Tom Adams
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The last year has resulted in increased use of alcohol, food, drugs, and behaviors like gambling and debting as people have tried to escape COVID and the uncertainty and pain that has resulted. Liquor sales are up, gambling advertising now competes with pharmaceuticals for ad space, and our social networks are full of chatter about diets, working too hard, and drinking and drugging escapes.
The battle between hope and despair seems fiercer than ever this year. A few promising signs of hope have appeared and still, there are many that can make me feel hopeless. How do we renew our aspirations for good and resilience?
Last week a neighbor of mine died of Covid. I didn’t know him all that well, but his death has both shaken me and deepened my sense of how people can truly change the world.
Hundreds of wives of men with drinking problems from all over the nation came to call her Anne S. or Annie.
Until recently, I thought sunsets were something to pay attention to when on vacation at the beach. After all, being on the east or west coast of the ocean makes the morning rising and evening falling of the sun more spectacular than anywhere else. Thankfully, I recently shattered that limiting belief.
At first, I wondered where the squirrel was heading in such a hurry. Then I gasped as she was nearing the top of the fifty-foot-tall oak and leaped to what looked like a very thin branch. My interest heightened when another squirrel came racing up the tree, making it...
Our family has begun having intergenerational zoom discussions about justice and equity. We cross-pollinate with in-laws and cousins from our partners’ families which makes the conversations particularly rich. My wife’s niece talked about the struggles a mid-west art...
And we thought 2021 might be different than 2020? Now we all have two never-would-have-imagined experiences – a pandemic and an armed insurrection. It is a good thing we are hopeful people! This week we continue our focus on hope. I am delighted to share reflections...
I imagine we all are hoping for a better 2021! In my town of Greenbelt, Maryland, we marked the ending of the tumultuous 2020 by all going outside at midnight on New Year’s Eve to bang pots and pans. Not a new idea, yet very therapeutic and symbolic of the feeling of...
We need to believe in something other than our own intellect and abilities. This awareness led the pioneers of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) to the liberating and empowering notion of a “power greater than ourselves – a Higher Power.” Today we explore this second key...
Tom Adams writes and speaks on topics vital to the intersection of our personal lives with our community and global lives. He has for decades been engaged in and written about nonprofit leadership and transitions, spirituality and spiritual growth, how we each contribute to a more just and equitable world and recovery from addictions and the Twelve Step recovery movement.