I don’t see LEFT or RIGHT anymore. I only see GOOD or EVIL!!! Actions and inaction tell me way more about who’s GOOD and who’s EVIL than what anyone says. I know that the potential for good and evil exists in each of us. I start from the premise that people are good and then I observe.

So after only reading two chapters of the Soul Injury boo I feel that I have a much better understanding of what I’ve been feeling and experiencing for the past 20+ years of my life. As I was reading, the book really resonated with me. I have PTSD for multiple reasons, one of which is finding my son‘s body after he completed suicide in 2022. I’ve gone through intensive PTSD treatment through the VA, which was very effective. I’ve suffered various traumas in my life and yet the feeling that I had was something deeper that I couldn’t explain. In the first chapter of the book, I had an “aha moment”, and realized that I was hurting at the level of my soul. When they defined the three broad categories that cause soul injury, a lightbulb lit up in my brain when I read “fear of helplessness and loss of control.“ I spent 24 years in the military, 20 of which were either as a noncommission officer or an officer where I was in charge of people, equipment and responsible for making sound fiscal choices. After retiring from the military I worked 15 years in the VA as a surgical specialty ENT PA working primary with cancer patients. I had been a PA for a total of 29 years when I retired. So looking back on 39 your career in federal service, 34 of those years were in positions where I could not be helpless and I had to be in control. At the time I didn’t realize the toll that was taking on my soul. I’m really looking forward to delving deeper into this, learning more, and healing the deep injury that has impacted my life and my relationships for decades.

I am grateful for God allowing me to make another trip around the sun!

One of the best ideas I picked up from Daniel Pink's 2026 video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q10H5RA3eCA, was to create a list of behaviors that no longer serve you. These are time and energy wasters and keep from from being your best self. This year, start with about 3 items....these are you "To Don't" list. Ask yourself if you stopped doing these things for 90 days, how better would your life be?