA.
