Jim Cogley’s Reflections Tues 13 Oct – Mon 19 Oct 2026

You can tune in to live broadcasts usually daily at 10am or recordings by going to Our Ladys Island Webcam

For ordering books at lowest prices go to jimcogley.com

Tues 13^th Oct – Simple Ritual Techniques

The postings this week offer a number of ritual techniques that many counsellors find very useful. However, they can also be used in a more private and non-counselling capacity. If used in this manner it is advisable to have someone you can deeply trust present with you. This person acts as a witness, gives support and holds objectivity. This is much like going into a solicitor’s office and signing over a property. Once it is signed, dated and witnessed it doesn’t need to be repeated. All the rituals suggested will employ active imagination as a way of accessing the unconscious and while a small percentage struggle with this the majority find it very useful. Most of these techniques are very simple and have evolved over many years and their effectiveness lies in their sheer simplicity. Having used them over a long time it has become obvious that they provide a very accurate picture of what is happening beneath the surface for so many who are struggling.

Wed 14^th Oct – Releasing a Loved One and Opening Our Hearts

The first is in relation to releasing a loved one that so many find very difficult. The hurt of loss causes us to hold on tightly but in so doing we close our hearts. The grief process is all about letting go while in so doing we are not saying farewell but are opening our hearts. This allows us to connect with the loved one at a level that even death cannot touch. Just as two birds need freedom to fly together, if tied together even with four wings they cannot fly. This ritual involves seeing ones loved one and holding their hand while feeling the quality of the relationship. Next to invite Christ into the picture and see him holding the hand of both thereby forming a triangle. Choosing to release may come easy or prove very difficult. If the latter, it helps to cease all struggle to let go and offer the difficulty and reluctance to the Lord. With this surrender the grace of release is given and usually the person is now able and very quickly gets a sense of peace and reconnection.

Thurs 15^th Oct – Resolving Ancestral Grief

The second ritual is useful when dealing with a legacy of ancestral grief. Here I offer an illustration from my own paternal story. My grandfather on that side I never knew, he had died some years before I was born. He lived in a remote area down a lane and his lovely young wife of thirty-three died in childbirth leaving him grief-stricken with a young family. All his children later died young of heart disease which spoke volumes of the unresolved grief they were carrying. There was little help or compassion at the time, and I suspect he went to his grave still holding onto his beloved. Sensing an energy block from there I visualized him and his wife between us, each holding the others hand. Then I invited Christ to come into the picture with arms outstretched in welcome. I gently addressed this man I had never spoken to before and told him it was okay to let go and, on his behalf, I also let go of my grandmother and then invited him to follow her. Later I was surprised by a visualization of him taking a pocket watch and starting it going. Time had obviously resumed!

Fri 16^th Oct – Healing Ancestral Hurt

Again, an illustration from my own story, this time from my maternal side. I find stories are far better teachers than theory and it’s safe to stay at a personal level. My mother’s father carried a huge anger throughout his life that was rooted in a deep injustice. While beginning his life at sea he was framed by a number of colleagues for the death of a fellow seaman. He was forced to leave his chosen profession in shame. At one stage his wife prayed to carry his burden and died mysteriously within a year. It’s dangerous to pray such prayers. Many years later he died but still nursing his grievance that had now become compounded by other issues like the loss of three children. Again, visualizing him along with his companions I encouraged him to forgive and, on his behalf, I choose to forgive and release them from what they had done. Going back to his death I sensed I was carrying shame that was older than myself and after that ritual I felt so much lighter. Something very dark seemed to have lifted.

Sat 17^th Oct – Releasing Worries and Concerns

Here is a ritual where we need to be on our own. Close your eyes and use your imagination for a few moments and think of yourself as blowing up a big balloon. Be aware of whatever is the most pressing need or concern of your life right now, your greatest intention, what it is that could so easily lead you down the cul-de-sac of worry? For so many it may be concern for a loved one or a health issue. With your breath just blow all those intentions into the balloon. Now take a string and tie a knot and see the balloon float away with all your worries inside. Next, and this is the crucial bit, release the string and allow the balloon to float upwards and say to yourself that this is no longer any of my business. Naturally, my ego is still strong enough to take it back and want to resume control. Here it’s useful not just to surrender something but to also let go of our tendency to take it back and simply trust that it will be held.

Sun 18^th Oct – ‘Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.’

