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Should any heap his blame upon you, praise ye him; should he offer you a deadly poison, give him the choicest honey in exchange; and should he threaten your life, grant him a remedy that will heal him evermore . . . Perchance such ways and words from you will make this darksome world turn bright at last.
Abdul-Baha
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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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. [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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