Editor’s Note: Thanks to a reader who pointed out a factual error in my 6/10/25 post “Addiction, Families, and 90 Years of Recovery”. The first sentence incorrectly asserts that June 10th is the anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous because it is the day Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith met. As I have written in a number of posts, Bill and Dr. Bob met on Mother’s Day 1935 in Akron, Ohio. June 10 is the day Dr. Bob had his last drink and what became known as Alcoholics Anonymous began. I have corrected the first sentence in the post. My apologies for not catching such an obvious error. Tom Adams 

Most weeks I try to focus my post on one idea. Readers tell me that is more interesting and easier to digest. This week I am going to diverge from that path and comment on the ups and downs of my life recently. I suspect even those who enjoy chaos and are advocates of chaos theory have had enough? I sure have.

Starting with the downs:  the public debate about whether to join with Israel in blowing up Iran is beyond my ability to understand or rationalize. One simple principle makes me shudder at these discussions. Throughout history, violence begets violence. Misguided efforts to eliminate nuclear threats could indeed lead to worldwide nuclear war. This is an awful thought, perhaps catastrophic. There may be short-term victories in weakening Iran; however, over time, resilient people worldwide will respond to violence with new terrorist cells and new attacks.  They are people fighting for what they believe to be true. 

Then there’s the many ways that our nation is being torn apart with people pitted against each other. Inexplicably, the Senate has concluded the way to make an inequitable and vindictive budget bill fairer is to further reduce Medicaid, Medicare and SNAP (a supplemental nutrition program). By making the 2017 tax cuts permanent, the rich get richer while programs that benefit working and poor people are cut. Subsequently, the deficit increases by $2.7 trillion over ten years according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Center on Budget Policies and Priorities offers more details on this oppressive budget bill. 

In summation: we live in times where public policies from national leadership are vindictive and blatantly detrimental to the health and welfare of future generations.

Introducing the upside:  I had the most delightful Father’s Day. We squeezed all 19 members of our family into our small Greenbelt townhouse and had an amazing Sunday afternoon. Our four adult children, their spouses and children – three under 18 months, two 6-year-olds, and 4 aged 17 to 21 all gathered for dinner. It was pure joy for me to sit and watch the many ways love was manifested. 

Very young children bring out the nurturing in all of us. The youngest – almost four months old – smiled and slept and cooed as he was held by his aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins.  As the cousins, siblings, and spouses talked, their conversations touched my heart. 

And while I digest all the chaos, the warmer weather has made the temperature at our outdoor pool refreshingly cool. So I am enjoying a stress-reducing, energy-enhancing swim on many days and I am grateful for that.

And I am also grateful that on Tuesdays I go to a nearby community meditation group where we sit for thirty minutes in silence.  We put our trust in whatever Big Spirit or Love Source we believe in while we pray for peace around the world, and an end to the government policies that hurt people and our planet.

I attend my Twelve Step meetings where I am reminded of the Serenity Prayer:  to pray for acceptance of what I can’t change, to have the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference between the two. 

And that LOVE/Big Spirit/God we believe in is most present in the here and now. So my job is to pay attention to my thoughts and actions in the moment. Am I taking one negative thought, and piling on with more until I am demoralized and depressed? How do I make space to feel the sadness, anger and hurt from our national and world conditions while striving for gratitude and hope? Spiritual practices and a belief in the power of contemplation and action, as Richard Rohr writes about so persuasively, help me. They balance my own internal world of chaos with an intention to do the next loving action. What’s giving you strength and guidance in these intensely chaotic times?