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Join Mark Scannell for the launch of his latest book: Affirm & Nurture: A New Look at 12 Steps. The event will be on September 17, 2024, at Sisters Sludge Cafe & Wine Bar at 7pm. Location: 3746 23rd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55407 We hope to see you there! 
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Healing Through Stories is a unique and transformative workshop designed to help participants harness the power of storytelling to heal and grow. The workshop provides a safe and supportive space for participants to share their personal stories and connect with others on a deep and meaningful level. Through a series of guided writing exercises and group discussions, participants will explore their personal narratives and learn how to use storytelling as a tool for self-expression, reflection, and healing. If you'd like to join Mark for the event, click here to email him.  Join Mark for a book launch of his new book, The Village It Takes: The Power to Affirm. The Book Launch will be on July 27, 2021 at 7pm. Join us at Sister's Sludge Coffee.   As I have tried to process and understand the events of this past week – the anger and rage of so many people, the destruction of property, described feelings of impotence, amid other things –what came to me was the following: losing is a part of living. No one of us is going to win all the time! Right? Even the best baseball hitters make out many more times than they get a hit. Like 7 times out of 10!
In line, then, with one of my favorite themes – Developing Resilience – it is important that we look at how we view losing. Does losing lead us to feel we have been cheated and that life is unfair and we feel embarrassed by what has happened to us? Or can we use mistakes and errors as ways to learn from life and become stronger people in the future? I believe this is a choice that always faces us. Which road do you take? I continue to try to learn that losing is part of living – no one of us is perfect. And if I continue to take risks to live, I will make mistakes and lose probably often. This is really the way we learn and it is the human condition. Join the race!  Greetings to you as we rapidly approach the change of years! Have we ever waited so much for the beginning of a New Year? A ritual for some at this time is to make Resolutions for the New Year. This year I am wondering whether there is any energy left to do much of anything? Let me make a case for some pluses for making Resolutions as well as offer a few suggestions to facilitate some success.
In this place I have reflected on the importance of developing Resilience – the ability both to prepare for challenges as well as rebound from adversities & challenges. I see making a few Resolutions as a way to help develop Resilience. I’d suggest a few simple steps that might help finding success in our Resolutions –
There is no way to sugarcoat what is happening to all of us these days – no one is spared! And when I say “WE”, I am including “Me”. Everything has shifted dramatically in the last several months as a result of Covid-19, the killing of George Floyd and the aftermath. We are socially distant; Churches, synagogues and mosques have closed; businesses have either been burned or closed. In a word, everything is uncertain. More than ever, this is a time that calls for developing resilience – how to stay afloat during this time of stresses, adversities, and challenges.
There is a link on this website for an article that I wrote for The Phoenix Spirit –“Resilience: Needed More than Ever Today.” There I speak of different practices that I have found helpful. In this reflection, I would like to suggest one more practice. A few months ago, I came upon a book called FINDING MEANING: THE 6TH STAGE OF GRIEF. The writer is David Kessler, who worked with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who developed the five stages of grieving: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. David’s work with people suffering losses has led him to posit a sixth stage: Finding Meaning in the loss. Today we are experiencing enormous losses. It is important and necessary to grieve these losses and not deny what we have lost. We need to name our pain as part of our grieving. Kessler also suggests that grieving is something we do not do alone. We grieve and heal as a community, a family, and a village. Resilience is to be found in these communities to which we belong, as we discover we are not alone and find support and hope to move forward. My hope is that we find people with whom to grieve as we seek to understand and make meaning out of what is happening to all of us at this moment in history. Take good care of yourself and your loved ones.  I write this article against the backdrop of the spreading impact of the pandemic that is the Covid-19 virus. As individuals, as countries, as a world community: we are confronted with how to respond in the face of the fears, if not panic, that we all to some degree feel. A most important part of our response is RESILIENCE. Over a year ago, I began to write a book on this topic – RESILIENCE: THE ABILITY TO REBOUND ADVERSITY. I had no idea that shortly we would be faced with such an adversity and challenge. I will offer some suggestions for developing resilience in these frightening times.
