Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
I recently visited the cemeteries and grave sites of my family. Each soul is sacred and with each grave stone there is a story. Taken together they represent my ancestral identity. I do not inhabit this world alone; my family was assigned to me without my consent. My ancestral identity surrounds me, and there is no escaping their presence. At Holyrood Cemetery lies my father’s father, … Continue reading The Power of Ancestors
Thank you all for taking time to read Just a Thought. Marsha and I so enjoy bringing the posts to life each week. It was 10 years ago that I first began sharing thoughts with fellow travelers in recovery. In 2015, at the suggestion of Geoff Nixon and Matias Caccione, the weekly Just a Thought blog was born. The midwife to birthing each post has been … Continue reading A Thought on “Just a Thought”
Try reading Finding Contentment from our home page: www.justathoughtbypat.com When Marsha and I arrived back in Seattle last fall I felt a little like Rip Van Winkle waking up to a hometown I no longer recognized. When I first left back in 1971 times were tough. This billboard said it all: As most people know, the town has been booming, fueled by new technology that … Continue reading Finding Contentment
Please check out this second installment in the Search for Inspiration series on our homepage: www.justathoughtbypat.com. In a world so obsessed with success how is it possible to embrace defeat? The book Embracing Defeat, by John W. Dower, describes how Japan did exactly that after World War II, and in so doing, accomplished the greatest turnaround of all time. For those of us who have found embracing … Continue reading Embracing Defeat
This quote from Joseph Campbell is heartening when I am in a place of deep struggle. But doesn’t the “dark night of the soul” sometimes seem unfathomably long? When my dark nights descend upon me negativity feeds on me like a hungry mushroom, my world morphs into a small, dreary place, the sun never shines, and it’s perpetually 10 minutes before midnight. These are … Continue reading The Passing of a Dark Night