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Hope Begins in Attention

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Despair thrives on abstraction — on the endless stream of distant tragedies we can’t touch. It feeds on what is too large, too far away, too impossible to mend. When everything becomes a headline or a statistic, the soul loses its footing. We begin to feel powerless, and powerlessness is despair’s favorite soil. Hope, by contrast, is born in the small and the near. It begins when we notice what is right beside us: the sound of a cat breathing softly in sleep, the warmth of sunlight on a wall, the kindness of a stranger who holds a door. Attention is the seedbed of hope. It reminds us that goodness still exists — quietly, in ordinary places. Attention as a Spiritual Practice To pay attention is to resist numbness. It is to say: I will not drift away from the world that God made. When we attend to what is near, we rejoin creation. We remember that life is not only crisis and noise, but also rhythm and grace. The act of noticing becomes a form of prayer — a way of saying thank you with...
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A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Why a Book’s Success Today Depends More on Authors Than on Publishers

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  For most of the history of publishing, authors imagined a simple equation: Publisher = sales. If a book succeeded, the publisher must have “pushed it.” If it failed, the publisher must not have “done enough.” That equation hasn’t been true for a long time. Today, it’s not even in the same universe. The modern book marketplace—shaped by online retail, algorithmic discovery, and the rise of self‑publishing—has shifted the center of gravity. A book’s success now depends more on the author’s engagement than on the publisher’s efforts. Not because publishers do less, but because the ecosystem has changed around all of us. Let’s look at how we got here, what publishers can reasonably do, and what authors must do if they want real sales volume. The Turning Point: Self‑Publishing Changed the Rules for Everyone When self‑publishing first exploded, many traditionally published authors dismissed it as a fringe activity. But then something unexpected happened: self‑published autho...
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Released Today: Intentional Love by Girrell et al.

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  Intentional Love by Kris Girrell , Abraham Gonzalez , and Bruce Girrell was released today and is available at Amazon paperback Amazon ebook Barnes & Noble MSI Press webstore (25% discount with coupon code FF25) Book Description Intentional Love sets out a counter argument to the long-held narrative that both sex and intimacy decline over the years of a long-term committed relationship. But rather than focusing simply of the sexual skills and educating readers on technique, this book identifies twelve separate Ways of Being that when followed create the context and foundation for a deeper shared connection between lovers. The authors draw heavily on research on how these Ways of Being support both members and identify issues to be dealt with in the context of loving relationships. Though the authors are all men, they present a plethora of research from women researchers and authors to balance their own experiences as leaders and trainers in men’s work and then season it ...
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Why Many Holocaust Survivors Did Not Share Their Stories with Their Children

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  The silence of Holocaust survivors is one of the most haunting legacies of the tragedy. For decades after liberation, many survivors rarely spoke of what they endured — not to friends, not to spouses, and often not even to their children. That silence was not forgetfulness. It was protection, pain, and sometimes, a way to survive the aftermath. 🕯️ 1. The Weight of Trauma Survivors carried memories too heavy for words — starvation, loss, humiliation, and the murder of loved ones. Speaking meant reliving the horror. Silence offered a fragile sense of control. Many feared that words could never capture what they had seen. Psychologists call this avoidant coping : a way to keep unbearable memories from overwhelming daily life. 💔 2. Protecting Their Children Parents who had survived the camps often wanted their children to grow up free from fear. They believed silence could shield their children from inherited pain. They wanted their homes to be places of normalcy, not mourning. Som...
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