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Choosing Your Weather — Emotional Control in 2026

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  Some years arrive quietly. Others show up like a houseguest who knocks once and then lets themselves in. 2026 feels like the latter. Everywhere I look, people are talking about “taking control” of their lives this year — their schedules, their finances, their health. But the real frontier, the one that actually changes how we move through the world, is something quieter and far more personal: choice over our emotional responses . Not the events themselves. Not the chaos, the curveballs, or the people who seem to have a PhD in pushing our buttons. Just the response. The myth we were sold Most of us were raised to believe that emotions “just happen.” Someone says something hurtful → we feel hurt. A plan falls apart → we feel frustrated. A loved one scares us → we feel fear. It’s a tidy little equation, but it’s wrong. What actually happens is this: Event → Interpretation → Emotion → Response That middle step — interpretation — is where our power lives. It’s also the ...
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Cancer Diary: Creative Continuity

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  Cancer is often spoken of as an ending. But for many, it becomes a chapter — not the whole book. A diagnosis is not always the final word. Life continues, sometimes for years, even decades, filled with purpose, creativity, and resilience. Maya Angelou, diagnosed with lung cancer late in life, continued writing and speaking until her death at 86. What she said : “The voice endures even when the body falters.”  For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to gues...
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Publisher's pride: Books on bestseller lists - An Afternoon's Dictation (Greenebaum)

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    Recently,  An Afternoon's Dictation  (Greenebaum), reached #178 on the Amazon bestseller list of books in ecumenism Christian theology. The book has been on bestseller lists many times.  Book Description:  In 1999 Steven Greenebaum felt he'd hit the wall. Fifty years old, he could not make sense of his life or the world around him. For several months he angrily demanded answers from God, if God were there. One afternoon, an inner voice told him to get a pen and paper and write. Steven then took dictation - three pages, not of commandments but guidance for leading a meaningful life.   An Afternoon's Dictation  grapples with, organizes, and deeply explores the revelations Steven received and then studied for over ten years. His sharing is NOT offered as the only possible way to understand it the dictation. It is offered, rather, as a start. The book's sections include deep explorations into "The Call to Interfaith," "The Call to Love One Another...
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Precerpt from Raising God's Rainbow Makers: Noelle’s Amputations - A Masterclass in Pragmatism

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  In her lifetime, Noelle has had two amputations—each one a study in her extraordinary, almost disarming practicality. The first happened because of what can only be described as a silly accident. Somehow, she managed to catch her toe in the spokes of her wheelchair. Why she was barefoot, I still cannot tell you. She shouldn’t have been; she’s supposed to protect her feet precisely because she can’t feel them. In fact, she has no sensation below the waist. So when her toe got caught, she simply kept rolling. The toe tore mostly off, and the only thing that alerted her was the trail of blood she noticed on the floor as she moved. Off to surgery she went. Off with the toe. No drama. Noelle is a pragmatist to her core. A toe she couldn’t feel meant nothing to her. The well‑meaning doctor, unfamiliar with the matter‑of‑factness that often accompanies life as a paraplegic, tried to offer empathy during the post‑op conversation. Gently, she asked Noelle whether she was “missing” her...
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