Speak Up and Wait
Jennifer-61 When “Speak Up” Isn’t the Solution Recently, Melania Trump encouraged victims connected to Jeffrey Epstein to come forward and testify. And something in me didn’t just disagree. It tightened. Something about that lands hard. Not because encouraging truth is inherently wrong. But it ignores a deeper, more painful reality. Many of the victims already […]
John-Discovering Shalom
There’s a moment before something beginswhen you don’t yet know that your life is about to shift. A story told by someone you trust.A change in them you can’t quite explain.Something in you leans in, even as another part pulls back. That’s how it was for me. I first came to Shalom in 1987. I […]
The Path I Didn’t Know I Was Asking For
Maria-63 The Crisis This story begins in a moment of crisis that unlocked a door to an entirely new identity and life path. If I had known that my soul was asking for a new direction, I might have recognized what was unfolding. Instead, I experienced it as too-much-to-hold, system-overload news. In deep despair, I […]
Marguerite-Blooming Lotus
There was a time in my life when everything seemed to unravel at once. Loss came first.Nine people in seven months.Including my father. Grief doesn’t move in a straight line. It comes in waves, in moments you don’t expect, in places you thought were safe. And while all of that was happening inside of me, […]
Stephanie-God is in the Pots and Pans
I found Shalom at a time when my life had gotten very small. It was November of 2021, just as the world was starting to open back up again. I had spent over a year in lockdown with my partner at the time, and what had always been a difficult relationship became impossible to ignore. […]
Beth-Love Will Forever Be a Gift
I sometimes think that my story with Shalom began long before I knew what to call it. Lawrence and Joy are my aunt and uncle, and I was a teenager when I first touched that world, going to some teen retreats at the London Schoolhouse. Back then, I didn’t fully understand it. It was just… […]
Tasia-Finding Myself in the Mess
I first found Shalom in 2019, almost by accident. I was in therapy, and I wanted something new. Something different. Maybe even a little bit of an adventure. Therapy had taken me far, but there was something I couldn’t quite reach. My therapist had a connection to Shalom, and I remember Googling, reading just enough […]
A Simple Day of Hope
Hope-Turning Five I’m four today.But I’m turning five on my birthday.March 30th. I share my birthday with three people.Nay Nay…and my great grandpa…and someone else too. I like that. I’m excited about my birthday. We’re going to have a pool party.And I’m really excited about the pool. My mom got a lot of pool […]
A Day that Holds it All
Jack-83 and Beyond I was born on March 30. A day that has carried more than one meaning in my life. On my 38th birthday, in 1967, my father died just after I left the hospital.A day meant for celebration became something else. A crossing. I have thought about death often since then.Not with fear, […]
Back to Myself
Stephanie — 38 “Some things just have to play out before you can see them.” I didn’t think I had a story. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say… I didn’t think I had a story that was untold. Because I talk. A lot. I process out loud. I’ve told pieces of my life in […]