Good morning Reader, This morning, I’d like to start with a question: Have you ever been to a place that didn’t exist, but in your mind was as real as the things you hold in your hand? Have you ever sensed a void, one that you couldn’t really feel - I mean, it doesn’t exist - and yet it coursed through every vein, muscle, organ, and neuron in your brain? And then as if there is no off switch, that void manifests itself as a stream of thoughts that regenerate themselves until, they are all you...
13 days ago • 4 min read
Good morning Reader, It was 5:30 in the morning, still dark, when the cars started pulling into the commuter parking lot where we built the Freedom Festival every year, the booths, the food tents, and a stage worthy of Lollapalooza all going up before the sun crested the horizon. We did this every year for seven years to support and thank our troops. I couldn't have produced the festival without my friends rallying behind me to turn that parking lot into a place of recognition and thanks. I...
20 days ago • 7 min read
Good morning Reader, I pulled into the winery a little after eight, later than I meant to, on the last night of my three-month writing retreat. It sits off a two-lane road in a quiet stretch of Ohio, the kind of place you find only because you went looking for it. They were already closing, the chairs up on half the tables and the light low. I had called an hour ahead to ask if I could park the RV in their lot for the night, and the two women behind the bar had said yes, and then stayed on...
27 days ago • 4 min read
Good morning Reader, Two weeks is the most they let you stay in Chattahoochee Bend State Park south of Atlanta, which was the perfect length and place to begin my three-month writing retreat earlier this year. So on that last morning I broke camp, packed up the RV, and pulled out. My next stop was Black Rock Mountain State Park north of the city, which meant a long drive through and around all of the big peach sprawl. The first part of my drive gave the same serene peace I had found in...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Good morning Reader, I pulled off the main road into Table Rock State Park and within a few hundred yards the surroundings closed in around me. The trees came up close to the road, the ground began to rise, and I could feel the mountains in the way the RV leaned into the climb. At a stop sign near the swimming lake, a park ranger came jogging over. Where are you headed, he asked. Site 14, I told him. In that thing? He looked down the length of the RV, then back at me, and told me I was going...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
FROM THE FAM ARCHIVESWhile Dirk is finishing his upcoming book Honor Yourself, we’re revisiting some of the most meaningful newsletters from the past year.**Be sure to make it to the bottom of this email for a unique insight from Dirk's writings this week.** Good morning Reader— And welcome to the ninth issue of The FAM. This morning, I want to start with sharing something I love about you—and everyone who has joined the FAM. Something we all have in common: we all yearn for something more....
6 months ago • 9 min read
FROM THE FAM ARCHIVESWhile Dirk is finishing his upcoming book Honor Yourself, we’re revisiting some of the most meaningful newsletters from the past year.**Be sure to make it to the bottom of this email for a unique insight from Dirk's writings this week.** Good morning Reader— And welcome to the seventh issue of The FAM. We’re taking a moment to pause and have a heart-to-heart conversation this Sunday morning. I feel the need to speak directly from my heart today. To you Reader—the human...
6 months ago • 5 min read
FROM THE FAM ARCHIVESWhile Dirk is finishing his upcoming book Honor Yourself, we’re revisiting some of the most meaningful newsletters from the past year.**Be sure to make it to the bottom of this email for a unique insight from Dirk's writings this week.** Good morning Reader— And welcome to the eleventh issue of The FAM. There seems to be an epidemic making its way through our homes, our work, even our society. More than ever, I'm hearing people tell me: "I'm tired of being tired." Not...
6 months ago • 8 min read
Good morning Reader, Welcome to The FAM’s 40th issue. Before anything else, I want to pause for a moment and say thank you. For the last 40 Sundays you’ve opened, replied, shared, and stayed with us along this important and personal journey. So many of you have written back with stories of challenge, courage, and growth. Others have quietly read along each week, reflecting on what it means to move from just getting by to living fully alive. Either way, you’ve been part of building this. And...
6 months ago • 3 min read