One of the key values of TLS is that it provides a safe place to talk. We all know how healthy and helpful it is to talk about what we're going through, what we're feeling, what we're thinking, without the fear of being corrected, taught or challenged. There are...
time to trust yourself
It's okay to trust yourself. You might have been taught to lean not on your own understanding. You might have been taught not to trust your feelings. You might have been taught that even you yourself are untrustworthy. If this is so, why not try an experiment? Trust...
Why Domestic Violence Victims Don’t Leave
Leslie Morgan Steiner gives a gripping TED talk on why she didn't leave an abusive relationship. I find things like this very helpful not only for intimate relationships but also for relationships with organizations that don't treat us well. Can you relate?
So I went back for one service…
Unlike a lot of people here on TLS, I wandered away from my church unhappy with the theology and teachings, not because the people there made me leave. This meant that most of them don't know why I stopped going (and most haven't tried to reach out, either). But I...
Marriage, gay and straight
I'm posting this here because I feel safe asking these questions without people getting angry that I asked. A couple of the people I follow on Twitter are doing the usual "you're not advocating correctly tweets," but they are saying some stuff that's making me...
Exercise: introvert, extrovert or ambivert?
I came across this really cool short online quiz that will quickly tell you whether you are: 1. introvert 2. extrovert 3. ambivert I'd never heard of "ambivert" before. But, alas, I'm an ambivert! What about you?
free download for members and new members
Hi TLSers! As of today all new members, upon joining, get a welcoming email. In this email is a free gift of a high-quality, printable download of my Sophia drawing, "Shelter"... a $40 value. It symbolizes for me the safe space TLS provides for us. So I wanted to make...
would you just love your friend
Your best friend calls. She needs to talk to you. You're worried it's about you. But when she arrives, you realize it's about her. She says, "I just need someone to talk to. I feel terrible. My beliefs are changing. I'm angry all the time. I hate my father. My kids...
the movie “Affliction” and being a father and son
Some years ago I watched a very powerful movie, "Affliction", with Nick Nolte, Wilhem Dafoe, Sissy Spacek and James Coburn. Trigger warning: it's one of the most brutally honest movies about fatherhood and abuse that I've ever seen. So please please please be warned....
I Have to Save Christmas!!
Last year, Christmas was basically ruined for my two youngest kids and myself by an awful family situation on Christmas night (and the two days leading up to it). My changing beliefs which tell me to pull back, although I wasn't over-the-top about it to begin with...
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