Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
On this anniversary of the signing of the Armistice ending the First World War my thoughts have gone to wars that never end and a peace that can’t be found. The Armistice we commemorate was not a call for a German unconditional surrender. Instead it signaled a suspension of hostilities, a break in the fighting, a call for a negotiated settlement. It was neither decisive … Continue reading Surrender
I realize how difficult it’s been for me to smile these days, with so much coming at us from so many different directions. So I thought I might share the story again of an old woman who helped me find my smile. I met her while I was in India. She and her extended family lived on the sidewalk next to my hotel. I passed … Continue reading Reclaiming Our Smiles
Perhaps in this upside down world of ours you’ve asked yourself this same angst-filled question. What drives us to act the way we do? Well, one man offered up some intriguing answers. In 1950 Bertrand Russell, who once famously said, “I’d never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong,” was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. His acceptance speech attempted to answer the question of … Continue reading What Drives Us?
“Life is only as serious or as humorous as YOU make it. Lighten up. Go play softball. Fly a kite. Dance with your dog. Smile… it makes people wonder what you’re up to.” ~ Charlie Brown I don’t want to draw too fine a point on this admission, but I learned a whole lot from reading the Peanuts comic strip growing up. I discovered early … Continue reading Life According To Charlie Brown
When the despair of the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s life may be, I go lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come … Continue reading On Being Alive