It’s been six months since I entered the hospital and got transferred from one rehabilitation center to another, but I think I may have finally licked the worst of my ailments and am ready to join my old household. I still have trouble walking from one room to another, and I need assistance from someone walking behind me while climbing up the stairs.
Continue readingCategory Archives: healing
Honor Flight to War Memorials Scheduled
I will be off to Washington DC next month on an excursion strictly for veterans to participate in what has been designated as an “Honor Flight” for those who served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
The program was created some years ago and even provided airfare for those living on the West Coast and living too far to make a trip to the nation’s capital by vehicle. That is where it got its name “Honor Flight” and in my bailiwick, that would be “Honor Flight Philadelphia.”
Continue readingVA – Uber is now free for disabled veterans
I was escorted from my home by a Uber driver for the first time in my life when I learned the Veterans Administration provides the service free for disabled veterans.
Continue readingPneumonia beat back after hospital stay
I believe that I am finally cured of pneumonia, rhino virus bacterial pneumonia that is, which I believe I got after Covid struck me for the second time in October and stayed with me through what I thought was nothing more than a persistent cough and excess phlegm problem.
It tired me out so much that I stopped walking my daily 10,000 steps and was lucky to step 3,000 times a day, according to my Fitbit, needing tissue paper and a makeshift handkerchief for the congestion that had developed. I live with my son Nicholas and his family which includes four children which I had to take extra care while in their presence. I always wore a mask and and covered my mouth when I felt a cough coming while in the kitchen or dining room.
And then it hit me. Getting out of bed around 10 pm on January 21st I got dizzy, fell toward the floor near my bathroom, and my son me ordered an ambulance to rush me to the hospital. I had suffered no bodily injury, thank God, but the intake personnel at Bryn Mawr Hospital discovered that I had pneumonia.
Spent five days with feeding tubes of antibiotics being pumped into my body and a bunch of pesky little attachments to my chest and stomach. The food wasn’t bad but it often got stuck in my teeth and I had no toothpicks to remove the pieces. No one offered to help me with any floss and I had to use a broke-off piece of a plastic fork to get a little relieve.
And then the indigestion kicked in. I suffer from acid reflux and my daily medicine from the VA hospital was stopped by the doctors because it would interfere with their antibiotics. Ah man, how I suffered. And not just for the five days in the hospital but a whopping nine more days upon arriving home and being directed to take antibiotic pills twice a day.
(I couldn’t believe the nurses at the hospital had to get the doctors to officially prescribe Tums to help me while I was in their hospital bed. They were not authorized and only the doctors could do it! Order Tums, man Tums.)
And where does that leave us upon this viewing? Well, I ate pepperoni pizza with extra cheese in preparation for the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl game Sunday night and had no negative aftereffects. A sausage, egg and cheese sandwich from a nearby ALDI store was easily digested the next morning and today I can gleefully shout from my Conshohocken home “Free at Last, Free at Last, thank God Almighty I am Free at Last.”
Voting for the future of the USA today
I cast my ballot today for the 2024 election in the United States in the hopes and joyful expectations that Kamala Harris will win and be declared president.
Continue readingNeed for America’s Global Unity is now
I will be participating this Sunday in a gathering sponsored by a group presenting a woman I have followed for more than 10 years on a spiritual journey. Lorna Byrne is a woman from Ireland who has been seeing and speaking with angels since she was two years old and written several books on how we can open ourselves to the angelic realm that exists for our benefit.
Continue readingSeniors are opening to meditation now!
I never thought that words I wrote on a slip of paper and dropped into a suggestion box would somehow enlighten me.!
The senior center I’ve attended for the past two years has agreed to hire a teacher, or what I would call a “guru,“ to show seniors how to meditate at the Upper Merion Senior Citizen Center.
Five or six people had signed up for further information at the facility and a librarian from the local library who teaches meditation has contacted someone to come to the center near King of Prussia, PA, and guide us. It will start on the third Wednesday of September, according to the Center’s president who arranged it all.
Democracy wins in this historic jury trial
Relieved.
Grateful.
Joyful.
Those are the words that sprung from my heart and soul as I took in what the jury provided the entire world with their unanimous decision to convict a former USA president.
Defender Assn. of Phila. honored today
The Defender Association of Philadelphia, of which I worked for 20 years as a public defender, is celebrating its 90th year of representing poor defendants today!
Continue readingWhat to do when hearing you’re deceased
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
That is what Mark Twain wrote in a cablegram he sent from Europe to a newspaper publisher in the United States that had published an obituary with false details of his death in a widely circulated newspaper one day more than a hundred years ago.
I am saying the same thing right now in the year 2024!
Continue readingTerms befuddling my sexual understanding
There are certain words and phrases in the English language that I just can’t relate to or understand and bug me whenever I am asked to respond to them.
“Heterosexual” is at the top of my list. I guess it is in cahoots so to speak with “homosexual” but I never heard it used until I was grown up and dating for a couple of years. The dictionary definition for heterosexual is someone who is “sexually or romantically attracted exclusively to people of the other sex.”
