Margie Slaughter, Crossroads Counseling Services LLC

12/19/2025

12/07/2025

👀COMMENTARY: In times when virtue is obscure, here is a 2007 illustration by graphic designer Jim Lancet depicting Aristotle’s ethical framework from the Nicomachean Ethics called the "Golden Mean." The infographic below depicts the “golden mean” principle, where virtue is the balanced midpoint between two extremes of vice—one of deficiency and one of excess.

The virtuous action or character trait, relative to the individual and the circumstance, is the appropriate "balanced midpoint" that fits a specific situation, determined by practical reason and applies primarily to emotions and actions.

📜Mario Lotmore, Lynnwood Times

12/02/2025

12/01/2025

11/30/2025

"A love affair has to do with immediate personal satisfaction. But marriage is an ordeal; it means yielding, time and again. That's why it's a sacrament: you give up your personal simplicity to participate in a relationship. And when you're giving, you're not giving to the other person: you're giving to the relationship. And if you realize you are in the relationship just as the other person is, then it becomes life building, a life fostering and enriching experience, not an impoverishment because you're giving to somebody else. . .

This is the challenge of a marriage. What a beautiful thing is a life together as growing personalities, each helping the other to flower, rather than just moving into the standard archetype. It's a wonderful moment when people can make the decision to be something quite astonishing and unexpected, rather than cookie-mold products."
- Joseph Campbell

From An Open Life: Joseph Campbell in Conversation with Michael Toms p. 127

11/26/2025

Note to self and so many others

11/17/2025

Letter from Jung, December 15, 1933.

Dear Frau V.,

Your questions are unanswerable because you want to know how one ought to live. One lives as one can. There is no single, definite way for the individual which is prescribed for him or would be the proper one. If that’s what you want you had best join the Catholic Church, where they tell you what’s what. Moreover this way fits in with the average way of mankind in general. But if you want to go your individual way, it is the way you make for yourself, which is never prescribed, which you do not know in advance, and which simply comes into being of itself when you put one foot in front of the other. If you always do the next thing that needs to be done, you will go most safely and sure-footedly along the path prescribed by your unconscious. Then it is naturally no help at all to speculate about how you ought to live. And then you know, too, that you cannot know it, but quietly do the next and most necessary thing. So long as you think you don’t yet know what this is, you still have too much money to spend in useless speculation. But if you do with conviction the next and most necessary thing, you are always doing something meaningful and intended by fate. With kind regards and wishes,

Yours sincerely,

C.G. Jung

Art: Gerhard Munthe

11/12/2025

This, if you are interested in the enneagram

11/03/2025

Resilience isn’t just a personality trait, it’s a trainable circuit in the brain. Neuroscience reveals that when you face discomfort, obstacles, or challenges and choose to persist, neural pathways associated with resilience strengthen through neuroplasticity, much like building a muscle.

Every time you push through stress or adversity, the brain adapts. Neurons communicate more efficiently, connections become stronger, and the brain becomes better equipped to manage future challenges. This isn’t theoretical, studies show that repeated exposure to manageable stressors and deliberate practice in facing discomfort rewires the brain for greater endurance, emotional regulation, and problem-solving.

The concept of resilience training is rooted in the brain’s ability to adapt. Neuroplasticity allows the mind to reorganize itself, forming new circuits in response to experience. By intentionally confronting challenges, whether in physical training, learning, or emotional situations, these circuits become robust, allowing individuals to respond more effectively to stress.

This has profound implications for personal growth, mental health, and performance. Individuals who regularly practice resilience-building habits, such as goal-setting, reflection, or stepping outside comfort zones, show improved coping skills, reduced anxiety, and greater persistence. It demonstrates that strength of mind can be cultivated systematically, rather than being purely innate.

Reflecting on this, science reminds us that the brain is remarkably adaptive. By viewing challenges as opportunities to exercise resilience, we can consciously shape our neural architecture. Persistence strengthens not only skills and character but the very circuits that govern how we respond to life’s difficulties. Resilience, like a muscle, grows with deliberate practice and consistent effort.