There is a question at the heart of today’s Gospel that sounds simple enough: Whose image is on the coin?

The Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus. If he tells the people to pay taxes to Caesar, he risks alienating those who resent Roman occupation. If he tells them not to pay, he risks being accused of rebellion. But Jesus refuses to be drawn into their trap. He asks them to look at the coin and then says, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

It is a brilliant answer, but it is also a deeply spiritual one. Because Jesus invites us to ask a more important question: What belongs to God? And ultimately, to whom do we belong?

The coin carries Caesar’s image. But the Book of Genesis tells us that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God.

Caesar’s image is stamped on the coin; God’s image is stamped on the human person, on every human heart.

Before we belong to any country, profession, political party, or social group, we are human beings made in the image of God. Yet how easily we forget this. We live in a world that measures our worth by our achievements, our appearance, our income and what others think of us. We can spend a lifetime trying to prove that we are good enough, successful enough or worthy enough to be loved.

But our deepest identity is not something we achieve. It is something we receive. We are loved by God, even in our weakness, our failures and our brokenness.

Perhaps part of the spiritual journey is learning to rediscover that image of God within ourselves—and to recognize it in others. For if every person bears the image of God, it becomes harder to dismiss someone because of their opinions, their failures or their differences. The image of God remains present even when it has become difficult to see.

Jesus also reminds us that Caesar has a place, but Caesar is not God. Money, power, success, public opinion, and even our own egos can begin to occupy that central place in our lives that belongs to God alone.

So perhaps the question for us is not simply whether we fulfil our obligations to society. It is this: What has begun to take possession of my heart?

What consumes my thoughts? What am I afraid of losing? What do I defend at all costs? What do I turn to when I feel empty or anxious?

These questions are not meant to condemn us. They invite us to become more conscious of our lives. Even good things can become ultimate things. Work is good, achievement can be good, and the desire to be loved is deeply human. But none of these can bear the full weight of our identity, they are not who we are.

When Christ occupies the deepest centre of our being, we become freer to love everything and everyone else properly. We can work without making work our god, love without trying to possess, and serve without constantly needing recognition. And so Jesus says, “Give to God what belongs to God.”

Sometimes we hide parts of ourselves because we believe that a good Christian should not feel anger, experience doubt, or struggle with sadness. But the God revealed in Jesus is not frightened by our humanity. Jesus enters into it.

The spiritual journey is not about becoming less human in order to become more spiritual. It is about discovering that our humanity, honestly lived and offered to God, becomes the very place where grace meets us.

This transformation happens in the ordinary moments of life: the apology we finally make, the resentment we begin to release, the person we choose to listen to, and the kindness we offer when nobody is watching.

My friends, perhaps we might imagine holding a coin in our hands and then imagine holding our own lives. What image has the world stamped upon us? The image of the successful person who must never fail? The strong person who must never show weakness? The good parent, priest or friend who must always have the right answer?

We can spend so much of our lives trying to live up to these images that we lose touch with the deeper truth of who we are.

And Jesus asks us to remember whose image we bear.

What would change if we truly believed that we belong to God? Perhaps we would become less defensive, more compassionate and more generous. Perhaps we would stop trying so hard to prove our worth and begin living from the worth that has already been given to us.

The coin bears Caesar’s image, but our lives bear the image of God.

Our calling is to allow that image to become more visible in the way we live: in our integrity, our compassion, our forgiveness and our love for one another.

We are not merely people who believe in God. We are people who belong to God.

And when we begin to live from that truth, we discover a freedom the world cannot give us and a dignity the world cannot take away.

Mon 19^th Oct – Rescuing our Inner Child

Ou childhood days pass very quickly, yet paradoxically out childhood remains with us and forms an essential part of who we are as adults both in a positive and a negative way. It is the foundation of our lives and where there are cracks they may not appear until we are well into adult life. What we feel we have put behind us will one day appear once again in front of us. Our childhood experiences form the lens through which we see our adult life. Traumas from there like neglect, rejection, loss or abuse will revisit us at a later time and even seem to replicate themselves in order to demand our attention. These are sacred parts of ourselves that are seeking integration and hospitality. A useful exercise here is to visualize that lost, wounded or unloved part of ourselves and become the parent to that inner child. This is not just a once off exercise but merits to be repeated even using something like a cushion or pillow as a visual aid. When that wounded part of us feels held it is like any hurt child that when comforted by the parent it then runs off quite happy and content.