So here is the deal, I have been buried in work. Not surprisingly, when you stay sober for and extended period of time and maintain a modicum of sanity there are those who are will to throw variety of tasks and a paycheck your way. Go figure. Then my wife took ill. We were blessed […]
The Reason for Suffering and Struggles
June 23, 2015 By 2 Comments
Imagine I take my one-and-a-half-year-old grandson Oliver to the doctor. A vaccination is on the docket and a sharp shiny needle pierces his tender arm. Oliver belts a horrifying shriek and whimpers. He doesn’t understand that the shot is intended to protect him from a life-threatening illness. He only knows he’s in pain and grandpa […]
Overcoming Shame–A Personal Story
June 2, 2015 By Leave a Comment
If only shame were fleeting and impermanent. But it’s not. It’s sticky. Hard to remove. Crippling. Unlike justified guilt, which just tells me I did something wrong, shame says I am wrong-–defective to the core. Avoid me. Shun me. Whisk the children away at my coming. Guilt, if heeded, can be productive. I change my […]
Faith Must Be Fed
May 18, 2015 By Leave a Comment
I am not what you would call a musical prodigy. There was a time after years of practice that I could pound out a reasonably passable tune on the piano. Take away the practice for any period of time, however, and my full repertoire reverts back to a rather mechanical rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little […]
True Tolerance
May 11, 2015 By Leave a Comment
The foundation of true spirituality is an insight that seems, at first, counter intuitive: we are all imperfect. We are all flawed. We are all broken. If there is any doubt of this fundamental truth, consider the opposite. The prideful being. The being that looks down on others or considers himself superior, no matter how […]
Crushing the Mental Obsession
May 3, 2015 By 2 Comments
I thought about drinking. Not on occasion. Not when the weekend rolled around. Not when the workday drew to a close. But constantly. I was obsessed with the thought of a drink whenever alcohol was not metabolizing in my system. The mental obsession was my constant companion for over twenty years. But for the past […]
The Ball and Chain…
April 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment
The first drink had few consequences. Sure there was the dry mouth and the shards of glass rattling around in my brain the next morning. But that cleared up relatively quickly. I didn’t drink again for a year. The second drink was a few shots of gin before high school wrestling practice. My coach asked […]
More on Acceptance
April 6, 2015 By 1 Comment
“Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” — Michael J. Fox While it is important to accept life as it is, there is a catch. Acceptance implies that I am fully conscious and aware of how things really are, […]
99 Bottles of Skyy on the Shelf…
March 30, 2015 By Leave a Comment
…I think I am sharing the wealth. Within a two mile radius of my home are a plethora of drugstores, grocery stores, convenience stores and liquor stores that can meet my need for one half-pint of Skyy vodka. Always just one. Each intended to be the last. Over the course of the day I vary […]
Live Your Way into Right Thinking?
March 23, 2015 By Leave a Comment
I write this at my own peril. My wife—she who wears the pants, skirts and most of the dresses in this relationship—took great exception when I told her what I was planning to blog about. She didn’t explicitly forbid me from blogging on this topic, but the implication was that if I went down this […]
