Susan Gammage: Bahai-inspired Life Coaching

The Lies We Tell Ourselves – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Bahá’í Life Coach I’m a failure. I’m stupid. I’m not worthy. I’ll never get what I want. People aren’t interested in what I have to say. Do any of these messages sound familiar? Most of us have them in one variation or another. This form of negative self-talk gets repeated over and [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

When Marriage Becomes Abusive: One Baha’is Perspective

By Susan Gammage Here are some quotes to consider. First of all, violent acts are forbidden and Assemblies are not to tolerate domestic violence. The National Spiritual Assembly will not tolerate domestic violence and condemns its existence. Violent acts are forbidden. The Universal House of Justice has said: “Acts of violence might properly be regarded [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Bruce Matthew – Knight of Baha’u’llah

Goose Bay, Labrador By Lynn Wright and Susan Gammage I (Susan) met Bruce Matthew at a Bahá’í Summer School in Minden Ontario in the late 1980’s. He’d been asked to be the guest speaker for an adult school, and his topic was “Body, Mind and Spirit”. I was impressed because he had enough material [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Learning Together to Have Reverence

By Rachel Perry I am a single mother of an eight-year-old daughter. Although her father and I have worked out a peaceful co-parenting arrangement, there are still the inevitable challenges in parenting that come from a separated family structure. One of the challenges my daughter and I often face is that of practicing the morning [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

A Story of Generosity

By Rachel Perry I am currently working with a group of families in my neighbourhood to hold regular children’s classes and a junior youth empowerment program. The workload involved with this project, the efforts to coordinate, to plan, to implement, to reflect and to manage the dozens of children and continuous growth is daunting at [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

A Thought of Peace

By Rachel Perry I’m teaching an English as an Additional Language class of 18 students at a local college. They come from all over the world from places such as Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Iran, and each of them having been giving presentations about their homelands for the past couple weeks. Last [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Abuse and Violence FAQ – One Baha’i’s Perspective

Frequently Asked Questions on Recovering from Abuse By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach The following is a synthesis of questions and comments made to me when people are in the process of recovering from abuse and violence. If you think of something I’ve missed, please let me know and I’ll add it. I hope you [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Inuit History 101 – As I Understand It

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach I’ve had the bounty of house-sitting in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut for 10 weeks and during that time I’ve been exposed to a lot of information about the community, which left me with a lot of questions. Recently I read a study called The Little Voices of Nunavut: A [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Fighting with God – One Baha’i’s Perspective

Fighting with God By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach When we first come across the Bahá’í Faith, it’s easy to criticize and judge the standards through our own eyes, and it can be a great test to us when we find Writings we don’t agree with particularly those that require us to make significant changes [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Holy Day Celebration for th Martyrdom of the Bab

Holy Day Celebration for the Martyrdom of the Báb By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach Public Square where the Martyrdom took Place “There is no paradise more wondrous for any soul than to be exposed to God’s Manifestation in His Day, to hear His verses and believe in them, to attain His presence, which is [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Healthy and Unhealthy Guilt and Shame – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach Is it possible to rid myself of a childhood steeped in Catholic guilt? Is guilt a healthy emotion? Does God want me to feel guilty for “sins of omission”, things I didn’t do which the Baha’i Writings suggest I do, and I want to do? If I pray each [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Bahá’í Quotes on the Importance of Teaching the Inuit (Eskimo)

If it is possible, send ye teachers to other portions of Canada; likewise, dispatch ye teachers to Greenland and the home of the Eskimos. (Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 95-96) God willing, the call of the Kingdom may reach the ears of the Eskimos, the inhabitants of the Islands of Franklin in the [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Doubt and Fear – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach Based on a talk by Jeremy McClung of Muskoka Community Church God has asked us to trust him and has made some strong promises to those who do: He that giveth up himself wholly to God, God shall, assuredly, be with him; and he that placeth his complete [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Fight, Flight or Freeze – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach God created us with a fight, flight or freeze response to fear, which is innate and useful in getting us out of dangerous situations. When it becomes permanently “on”, however, it becomes part of our lower nature and we have an opportunity to do something about it. Each one [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Courage – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Bahá’í Life Coach I’m on a travel teaching trip to Nunavut, in Canada’s arctic and I have a dream about a cougar, which symbolizes courage. Richard Hastings, a Bahá’í who analyzes dreams suggested in part: The cougar is a symbol of being courageous and independent. So you are trying to take back [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Baha’i Program for the Feast of Names

Feast of Names By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach What are the names of God? I’ve put together a list of 405 names of God culled from the Long Healing Prayer and from a list given by Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum in her book “The Desire of the World”, p. 167-186. They are presented in alphabetical order. [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Assessing Character – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach As we saw in part 1, it’s a Baha’i requirement for both partners and their parents to become acquainted with the character of those wanting to marry. Here are some more questions for each of the parties to consider and discuss with their parents, based on the most common [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Consent to Marriage – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach In the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah has made it obligatory for all living parents to give consent to the marriage before it can take place, to ensure peace in the family: Bahá’u’lláh has clearly stated the consent of all living parents is required for a Bahá’í marriage. This applies whether [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Drawing Closer to God – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach Since the entire purpose of our existence is to know and worship God, many people want to know how they can do this, when God feels so far away or so outside their realm of knowledge and understanding. First of all, we need to understand He’s not way up [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

The Dark Night of the Soul – One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach A comment on Bahá’í Forums the other day caught by attention and got me thinking. The post read: “The Dark Night of the Soul is a phase which people who have come to spiritual maturity go through, when they feel utterly forsaken by God, absolutely miserable, with no “nice [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Reflecting on Inuit Values

I found this in the Nunavut News North, Monday Dec 3, 2012, p.12 as an “Opinion Piece” in a column called “In My View”, written by Harry Maksagak of Cambridge Bay. As I read it, I couldn’t help but think about how much the Inuit have to teach the Bahá’ís; and the world. Bahá’ís all [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

How Do I Know When It’s Time To Divorce? One Baha’i’s Perspective

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach As you know, divorce is strongly discouraged in the Faith. Bahá’u’lláh has laid great emphasis on the sanctity of marriage, and the believers should exert their utmost to create harmony in their homes . . . But if, after prayer and self-sacrificing effort, this proves quite impossible, then [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Using the Marriage Tablet as a Prescription for Preventing and Healing Troubled Marriages

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach This is not a tablet at all, but is an unauthenticated record by Ahmad Sohrab of a talk by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The friends may use it, but it should be made clear that this is not Bahá’í scripture. (Universal House of Justice, published in American Bahá’í, 1992-09) What follows is [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Dealing with Anger in Marriage

By Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach I had a client ask about how to deal with her husband’s anger. This is how I responded: The key is forgiveness. Here is a quote to consider As a devoted believer you are urged to strive to develop forgiveness in your heart . . . and to attain [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail

Day by Day in Rankin Inlet

Random thoughts and Facebook Postings By Susan Gammage, Bahá’í Life Coach Day 68: Minus 35, feels like minus 51 Today is my last day and I’m spending it mostly waiting! Most of my loose ends are tied up and I’m eager to finish this chapter and get on with the next one. Unless something unusual [...] Share this:FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintEmail