Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
As I watched the January 6 hearings and thought about the upcoming midterm elections this observation from George Washington chillingly came to mind. “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” His thought on power didn’t come out of nowhere; rather, it described how he experienced the interplay of politics and … Continue reading The Power in Walking Away
A while back I introduced you to the poetry of my niece who writes under the pen name, Otissus. She possess the gift found in so many good poets of being able to render into verse her deepest life experiences. Here she shares a poem on vocation, followed by a prose reflection. In her words, “Perhaps we could call it, a Metapoetic? The goal is … Continue reading Vocation (by Otissus)
“When our soul has been cast down, has never an invisible voice whispered, ‘There is lifting up’? Have not gales and breezes of sweet and healing thought been wafted over us, as if an angel had shaken from his wings the odors of paradise?” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe When Marsha recently wheeled me into the emergency room at Providence Hospital in Everett I was experiencing … Continue reading The Healing Power of Love
I recently visited my friend Joe Thomas in Mobile, Alabama. It was my first trip away from the Northwest in three years and I was really looking forward to it. Joe and I go back more than fifty years and when we do get together we unabashedly indulge our Three Great Pleasures: Food Football Fellowship Now with each passing year I’m ever more grateful to … Continue reading A Master Class In Living In The Moment
“If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” These questions posed by Rabbi Hillel have tripped me up more than a time to two in my life. In fact, I can think of few questions that are as vexing. My sense of self, who I think I am, is … Continue reading The Rabbi’s Question