Continue readingExcellent Treatment at Philly VA Hospital
I am about to get one of those RSV shots at the VA Hospital of Philadelphia to prevent any lung infection, and I wanted to share my enthusiasm for all the work the Veterans Administration has provided me with most of my adult life.
It started a month after exiting the Vietnam War alive and receiving a GI Bill stipend to become a “first-generation” college student, and a few years later, to buy my first home. But it wasn’t until I got caregiver burnout in 2008 while taking care of my wife, who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall, as well as a “PTSD-suffering uprising” from my combat experience, that I first got life support help from a VA hospital.
Continue readingGetting Credit for my Time Served in Philly
You never know when an action from your past may catch up to you and remind you of what you once did in your previous life.
Take, for instance, my attendance last week at a Veterans Ceremony in Plymouth Township, which borders my hometown of Conshohocken, PA. They honored veterans who served in the municipality by placing their names in a brochure while a full-fledged US Navy Captain spoke at a memorial.
Continue readingHas a “huge angel” been influencing me?
While attending the 10th anniversary of the Center for Contemporary Mysticism, a mystical experience opened my eyes to so many spiritual possibilities.
Continue readingHeartline & Intuition studies completed
It has taken me three years to complete one study and a mere two years to finish the other, but I believe I have contributed to the scientific understanding of reseasrchers for possible heart ailments and changes in thinking and memory for adults.
Continue readingMy writing device driven home in a flash
So grateful for feeling fewer body pains
While just starting to meditate, I could not get rid of thinking about the pains I was feeling in my body.
I had a major operation in May and am still suffering some aftereffects, including pain in my left side where a 12-inch incision was made to operate on an aneurysm. I was in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for six days.
Continue readingConfederate names changed at Army bases
The name change has finally occurred, and I am happy to report that every US Army base where I was stationed has had its Confederate Army soldier’s name removed and replaced with more admirable names.
Continue readingBobby Darin tribute for his birthday today
Today is the birthday of my favorite singer of all time.
If he lived, Bobby Darin would have turned 87, but a rheumatic heart condition caused a premature death at age 37.
That was exactly 50 years ago this year on Dec. 20, 1973.
Continue reading‘Stand Back’ Proud Boys Guilty of Treason
Traitors.
That’s the word that everyone in the United States can call four of the Proud Boys who were found guilty by a jury of their peers for taking part in the insurrection conducted in the Capital on Jan. 6, 2021. They reached the verdict on 31 of 46 counts following seven days of deliberation in Washington DC and nearly 15 weeks of courtroom proceedings.
Continue readingGabriel’s Messages – available to all souls!
“Gabriel’s Messages” opened my heart to so many truths not only about life but of the transition of death, and I hope that others can read this wonderful book by my friend, Cyndi Smith, a fellow member of the Center for Contemporary Mysticism of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.
It offers hope to a world that seems so weary about bad news for it predicts a new order of things 25 years from now. For instance, a “food tax” will be developed and help to send food to all corners of the world to end hunger; fossil fuels will no longer be used and be replaced by battery power or renewable energy. and medicine will become universal – we will be able to see any doctor in any part of the world.
Continue readingBan Fox News lies from our military bases
Fox News should be curtailed on all military bases and facilities to prevent men and women in uniform to be lied to about stories and events shaping our nation, particularly the political world around us.
Continue readingAcupuncture offered to help veterans
I’m getting therapy once again for my well-being!
Physical therapy, that is. Although I could probably use a little for my mental well-being. (Just kidding.)
Continue readingVietnam War peace accord 50 years old!
This month marks the 50th anniversary of when the Vietnam War finally ended. A Peace Accord was reached on January 27, 1973, making way for the complete removal of all troops by March 29th of the same year.
Many of us remember the chaotic pictures of persons trying to flee Saigon on the last day reminding me of the chaos that erupted when the United States ended The Afghanistan War on August 2021. The Vietnam War was America’s longest war ever until Afghanistan overtook it. Both wars became highly unpopular and some believe that politics had a lot to do with both battlefronts.
Fifty years ago the Vietnam War finally ended, but for many like myself, it feels like it was only yesterday.
Continue readingSt. Francis of Assisi is truly honored today
The world is celebrating the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi today! Francesco di Bernadone, whose real name was actually Giovanni (John), was born some 800 years ago. He came from a wealthy family. But turned his back on his mercantile father and gave up all worldly goods to help the poor as well as the animals.
Continue readingFramed for my service in the Vietnam War
I’ve been “Framed.”
And the person who framed me was none other than my son, Nicholas.
He framed all my medals from my enlistment in the US Army more than 50 years ago, including my service in the Vietnam War.
Continue readingA photo gift for a GI & a swimsuit recovery!
What do a missing swimsuit and a 50-year-old photo of a newly-minted lieutenant have in common?
