Hope Floats Healing and Wellness Center
My adrenaline is pumping again. A surge courses through when Denise and I feel uplifted by many helping hands and strong hearts. There’s a renewal of energy as this fall begins. Part of which infuses the community event our nonprofit will hold on Saturday October 1, the Hope Floats Memory Walk. A gathering of several…
Read MorePain. Passion. Purpose. How do we move from experiencing pain, to rediscovering passion, to finding purpose? And going further: Finding peace? How is this possible? What might resolution or even redemption look like? These questions came up earlier this week as I gave a book talk in a neighboring town. My audience was tiny, perhaps…
Read MoreIn the aftermath of losing a child, several dads I know now value time differently and orient their lives to helping others overcome crushing obstacles. This is not heroic. It can be grueling with setbacks and triggers. Sometimes we rush into the very forces that took a loved one away. Which carries a cost. Yet…
Read MoreWhile so much feels at stake during these unsettled times, we have a celebration of solidarity coming. Just yesterday, a friend helped me reframe my approach to part of Hope Floats’ 10-year Gala next Friday, Nov. 9. Called “A Decade of Hope,” the gathering is both a chance to thank a community that supports grieving…
Read MoreIt’s crazy how unintended and even unwanted experiences bring us to new circles of friends. How our lives shift in ways that once seemed unimaginable. I feel such a stirring as this summer unfolds. This comes in the context of helping other men cope with the loss of a child. So many guys—myself partly included—“gut…
Read MoreYou might say the shift is on. This feels like a time to bridge the old and new. A season to clear out clutter and embrace a fresh start, while surrendering to not having full control over events. More than doing a spring cleaning, there is a push and pull of taking healthy risks versus…
Read MoreGrowing up, I was an avid breakfast reader of the Globe’s sports section, fond of the “Thoughts While Shaving” column. In his regular piece, sportswriter Ernie Roberts offered tidbits of critiques and impressions regarding players on the doomed Red Sox and Pats, or the vaunted Celtics and Bruins. My post today adopts some of that…
Read MoreMany of us know the disparity of the holidays too well. In what should be a time of festivity and joy, this season instead doubles down on our pain. The isolation from loss or other upheavals in our lives, such as the distance from estranged family members or friends feels magnified. Especially on this day…
Read More“Vulnerability is the key to resilience.” – Mitch Carmody I hope many of you are finding a way to recharge this season, despite the searing heat wave. My wife and I are both former teachers who used the summer months to stretch—and by that I mean both relaxing, and stretching forward. We read great books…
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