LIVING WITH A LOW BAR OF EXPECTATION

“I JUST WANT TO STAY OUT OF JAIL” I met with Chris yesterday for the first time.  He’s almost 30 years old, just had a son less than two weeks ago, and reports he is couch-surfing but currently staying with the baby-mama because it works out for her to get help with the baby.  She’s …

0:00… GAME OVER

(I need to write this while it's all fresh in my mind, before the "raw" emotions of the moment fade away and the more sanitized perspective takes over.) This post is about "Life", but I'm approaching it from a different perspective. Isn't it fair to say that we can look at something from different perspectives and …

ADDICTION (A Disease, or perhaps a war)

Years ago I came across this image while working with youth in the criminal justice system. It left a powerful impression on how I saw addiction going forward. I knew there would be a day when this picture would be a part of something I wrote. How's that New Year's resolution going?  If you read my recent …

WHERE ARE THE FLAGS

FOND MEMORIES I couldn't sleep last night... First pot of coffee started brewing just after 3:00a after I realized I wasn't finding sleep. I did a lot of thinking... a little bit of journaling, and I came to this question: "So where are you at?" It was a vague question, but one that allowed me to go several …

12:01am… What Changed?

Because I'm writing this on New Years Eve, this is going to sound like a post about New Years resolutions, but it could just as easily be appropriate for any Sunday morning... the first day of the week; the first day of the month, or "tomorrow". Not just New Years Day tomorrow... but any "tomorrow". It's not …

HERE’S THE PROBLEM…

There’s a lot of time spent on the trail between the Trailhead and the Summit; a lot of time for the mind to go in various directions.  I’m a reflector… a ponderer… and, as a coworker recently said, a ruminator.  At times, I can get lost out in the wilderness of my thoughts, requiring Search …

THE MISSING PIECE

PUTTING TOGETHER A PUZZLE You open the box of a 1000-piece puzzle and dump the contents out on a table.  The pieces fall into a chaotic pile, and you begin to spread them out and turn them face up, working to establish some order to the mess.  You grab each piece without giving much thought …

GANNETT PEAK

We live in a culture that more and more seems to require immediate gratification… immediate results, in order to hold our attention.  If the reward doesn’t come quickly, we move on to other sources in search for that dopamine spike into our brain.  However, those truly significant dreams we hold deep within our heart are …

THE MOMENT WE’RE IN

This post is about looking forward, looking backwards, and the moment we’re in right now.  It was conceived in my head as I stood downstairs in my basement making my second cup of coffee this morning, pondering a tragic event that took place earlier this week in the life of one of my probation clients.  …

The IN-BETWEEN

(The IN-BETWEEN along the Glacier Gorge Trail...long before Sky Pond or Frozen Lake and the Spearhead come into view.) There’s a mysterious place along the trail between the Trailhead and the Summit called the “IN-BETWEEN”; a place along the way we never know we've come to until we realize our thoughts have begun to turn …