Strive to be of Value

To many people, this post will not make any sense.  It has been several years now since my aunt died. She never went to college.  She was heavy.  She had human problems.  But, dispatch for the local fire department, the whole community came together when she died. Every strong and…

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I Choose Astonishment (Part 1)

As a poet and reader, I love words. As a child “dyslexicly” trying to make sense of inky scribblings and smudges on paper, I fell in love with the majesty of language. I was amazed at the way words can create whole new worlds and change the contours of how…

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Affective Prosperity

af·fec·tive (adj): relating to, arising from, or influencing feelings or emotions pros·per·i·ty (noun):  a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition Affective Prosperity is the principal that all of our authentic emotions and feelings add a texture and richness to life, and can be a creative force to be drawn upon to…

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The Rain Stick

No one is sure of the exact origin of the Rain Stick. Ancient versions of the percussion instrument have been found in Africa, pre-Mayan Peru and with the Aztecs in Mexico. They have been discovered among the artifacts of the Diaguita people of northern Chile and Argentina, as well as…

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What Good Are Words?

What good are words?  Can there ever be a poetry that saves nations or people? Abraham Joshua Heschel pointed out that “the Holocaust did not begin with the building of crematoria, with tanks and guns. It began with uttering evil words, with defamation, with language and propaganda. Words create worlds.”

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Accepting Hardship

. . . and when everything feels like it is too much, when the full density of world is slipping loose from tired fingers and there is just so much that you do not know, let yourself breathe, breathe into the realization that: I do not understand;  I do not…

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Our Most Humble Strengths

** This post first appeared on Positive Psychology News Daily. Forgiveness. Mercy. Prudence. Modesty. The strengths of temperance don’t get as much attention as our more muscular qualities. Yet in a certain sense, maybe this cluster of strengths enables every other strength, and thus makes the good life possible.    Excitement…

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Welcome to JohnSeanDoyle.com

Thank you for your interest in www.JohnSeanDoyle.com. I am Sean Doyle.  In this blog, I explore the poetry and science of well-being.  It is an invitation to inject a little more hope, affection and meaning into the world.  It is about recovering a reverence for being, and creating a culture…

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