MINDS AT PEACE

10/23/2026

"I'm sorry I'm not here right now. I made a lot of changes in my life, and if I don't get back to you, you're one of them."

I heard a speaker share that voicemail greeting at a conference years ago, and I've never forgotten it. It came back to me this week while reading L**h L**ha, where God tells Avram to leave his land, his birthplace and his father's house.

For anyone navigating addiction, or loving someone who is, that verse is a roadmap. You leave the place that no longer serves you. You leave the crowd you've outgrown. You leave the resentment that keeps you stuck.

And you don't need a giant leap. You take one step.

New essay: Are You a Walker?

What Abraham’s first journey teaches us about finding our own path.

10/16/2026

My 100-pound dog falls apart after an hour of rain. Noah got forty days, and then he walked off the ark and planted a vineyard. This week I’m writing about integrity, isolation, and the two little words improv actors live by: “yes, and.” Link to the full Substack in the first comment.

10/15/2026

Link to the full essay in the comment. No ark required.

10/09/2026

“God gave Adam a secret—and that secret was not how to begin, but how to begin again.“. —-Elie Wiesel

In this week’s Ancient Wisdom, Modern Change I discuss the power of beginning again, not just for those challenged by addiction, but for everyone. We begin again but changing the way we use the phrase, “What if?” Attached to the Substack essay is a worksheet to help empower that change.

An eternal question directing our path.

10/08/2026

A simple yet profound question of discovery. Link to full essay in the comment. .

09/30/2026

What does the Jewish holiday of Sukkot have to do with Sober October? Turns out, a lot.

09/10/2026

You Don’t Have to Smoke to Pay the Price
Secondhand smoke still exposes 2.7 billion people—and the biggest health burden may not be what you think.

09/09/2026

Four weeks post knee surgery, and the word I keep hearing is “recovery” — get back to where you were.
But in my work with people navigating addiction and change, I’ve learned that going backward is rarely the goal. The place someone came from is usually not the destination.
Recovery says: return. Discovery says: become.
I wrote about what physical therapy — and the Jewish month of Elul — taught me about why real change, physical or spiritual, always has to hurt a little. Link to substack in my profile or mindsatpeace.substack.com

09/08/2026

Everyone involved in my partial knee replacement keeps using the same word:

Recovery.

Get back to where you were.

Four weeks and several medieval PT sessions later, I’ve realized I don’t want to get back to where I was.

Also, my physical therapist has no interest in where my knee wants to be.

I’m starting to think recovery is the wrong goal.

Maybe the goal is discovery.

New Knee. New limits. New possibilities.

Full essay on the spiritual lesson of PT coming shortly. Make sure you don’t miss it by subscribing for free to my Substack: mindsatpeace.substack.com

09/02/2026

“All of you are standing today.” 🕊️

Every person — no one left out. That’s how the Torah portion opens this week. It’s not how we treat addiction, where shame tells people to hide and tells the rest of us to look away.

47 million Americans affected. Only 1 in 6 who need treatment get it. The opposite of addiction is connection — and it starts in the family.

New essay at the link in bio and two bonus songs from HIGHER 🔗 eco