Category Archives: Sobriety

Living in Your Own Skin

Woodrow Wilson observed, “If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.”  I had an opportunity to examine my conscience a number of years ago on a trip to Bloomington, Indiana to visit Marsha’s parents. It was there I was introduced to a Yorkshire terrier named Dusty. Dusty was a straightforward … Continue reading Living in Your Own Skin »

Finding Our Better Angels

After my recent post on toxic masculinity I found I was drained to the bone. I kept asking myself — how in the name of God will we ever survive ourselves? And then, as so often is the case, I remembered something Abraham Lincoln once said: “The mystic chords of memory… will yet swell…when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of … Continue reading Finding Our Better Angels »

A Different Way of Praying

“Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument for action.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi At a critical time in my life I was introduced to a different kind of praying: one that was constituted around active engagement rather than passive reflection. The kind  of praying that gets you off your knees and onto your feet. The … Continue reading A Different Way of Praying »

My Restless Closet

“There is something about a closet that makes a skeleton terribly restless.” ~ Wilson Mizner  My early memories of skeletons involved people in my family — the ones we DIDN’T talk about. Grandpa Jack Great Uncle Mike Aunt Peggy  The one characteristic they shared was their alcoholism. I learned from a very young age: We didn’t talk about alcoholism. Ever. So from the age of … Continue reading My Restless Closet »