Appreciating the Seasons of Your Life I live in a geography of four dramatically distinct seasons: fall, winter, spring, and summer. And I’ll have to admit to you that this last winter was the hardest winter I’ve ever endured. It was brutal. In fact, almost every day...
Letter: Your Ability to Disappoint People
One of the strongest messages I received growing up in the church is that it is my job to not upset people. I mean, it’s okay to upset sinful people who are doing wrong, like Jesus overturning the tables of the money-changers in the temple. Hurting sinful peoples’...
Letter: Me and My 4 F’s
After I left the ministry and the church, it became very clear to me very quickly the areas of my life that needed immediate attention and improvement. I call them the 4 F’s: Family. Fun. Finances. Friends. Of course, first and foremost, I had to take care of myself....
Letter: How come? I come by canoe. How you come?
I compare our journeys of leaving the church, or changing our minds, or deconstructing our faith, to taking a canoe down a river. Sometimes there are very smooth times when you hardly even have to paddle. All you have to do is keep your paddle in the water and make...
Letter: We are like Pen Pals for Life!
Hi guys! Today I spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Church in town. There was a small group there… about 20 people. I gave a slide show presentation on “Questions are the Answer: Questions as Tools for Personal Growth”. It’s the topic of my book that I’m working on...
Letter: Here’s to being ourselves in 2015!
Happy New Year my friends. I'm going to try to keep this letter a short one. I'm still recovering from the holidays. All three of our children were home and all we did was eat, drink, smoke, listen to music, make music, talk, watch movies, and caught a few hours sleep...
Letter: I want to tell you a little secret
I'm looking out over the river I live on. It's called the Kennebacasis. It comes from the Mi'kmaq word meaning "little long bay place". It's a 95 kilometers long tidal river, beautiful and wide and running deep. It is full of living beings… anything from harbor seals...
Letter: Exercises for Personal Development
In an effort to clean up our main site, I'm consolidating many of the exercises I found most helpful and popular with TLSers into one post. Whenever I come across a new one, I'll simply add it here. So if you're interested in exercises in the future, search for this...
Letter: You make me want to be a better man!
I want to talk with you about my friends for a moment. I want to tell you about them. My friends let me be me. They love me. Me as I am, not as I should be or not how they think I ought to be. They love me just as I am. I am free to be me without fear of censor or...
Letter: how poetry can help you survive
Please read to the end. I have a few things to give away. I've been thinking a lot about poetry lately. Why poetry? One writer has said poetry is important because we can "say what needs to be said in a direct, powerful and beautiful way". Which is how I really want...
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