Tasia-Finding Myself in the Mess
Almost by Accident 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, […]
A Simple Day of Hope
Hope-Turning Five I’m Four Today 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. The Pool Party We’re going to have a pool party.And I’m really excited about the pool. My […]
A Day that Holds it All
Jack-83 and Beyond March 30 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. Death and What It Leaves Behind I have […]
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 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. […]
The Turning Point
John-Age 75 “Every turning point in my life came down to the same choice: security or growth. Each time I chose growth, even when it was frightening, my life opened in ways I never could have imagined.” Saying Yes and Wanting to Hide When I was asked to share my story for this project, something […]
The Tide of Unfinished Conversations
Finding Resolution Without the Conversation Some of the most important conversations in my life are the ones I never got to have. Not because I didn’t want them.But because the person is gone.Or unwilling.Or because when the moment came, the words simply wouldn’t come out. For a long time I believed resolution required two people […]
The Illusion of Intimacy
On Secrecy, Speech, and the Fire of Truth I grew up in a large family, one of nine children, five sisters, a house full of noise, bodies, opinions, and shared air. From the outside, that configuration reads as closeness. Abundance implies belonging. A large family carries a kind of cultural shorthand: you must be close. […]
The Magic of Santa
The Santa That Never Left: On Believing, Not-Believing, and Believing Again On Christmas, community, and the magic that outlives belief For Faith Mark, who taught us how to make magic. Born Into Community Growing up in a family of nine children was loud, hectic, chaotic—and sometimes breathtakingly magical. Being the eighth of nine meant I […]
Breaking the Spell of Hope
✨ HOPE-FREE: The Freedom I’m Still Learning to Trust I need to begin with this truth:I am not fully hope-free.Not yet.Maybe not ever, not entirely. Hope runs through my family of origin like a living vein.It’s woven into our language,interlaced through the way we cared for one another,a soft phrase used like a blessing: “I […]
✨ Awakened By Shakti
There are moments in a spiritual life when something arrives that is not simply interesting, not simply useful, not even simply beautiful. There are those moments that are true in a way that bypasses every rational checkpoint the mind tries to put in it’s place. For me, that moment happened almost 15 years ago, the […]