DLGP

Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives: Crafting Ministry in an Interconnected World

Looks Can Deceive

By: on April 27, 2022

Perception is reality.  Well at least that was the worldview of the leadership of a church I served in Pennsylvania.  It was perception that partially led to my firing.  I do not like this idea that reality is grounded on perception.  Reading Hans Rosling’s Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why…

4 responses

Leave the Drama Behind

By: on April 27, 2022

Global health expert, Hans Rosling, spent much of his career redefining how global health was perceived and engaged with. In his final book, Factfulness, Rosling challenges the reader to look at current global realities from a different perspective. While the world can feel as if little to no progress is being made in multiple areas,…

4 responses

Roslings and Yoda, Great Psychological Sages of Our Time

By: on April 26, 2022

Everyone should read this book, especially those with whom I disagree. Or maybe I got that wrong from the first chapter as the Roslings explain why we have us versus them mentality. The late psychologist’s final work on sociology and critical thinking while battling pancreatic cancer collaborated with his son Ola, a statistician, and daughter-in-law…

4 responses

Is the Cup Half-Full or Half-Empty?

By: on April 24, 2022

If you have the wrong worldview, you will make the wrong decisions. This is the premise of Factfulness, a social psychology book written by Hans Rosling and his son and daughter-in-law. After years of attempting to teach a fact-based worldview to his students, Rosling found that despite the stats before them, many intelligent and well-rounded…

7 responses

“Shields Up”: Our Defense Mechanism to Prevent Further Trauma

By: on April 21, 2022

Over the years I have used the image of the Star Trek spaceship Enterprise, under attack to illustrate the human response to threatening circumstances and relationships. This picture seemed to accurately illustrate the positive and negative effects of our unconscious, spontaneous reaction to protect ourselves. Although, our shields initially provide a safe barrier they continue…

one response

Don’t Miss the Trauma Signals

By: on April 21, 2022

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma is by far the most significant book I have read on mental health. It is about how trauma has reached epidemic levels in our societies and the various ways in which the body responds to it. These include tightened stomachs, shallow…

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Trauma Impacts Both Individuals and Society

By: on April 15, 2022

It happened over dinner. My friend’s demeanor changed in an instant. A family member of my friend had made a comment, and that was all it took. My friend got up and left the table. I followed. Over the next few hours, I entered the sacred space of hearing the memories triggered by the family…

14 responses

Traumatized to the Core of Who we are

By: on April 14, 2022

Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, the author of The Body Keeps the Score, has been studying and treating trauma for over thirty years. He is the founder and director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, a professor of psychiatry at Boston University, and has been a leading researcher of traumatic stress. In this exceptional book…

10 responses

Warrior 2

By: on April 14, 2022

There I was, standing on my yoga mat in a Warrior 2 position, Fear is a Liar was playing in the background, and then the instructor invited us to look back over our shoulder gazing at our fingertips.  She then said, “bring to mind those times in your past that hurt. See that they are…

6 responses

Orcas, Evolution and Personality

By: on April 14, 2022

I do not know anyone who is a long-time resident of the Puget Sound area that does not have some level of awe and appreciation of Orcas. Whale watching and particularly, searching for the fascinating black and white Killer Whale is a major tourist attraction. Reading Daniel Nettle’s Personality: What Makes You the Way You…

6 responses

Is There Help for Herb?

By: on April 14, 2022

His name was Herb. He attended our church on the east coast and saw that we sought a custodian. I hired him, knowing he had a history of changing jobs frequently. All went well until summer came. Forest surrounded the church and became lush and green as the weather warmed. A nearby army munitions plant…

13 responses

We are Resilient Beings

By: on April 14, 2022

After thirty years of clinical practice dealing with human trauma of all varieties, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk penned his 2014 book, “The Body keeps the Score.” The book is an intelligent guide to how the human body and mind deal with trauma. Although the book is packed full with science and neurological research, van…

8 responses

Decommodifying The Body

By: on April 13, 2022

Dutch Author Bessel Van der Kolk masterfully clarifies the complexities of the human psyche and inner world. His work specifically focuses on trauma, how it is carried in the body, and how that trauma can be addressed, befriended, and integrated. I am distinctly struck by his work around embodiment. Arguably, this book is summed up…

7 responses

The Generational Trauma of David’s Assault of Bathsheba

By: on April 13, 2022

“When the brain’s alarm system is turned on, it automatically triggers preprogrammed escape plans in the oldest part of the brain. As in other animals, the nerves and chemicals that make up our basic brain structure have different connections with your body,” informed Bessel van der Kolk in his work The Body Keeps The Score. [1] Ultimately, the…

6 responses

How are you so normal?

By: on April 13, 2022

How are you so normal? It is a question I get a lot of times after someone hears a bit of my life story. My answers is always Jesus – and I will never be convinced otherwise. Reading through Bessel Van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score was for me an invitation to dive…

4 responses

Self-Awareness of a Leader and good Understanding of Personality Sets A Leader for Success.

By: on April 11, 2022

Daniel Nettle is a Behavioral scientist, biologist and social scientist whose research work is notable for integrating Psychology with evolutionary and comparative biology who is a professor with Newcastle University. In his book, Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are,” Nettle does a great job at linking human behavior to evolutionary development, and at…

one response

When Your Alter Ego is T-Rex

By: on April 10, 2022

This past week I tripped over a makeshift gate in our garage.  In order to protect my ribs I put out my right hand to break my fall.  My right shoulder took the brunt of the fall as my arm was forces upward.  I could hear the pop in my shoulder as enjoyed the exquisite…

one response

A Journey in Self-Knowledge

By: on April 8, 2022

Reading Daniel Nettle’s “Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are” was worth it for many reasons, but especially for his closing encouragement: “None of this [the content of his book] means changing your personality. It means understanding what your personality entails, and using this information to make wise choices. This requires many things, one…

15 responses