The Dark Ages

Dear ETK Family, 

I hope all of you had a restful and memorable holiday this past  December. It was certainly good to see so many of you at the Myerson for the dinner and symphony; a heart-felt appreciation from all of us to Doug Kramp for sponsoring that event each year! 

Meanwhile, here we are now in the depths January as we begin 2015. I worked with a teacher once in the public schools who always called the time frame encompassing January and February the “Dark Ages.” I understood completely. There is something about these cold, dreary months that can overwhelm our need for hopefulness and send us tumbling instead into various levels of despair and gloom. So how do we cope until March arrives with its promise of spring and summer? 

To begin with, I often remind my clients that there is a purpose for the Dark Ages. There is the thought that there is much for us to learn about ourselves in those extended moments when we are not on top of the world, when we experience times of despondency, when life itself feels desolate. Those are “soul” moments, according to therapist and theologian Thomas Moore – i.e., a time for us to discover much about the mystery and meaning of our lives. Whoever said it is always darkest before the dawn must have had his or her finger on the pulse of life itself, understanding that in sculpting our lives in a positive manner we have to utilize the mud of our darkest hours. 

That being said, we still have to ultimately find a way to right ourselves during these months of winter. Included in this newsletter are several ideas about how to survive the “Dark Ages”, so I leave you with the promise of many blossoms ahead.