“The Lord of Animals or the Releaser of Animals, in the time before time, crossed the line from the animals’ side of things to the human side, and back. Tales of the Lord of Animals or the Master of the Hunt are everywhere present in Mediterranean, African, Siberian, aboriginal, Chinese, North European, and American Indian cultures.” - Robert Bly, Iron John Of all the archetypal forces, perhaps the most misunderstood and often the most feared is the Wild Man. From the begin

Sometimes shit just doesn’t work out. It’s the way it is. You try and try and try, and the bottom just drops out from beneath you. This is how a conversation with one of my clients was going recently. I’ve been working with her for quite a while, and I have to say she is hands down one of the most incredible women I have ever had the opportunity to work with. She has single-handedly created an immensely successful career for herself, has traveled around the world, been a

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." - Meister Eckhart Our culture is a taking culture. It is based on the premise that if we can do something, we should. When we look at the world around us through "Western" eyes, we see an endless stream of resources, possessions, things. We base our social status and ideas of success on how many things we can accumulate, and how many people notice. For hundreds of years we have been gui

I work with a lot of young people. For twelve years I have spent a lot of time being a mentor, advisor, confidante, and guide to countless teenagers and young adults. And I love the work that I do. Especially because it isn’t work to me, it is a natural extension of who I am to be the support for those around me, especially the younger ones that are hungering for some genuine connection. The other day I was working with a young woman. She’s a beautiful girl, in her early

Sometimes the right thing is letting go. There are times in our lives when the illusions we have created of how it all should be no longer serve us. They are patterned ideas of who we should be, where we should be, whom we should share our lives with. But the course of life has different plans for us. When we are confronted with these crossroads it is easy to fall into the trap of holding on. We feel the need to maintain the image we have created of what life should be at

The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds. - Dalai Lama Have you ever had the world pulled out from under you? One of those experiences where your idea of what your life would be suddenly comes crashing down? It can be an unexpected illness, the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, or the loss of a job. It can be something more subtle, like waki

The cell was cold. It was summer in the Chihuahuan Desert, and yet this tiny cinderblock room in the middle of the Doña Ana County Detention Center was freezing. I kept asking myself “How can anywhere in the desert be this fucking cold?” and the deeper questions I was afraid to ask “What did I do that got me here?” and “What don’t I remember?” It was the summer of 2002. I had been spiraling out of control for three years. I was caught in a struggle with depression that wa

One of the things that I’ve noticed over the course of my work is that men are afraid of stepping out of conventional ideas of strength and into the fire of their own wounds. It is a bit ironic, actually. To do deep psychological and spiritual work takes a lot of courage. Definitely much more courage than pretending that nothing fazes you. But our social structure has for generations taught men that the only appropriate outward display of emotion is anger, if even that. I