Most of us don’t think about our circumstances. We are like fish swimming in a body of water that is getting ever more poisonous. We don’t see how sick we are becoming simply due to the toxicity of the water. We adapt to living with environmental hazards and minimize toxicity. After all, other fish swim| The Phoenix Spirit
Month: September 2018| thephoenixspirit.com
Imperfect as we are, parents today deserve all the credit in the world for raising children in challenging times. Many of us fret over how we’re doing as parents. Examining our part in our children’s pain can be the most painful thing we do in life. Seeing our kids suffer today due to our own| The Phoenix Spirit
Are parents really in charge of their families today? Most parents would say, "Of course we are!" The more honest answer is, "Probably not." Popular media, peer culture and our very own beloved children themselves often run our families today. Don't get me wrong. We parents really do love our children. It's just that we| The Phoenix Spirit
Our children will not go to hell in a hand basket if we occasionally spoil them. All of us could use a little pampering and a day off work from time to time. Children who are given excess attention and protection are at least getting the message that they're loved. Unfortunately that's only half the| The Phoenix Spirit
The Phoenix · Having Healthy Boundaries: A Necessary Way to Love To know where you begin and I end is necessary for me to respect you, for me to be respected by you, and for me to respect myself. Without respect, there is no authentic love. Every time I visit my family I come| The Phoenix Spirit
Editor’s note: In the last issue of The Phoenix Spirit, John Driggs lent his more than 40 years of experience working with individuals, couples and families, to the topic of how to help foster moral character in children. Driggs aptly acknowledged that parents and other caregivers are not wholly responsible on how kids turn out,| The Phoenix Spirit
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? — Mark 8:36 If you're a parent, you've heard it all before. First it's the Mozart tapes you have to buy for your developing baby in the womb so your little Johnnie or Mary will be months| The Phoenix Spirit
You know, e v e r y holiday and birthday is like a dagger in my back. Sometimes I just lie on my bed and cry my eyes out. I adopted Maria when she was two-years-old as I couldn’t have children of my own and had no husband. Her mom died of a drug overdose.| The Phoenix Spirit
Our greatest life decisions are always made on the basis of incomplete information. ~Sheldon Kopp, psychoanalyst and author Probably the most difficult decision we’ll ever make in our lifetime is deciding to stay or leave a life partner when the relationship has been continually unfulfilling. Certainly the right decision is generally unclear to us. Most| The Phoenix Spirit
Gambling is becoming a way of life, to the detriment of individual and family lives. Poker is becoming increasingly popular, now offered in neighborhood bars. Buses transport gamblers to casinos from convenient locations. Exposure on TV, video games and the Internet is increasing. Gambling is being considered as a means to increase revenue for the| The Phoenix Spirit
Good character is doing the right thing when nobody else is looking. When I first met Jamil I didn’t know what to think. He is a charming, funny and intelligent man from Somalia who is active in his community here in the States. He helps many of his own country persons to make it in| The Phoenix Spirit
I've never been a woman who just couldn't live without having kids. In fact, when Bob approached me after two years of married life and said he wanted kids, I told him I wasn't sure I was ready. I said first he would have to save for a trust fund for all the therapy our| The Phoenix Spirit
Some of us are not aware of people who lack a conscience—those who lack empathy for others and cannot tolerate differences between themselves and others. Our lack of awareness is sometimes prompted by a misguided fear of being judgmental of others and an over willingness to give others the benefit of the doubt. The fact| The Phoenix Spirit
You know, about thirty years ago I had a big decision to make while dating my wife-to-be. I could either hide the fact that I had a son that I had never seen before or else tell her the whole truth and risk losing her by paying back child support that I owed my son| The Phoenix Spirit