LILIPOH – Summer 2011

I was filled with both excitement and apprehension when I received my Summer 2011 issue of Lilipoh in the mail. This issue is entitled “When Disaster Strikes,” and the words “Radiation,” “Anxiety,” and “Emergency” jumped off the cover at me. As someone who feels particularly in-tune with many of the natural and man-made disasters that have occurred around the world in recent years, and as someone who feels a bit of trepidation when I ponder the future my generation appears to be leaving for our children, I already have more than my share of anxiety. However, I was reassured by what I found inside this magazine—a common perspective and some tips for helping to change our current course.

I was filled with both excitement and apprehension when I received my Summer 2011 issue of Lilipoh in the mail. This issue is entitled “When Disaster Strikes,” and the words “Radiation,” “Anxiety,” and “Emergency” jumped off the cover at me. As someone who feels particularly in-tune with many of the natural and man-made disasters that have occurred around the world in recent years, and as someone who feels a bit of trepidation when I ponder the future my generation appears to be leaving for our children, I already have more than my share of anxiety. However, I was reassured by what I found inside this magazine—a common perspective and some tips for helping to change our current course.

This issue discusses coping with disaster, both on a macro scale and on a personal level. Susan Weber’s “How Do I Find and Create Goodness for My Children?” gives practical advice for parents who want to maintain their children’s innocence and carefree nature within a world that is neither innocent nor carefree. Simple solutions like “saving our adult conversations for later, [and] turning off televisions and radios in their presence” seem obvious, but how many of us actually do it? Weber’s key point is “[that children] imitate our deepest, innermost feelings and beliefs, and these carry them far as pillars of strength when they require it.” What could be more important than helping our children feel safe and secure in their world?

Bringing the discussion of disaster closer to home, Sharon Daley Kelly, PSYD explains in her article “Are We All Crazy?” the effect that our personal disasters have on our total mental state. Like others before her, Kelly stresses the importance of maintaining perspective when traumatic events occur in our personal lives. She also points out that “it is essential that we surround ourselves with people who believe in us and in our potential.” On the flip side (and just as important) she says that by placing ourselves in a supportive environment, “We also become more generous in our own encouragement and support of those around us.”

Trista Haggerty brings perspective on disaster to an even smaller scale with her article, “Journey to the Inner Temple: divine presence in everyday life.” While Weber and Kelly are charged with the responsibility of taking mass-scale disasters and finding a bit of small personal hope within them, Haggerty does almost the opposite. She addresses the tiny tragedies of our everyday lives: “a longtime grief over the lack of the family dinner in our home. Bad habits were fully in place with my busy family and their busy lives.” In Haggerty’s experiment, she makes a commitment to become more present and less controlling in her own life and find beauty in every moment in order to break the confines of previous patterns. Her message is hopeful because her experiment works. Haggerty finds that “The letting go that precedes grace is a necessary component. Being willing to stand in complete vulnerability is the threshold, or gateway, to a miracle waiting to occur.”

In all, I found plenty of hope and practical advice in this issue of Lilipoh. Anyone who is familiar with Rudolph Steiner and his philosophies will immediately feel at home with this magazine. It provides a holistic approach to viewing the world, processing it, and working to live within it, while still staying connected to nature. It also prizes human relationships, especially the role of a parent.
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