MSI Press Blog

  Today's book back story is about Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time by Steven Greenebaum. From the publisher: In 2020, everyone was reeling, caught off-guard by the coronavirus that descended quickly and viciously. Work places closed, families grouped together in lockdown (and sometimes the coronavirus ran right into those families, and people were dying. There was much confusion and much fear. At that time, MSI Press asked its authors, who are nearly all specialists in one domain or another, to prepare "little" books (a few dozen pages) of information in their fields for people coping with the pandemic. Fifteen responded; that become our popular pandemic series. One of those little books was Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time . The contents still apply in many cases today! Book Description: The notion of a worldwide pandemic has been ripped out the realm of "someday" and dumped in our laps. We can feel lost. How do we cope? How do we find our way? How ...

  Steven Greenebaum, author of the award-winning books,  One Family: Indivisible   and An Afternoon's Dictation, as well as Seeking Balance in Unbalanced Times, shares a recent blog post: The peril of dividing ourselves into “Us” and “Them” is chronicled in Hebrew and Christian Scripture. In Genesis we are told of Cain, a farmer, and his brother Abel, a shepherd. Farmer Cain quarrels with his shepherd brother and kills him. When God challenges Cain, Cain’s famous reply is, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The implication is  yes , we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers – though our brother be a shepherd and we a farmer. This rejection of “Us” and “Them” is, then, an ancient calling. Read the rest of "Posterity Awareness"  HERE . Awards An Afternoon's Dictation has earned Winner. London Book Festival Literary Titan gold award Indies Today runner-up Firebird Book Awards honorable mention Pacific Book Award finalist (runner-up) The BookFest honorable mention Chantic...

  The following excerpt comes from Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time by Steven Greenebaum. A FAMILY IN CRISIS               Pandemic. For most of us, and I certainly include myself, the notion of a worldwide pandemic has been ripped out of the realm of the theoretical and dumped with a thud in our laps. What do we do? How do we cope? How on Earth do we cope? How do we even try to lead some version of normal lives when life is no longer normal? How can we find and keep some kind of balance as we walk this pandemic tightrope? These are tough, important questions – and we want answers. Living a life of uncertainty 24/7 can break our heart and our spirit. Everything seems out of balance, especially our lives. So, what do we do?             The honest truth is, of course, there’s no one answer that solves this. There are so many different things for us to deal with as w...

  Excerpt from Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time : I love and salute [my wonderful] dedicated friends [who do many things of value for others]. However, the truth of it is, I don’t hold the same cards they do. I’m seventy-two, with a heart condition (I’ve had triple bypass surgery) and have just come off my third (successful!) battle with cancer. I don’t have a lot of energy right now. On top of that, I have arthritis in both my hands that severely limits what I can do. As an example, my driving is limited, and while I used to help out at the food bank, that’s off the table as well. But what I truly want to stress is that what is important is not what I can’t do, but what I can. I love my friends. I admire my friends, and all my brothers and sisters in my home city, as well as my state, as well as my country, as well as my planet, who are able to do so many things that I can’t and are doing them ! Still, I have no interest in spending time regretting what I can’t do. The questi...

  Envisioning and Working for Our Future The point of this brief concluding chapter is not to attempt to provide answers. Rather, things are so intense and so difficult right now that it can be hard even to think of the future. Yet with everything so upside down, I believe we have an important opportunity to consider what we want to see in the future. A “new normal” is going to come out of this. How do we want that to look? It’s, of course, very human for us to shrug and say, “This just isn’t the time for that.” But as Hillel would remind us, “If not now, when?” There will be a new normal. There’s no disputing that. Do we simply want to stumble into it? Or do our children and their children deserve better? I have no children. But I care about yours. And I deeply believe they deserve a healthy “new normal”.             So, what I’d ask of us now is for us to begin pondering some questions. Below are just a few that occur to ...

  Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time . Get it HERE The notion of a worldwide pandemic has been ripped out of the realm of "someday" and dumped in our laps. We can feel lost. How do we cope? How do we find our way? How can we find and keep some kind of balance as we walk this pandemic tightrope? This short book helps us find that balance as well as offering an affirming path forward. It helps us understand that the crisis humanity is facing is a family crisis. It helps us to take care of ourselves, offering concrete, positive examples. It helps us to keep our balance by also giving concrete positive examples of how we can help each other. For more information about Steven and his books, click HERE .

Goodreads has posted a very supportive book review of Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time by Rev./Dr. Steven Greenebaum. In part, the revew reads: Steven Greenebaum has written another first-class book. Or perhaps, at only 36 pages, it's better called a booklet. Nevertheless, its impact is outsized to its length, as Rev. Greenebaum gives a fine perspective on how to maintain one's mental health in the face of the current pandemic (and all the other ills of the world, too). Check out the rest of the review on Goodreads HERE . Steven Greenebaum is also the author of One Family: Indivisible . For more posts by and about Steven and his works, click HERE .

Released this week. Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time by Rev. Steven Greenebaum. The notion of a worldwide pandemic has been ripped out of the realm of "someday" and dumped in our laps. We can feel lost. How do we cope? How do we find our way? How can we find and keep some kind of balance as we walk this pandemic tightrope? This short book helps us find that balance as well as offering an affirming path forward. It helps us understand that the crisis humanity is facing is a family crisis. It helps us to take care of ourselves, offering concrete, positive examples. It helps us to keep our balance by also giving concrete positive examples of how we can help each other. For posts about other books in the MSI Press pandemic series, click HERE . For more posts by and about Steven Greenebaum and his books, click HERE .

Reverend Steven Greenebaum is founder of the Living Interfaith Church in Washington state. He holds Master's degrees in Mythology, Music, and Pastorial Studies. He has dedicated his life to the oneness of humanity, working for social and environmental justice through a multitude of forums. Minister, teacher, and both church and temple choir director, he has worked with Common Cause and marched at Standing Rock. He was the Founder/Executive Director of Citizens for Environmental Responsibility. His book, One Family: Indivisible, a spiritual memoir , placed as a finalist in the religion category of the American Book Fest Best Books Award in 2019. He has now written a book, Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time , dealing with the pandemic, that will be released in July 2020. Read more posts by and about Steven Greenebaum and his books HERE .