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The Embrace #21: The Election: Moving from Shock to Love
The Election: Moving from Shock to Love By Michael Mark Voting this year felt like trying to distill years of carefully-gathered hope and passion into a single, oval-shaped grunt. It was like trying to create a landscape painting with a single prick of ink. It's not...
The Embrace #20: Matthew, the Hurricane, Meets A Course of Love
Matthew, the Hurricane, Meets A Course of Love By Paula Payne Hardin October 14, 2016 There is an afterglow bathing my community of Vero Beach, Florida. The Category 4 hurricane named Matthew, due to make a direct hit sometime during the night of October 6 through 7,...
The Embrace #19: The Politics of Acceptance
The Politics of Acceptance By Michael Mark It's that time again here in the US. I'm increasingly confronted by discussions of politics. They're coming into the home, the office, the car. With the menu, the memo, the mail. And why not? We're saturated by it right now....
The Embrace #18: Expanding Our View of Ourselves . . . with Yes
Expanding Our View of Ourselves . . . with Yes By Mari Perron, First Receiver I'm in a "yes" year. I came up with the idea of having a year in which I'd say "Yes" to all that this Course would bring me before I heard that Shonda Rhimes had already coined the phrase a...
The Embrace #17: My Wild Ride
My Wild Ride By Paula Payne Hardin The ad for A Course of Love shimmered on the page in October 2014. Within a few days the book was delivered to my home—and so began a wild year for me! A year I wouldn't trade for anything. A year of facing my life at a deep level,...
The Embrace #16: In Memoriam – A Final Article from Douwe: Untangling Life’s Traffic Jams
In Memoriam - A Final Article from Douwe: Untangling Life's Traffic Jams By Douwe vanderZee Editor's note: We are deeply impacted to learn that our "elephant whisperer" friend, Douwe vanderZee passed away in an automotive incident in his native South Africa. When we...
The Embrace #15: Depression, Acceptance, Transformation
Depression, Acceptance, Transformation By Douwe vanderZee From as far back as I can recall, I suffered from a virtually constant underlying anxiety. I felt very alone, and had difficulty communicating. I longed for meaningful relationships, but seemed unable to...
The Embrace #14: I Love Them Both
I Love Them Both By Michael Mark [Editor's note: The following, reprinted with the author's permission, was first published on Amazon.com as a review on February 27, 2016.] I offer you no credentials, no histories or justifications. The purpose of this review is to...
The Embrace #13: Miracles in Buenos Aires
Miracles in Buenos Aires By Sebastian Blaksley [Editor's note: On Monday, March 28, we received an email asking how to "do whatever we can to share the words of Love of ACOL to others in Argentina." Following a conversation, he agreed to write of his experience,...











