Let's Talk About Grief
A Pearl Jam concert and a Sara Bareilles concert could not look more different. I’ve been to both and found they were doing the identical thing. That sent me down a road about how small a definition of grief most of us are working with.
The Heart-Strong Friendship
Tremayne and I are turning our friendship into a children's book. He's incarcerated in Virginia, so making it together means everything is much harder. Here's why we wouldn't do it any other way.
There's No Such Thing as Self-Published
I've been telling people I'm planning to self-publish my children's books. But the more I say that word, the more it feels like a lie.
The Ring Isn't a Signal, It's a Reminder
A foggy morning, a wedding ring, and a question I couldn't put down. What are the small things we carry, and what do they pull us back to?
The Ghost at the Cottage
We toured FDR's summer cottage, where he got polio at 39. Standing in those rooms, I couldn't stop asking whether our hardest moments take from us or make us.
What Is Suffering?
I always thought suffering was something other people did. Then a friend who spent his life in ministry asked a question that reframed forty years of my own.
Nobody Ever Wins a Fight
I watched Road House recently, and one line has stuck with me for weeks. Nobody ever wins a fight. It got me thinking about every argument I've ever won.
So Much More Than the Worst Thing
On August 14, FROM WITHIN closed at Curtis Memorial Library. A boy of about 7 looked at paintings made inside a Virginia prison and said he couldn’t believe prisoners made them. We learn pretty early how we are supposed to think about certain people.
Grief Needs a Witness: What Rob Reider and Sad Dads Club Taught Me
I sat down with Rob Reider around a fire in the woods. He founded Sad Dads Club after he and his wife lost their daughter, Lila. What he taught me about grief has stayed with me since.
They Weren’t My Stories
My friend Jonathan lost his hearing the same season he lost his wife. He chose not to be bitter, because bitterness would mean living a life that wasn’t his.
Sharing Cake at Cocoa Cinnamon
A Haitian saying from Lynne Twist’s The Soul of Money sent me into a Durham, NC coffee shop with a question. What happens when you ask three strangers to share a snack and a conversation with you? The first Sharing Cake story.
People Always See the Butterfly: A Campfire Conversation with Carlos Walker
I sat down with Carlos Walker in front of a fireplace in Bethesda, Maryland. Carlos spent 13 years in prison. He’s sold over 14,000 books hand to hand. And he said something I keep coming back to: “People always see the butterfly. But you have to hear the caterpillar story.”
When Life Gives You Overripe Cacao Fruit
I bought a cacao fruit at a market in Costa Rica. When I opened it up, it was overripe. My first instinct was to take it back. That was fear talking. Then love stepped in and changed my perspective.
Why I Am Trying to Stop Saying Connection
Connection has been one of my go-to words throughout this adventure. But recently I realized it might not be the right one. Connection can be one-way. Relationship never is.
“Are You Doing Something Fun for Your Birthday?”
On the afternoon of my 49th birthday, I went to a memorial service. What followed was a room full of old friends, tears of sorrow and joy, and a reminder of what actually matters.
Love Is Perfectly Imperfect
Briddge and Cherrie Orius are the first married couple to sit down for a Campfire Conversation. They debated, pushed back, and kept going. They showed me what love in practice looks like.
FROM WITHIN Is Live
The FROM WITHIN Art Show is officially live. 5 incarcerated artists. 3 bridges. Over $1,000 raised on day one. Here’s what it’s about, where it’s going, and how to support it from anywhere.
What it Means to be Wild at Heart
Two books about wildness, cages, and freedom. One replaces the box with a different box. The other says the butterfly blueprint is already inside you. Purple nail polish, six-foot waves, and the case for living as your whole self.
The Forest Isn't Trying to Kill You: A Campfire Conversation with Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas grew up watching the woods disappear. It made him angry for years. Then he chose love. A Campfire Conversation about fear, fire, and what it takes to become an adult warrior.
Love and Fear Dancing in My Life
It was our last week in Costa Rica. My wife and I were watching the sunset when she challenged something I said about fear. What surprised me was how quickly the dance between love and fear came to life in my own words.