First, a description of Resilience – it is the ability to prepare for and recover from stresses, challenges and adversities. In this vein, I remember the words of a former pastor who would often say “Change is a given; how we respond is the key.” Challenges, adversities and stresses are often a given – how we respond and deal with them is what resilience is all about. It is interesting that this way of describing resilience emphasizes not only recovery but also preparation for those times. It is too late to close the barn door after the horses have left! Some people use the image of a battery inn describing resilience – the more our batteries are charged, the more we can do; if our batteries are run down, we are limited in what we can do. This image comes from HeartMath, a group whose work I have come to appreciate in the last year. HeartMath “is a passionate and dedicated people, steadfast in the commitment to provide solutions for activating the heart of humanity…to better recognize and access their intuitive insight and heart intelligence.” (HeartMath, 14700 West Park Ave, Boulder Creek, CA 95006.) HeartMath has been in existence since 1991. What practices, then, can help keep our batteries charged, helping us prepare for stresses as well as recovering from dealing with them? In a March, 2015 article in Psychology Today, entitled “Why Some People Are More Resilient than Others”, the author, Denise Cummings cites a study that researcher Heather Rusch performed with victims of PTSD. Her study found two important elements in developing resilience: having a sense of mastery and receiving support. I have seen the importance of both in my work as a life coach. Both of these are challenged by what is taking place in relation to this virus. Mastery is a belief that we have some control over our life situation and circumstances. The virus appears out of control and showing up all over the world. Support also appears more challenging as we are encouraged to practicing social distancing with one another and avoiding places where we usually tend to gather with others – churches, mosques, synagogues, shows , restaurants and bars, sporting events, to name a few. What can we do? I suggest practicing self-care as an absolute priority now. No matter the restrictions might be, we can practice self-care. I will share a few of these practices I have been found helpful. The first is exercise – basically getting off the couch and moving around. My wife and I have benefited from doing Pilates for many years now. Yoga, walking, and jogging are a few other ways to exercise bodies as well as gardening and shoveling snow. It is moving our bodies. A second practice relates to sleep & trying to get seven to eight hours of sleep a night. This can be challenging when we are breathing fear and anxieties. Check the internet for suggestions for helping to get deep and longer sleep. About seven years ago, my wife mentioned that I was stopping breathing during the night. I mentioned this to my internist who sent me for a sleep-study. They found I was waking up some forty times an hour. I have been using a sleep machine (CPAP) since and my sleep is deeper. Don’t be afraid to check with a professional if you are feeling tired all the time. A third practice centers around our diets. I believe we become what we eat and drink. If we eat junk food & drink junk liquids, we become junk; if we eat and drink healthy food and drink, we become healthy. Again, don’t be afraid to check with nutritionists on finding a healthy diet. The fourth practice is setting aside some time to be mindful about how we are. This means taking some time to slow down and listen and be quiet.. That can be a challenge in our fast-paced society and with all the stimuli from the media. The easiest way to do this is simply to be aware of our breathing and to breathe deeply. This exercise can ground us and relax. The fifth practice is expressing kindness. I believe a kinder world begins with each of us. This is especially important in a world filled with divisions and polarization. The alternative is showing kindness – both to others and ourselves. Expressing appreciation, gratitude and care are a few ways to exhibit kindness –and don’t forget about yourself. Support – both giving and receiving – is challenging in a world trying to deal with this virus. I would urge us to take advantage of face-to-face moments with important people in our lives. When these are impossible, I have found telephoning, e-mailing and texting as good alternatives. It is important to communicate about issues more important than the weather or a ball game. These are my reflections about ways to develop resilience in these chaotic times. Resilience is a quality we need to both prepare for and recover from dealing with our fears and anxieties in relation to this virus. I wish you the best and much resilience. -Mark Scannell
There are many ways we can express gratitude, but in this video we will talk about three very specific ideas.
Let's talk about synchronicity and how events come together that may seem like an accident or chance, but could be something more. Are you open to synchronicity and what might come to be?
When someone says thank you to you, what it your reply to them? Often times, people may return with a "thank you" back, but can we be more creative on how we receive a thank you from another person? There's always a lot of room to express and receive gratitude.
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AuthorLike millions of people in Twelve Step groups around the world, Mark T. Scannell has had an intimate relationship with the Serenity Prayer. A decades-long veteran Twelve Stepper and former Roman Catholic priest, Scannell explored the origins of the prayer that has been a staple in addiction recovery since the 1940s. From his own experience and taking a closer look at the prayer’s deeper history, he has come to believe that this age-old prayer has a vital missing element. In The Gratitude Element, Scannell invites readers to take a new look at an old prayer and see how giving thanks is a natural and essential ingredient in an appeal for serenity, courage, and wisdom. Archives
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