I have tried to tell the story of frustration in a one-day seminar, a two-day course, and even a three-day course, but I remain unsatisfied that the story has truly been heard. If one is to believe Chris Anderson, the curator for TED Talks, my problem has been too many words. According to him, the…

Camping in March. It seemed like a good idea at the time.  We got pulled in by the sight of the sun, the lure of the beach, and the promise of warmer days ahead. But those days were not yet, and the rain was unrelenting. We live in a rainforest on the West Coast of…

The theme of Neufeld Institute Conference 2022 is the recovery of well-being, especially during and after times of stress. Given the central role of play in this process, we asked some of our conference presenters to share stories that provide a glimpse of play at work. The following are three of the stories that were…

I was recently fortunate enough to take a solo trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island – the land of ancient cedars and shore pine bogs, long stretching beaches and the mighty Pacific Ocean with its endless horizon and powerful waves. One afternoon on this trip, in a particularly reflective place, I found myself…

The passing of time – we all experience it. It is not something that can be escaped, only acknowledged or denied. But what if the relationship we take up with time could change our experience of it?  For some of us, we have recently celebrated the beginning of a new “calendar” year: January 1st. I…

As we begin another not-quite-usual holiday season, we wanted to share with you, once again, some seasonal offerings from our homes to yours. In looking at the writings that Neufeld Institute faculty submitted this year, it became clear that what I had in front of me was a collection of togetherness rituals— annual activities that…

I feel fortunate that I discovered the Neufeld approach to parenting when my children were quite young, so I knew that they needed me to help bridge the night. But knowledge wasn’t everything. I had to find my sense of play as a parent, too, lest I frustrate myself and begrudgingly wonder why my children…

There’s a hole in my bucket … I can’t say the words without hearing Harry Belafonte’s smooth mellow voice singing the words to this 400-year-old nursery rhyme – a most humorous depiction of futility: going round and round in circles without getting anywhere. A ‘hole in the bucket’ is, in fact, more than just a…

Re-entry has begun and we are now preparing to return to parts of our lives, like work and schooling, without knowing exactly what this looks like. How do we lead our children? What do they need from us? Can they adapt to the new realities of social distancing at schools and will this create anxiety…

The world can be an alarming place. Difficult things happen that are out of our control. And yet, it is not about the trauma itself–what happens or doesn’t happen to us or around us– but what happens inside of us as a result. And about who is, or isn’t, present with us in our pain.   This is…

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