Both got lost and then recovered on a friendly trip to the library and the treasured gift of hoping for an uplifting outcome.
Continue readingA Brewerytown Kid Grows Up – Reviewed!
Continue readingPerfectly, Unadulteratedly Human
The authentic human voice is a thing many writers strive to capture. Few can claim to have succeeded. Contos, however, very much has earned that badge of honor. The text is home to an authentic and powerful narration that still, in its honest humanity, grounds itself in the humble approach to one man’s life and what that life means.
I don’t often cry over books. It’s not that I can’t, it’s just something that very rarely happens.
I cried reading about the Kid of Brewerytown.
Take that as you will.Katherine D. 5.0 out of 5 stars
– Jan 22, 2022
Please stop all your cell phone spamming
“Potential Spam” is the innocuous term that Verizon classifies as one of several phone calls I get each day on my cell phone.
I immediately delete them, but have had an accident or two when I’d click the wrong button and end up dialing that number. I quickly stop any further progress at that number and click on delete. I got a feeling, however, that some “son-of-a-b” got a recording of my mistake and will log it into their account, but I really don’t know.
Continue readingPlease Disregard My “Last” Transmission!
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated . . .”
This quote from Mark Twain touched my very soul yesterday when I got a message from one of my old colleagues who said that he had read something “disturbing.” The exact quote via Messenger was: “Michael, are you okay? I saw something disturbing for your name.”
My reply: “Disturbing? I haven’t done anything to warrant that since I made an illegal turn into the senior citizen center in Upper Merion Township last week, and a cop stopped me.”
Continue readingVeterans Day Tribute from Conshohocken!
I have been honored this Veterans Day through a recorded interview about my book on the Vietnam War for a program called “Good Morning Conshy,” where I share the broadcast with two companion pet managers for what is known as PACT. Many of the animals had assisted veterans who could no longer care for their pets and needed help for animals they viewed as their children.
We all had contacts with Conshohocken, a small borough just outside of Philadelphia, and learned that the interview would be recorded and made available on YouTube. Watching it, I noticed how white-faced I look after recovering from a stomach illness. I am glad I wore my “boonie hat” that I had saved from the Vietnam War. It shows one silver bar that was subdued to prevent the enemy from spotting an officer. I wore it only once before, and that was at Omega Institute at a five-day meditation retreat for veterans with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
Continue readingVietnam War Book Review a 4-Stars Rate!
Review of Vietnam War Recall authored by Michael J Contos at Contoveros.wordpress.com
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of “Vietnam War Recall”
Like many other young men of the time, author Michael Contos found himself in the military, headed to a turbulent region of the world to protect democracy. After completing Officer Candidate School, Michael was deployed to Vietnam to lead a platoon of infantrymen on missions while evading the formidable Viet Cong forces. Here, he describes the worst day of his life that led to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a debilitating condition that would threaten to consume his life and linger for decades; a day so jarring that he would not talk about it, even with his family.
Upon returning home, his experiences in combat haunt him, so he seeks the help of spiritual leaders to relieve the symptoms of PTSD. The story is told in the first person through flashbacks, introspection, and excerpts from the author’s blog. Through the narration, readers get a glimpse into the personal turmoil that many of our veterans face after combat.
———–
The best part of this book is the intimate and emotional description of PTSD; a young leader, not afforded time to grieve or debrief from his experiences, lives with the nightmares, flashbacks, and anxiety that seem to permeate every facet of his life. These intense feelings are captured clearly by the author.
I also love the way the daily humdrum of military life is portrayed, and the descriptions sure bring back memories for this veteran. The cadences, the euphoric feeling when you realize your parachute is perfect, and the anticipation of the return to the United States (DEROS) are very real indeed! A little humor, typical of military camaraderie, is also peppered into the pages of the story; I had to chuckle when I read about some familiar but important advice: never crap alone in the field!
Although the messages are powerful, the book does seem a bit repetitive at times. Other than this, there is nothing negative to say about the story; its purpose and voice are truly a gift to an audience who does not truly understand the realities of war and its crippling effects on our young servicemen, not only the ones who gave their lives but also those who returned bearing unseen scars.
———–
I happily give Vietnam Recall: The Best and Worst Days of My Life a count of 4 out of 4 stars for these reasons. The book appears professionally edited and is divided into chapters of appropriate length.
I particularly recommend this book to readers who love historical accounts of war and those who seek insight from a primary source about mental illness. Those with family members in the military will appreciate the insightful glimpse into the psyche of those who have chosen to defend our way of life. There is some moderate profanity, along with explicit descriptions of trauma and wartime peril; those sensitive to these topics may not want to read the book.
For all others, the book is a penetrating account of one man’s journey towards healing and peace. All who read this story will undoubtedly be moved by the author’s gripping words as he relives the most difficult moments of his life. He speaks for the countless others who remain silent.
******
Vietnam War Recall
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Conshohocken may hold remains of a saint
I knelt at the gravesite while bowing my head and closing my eyes to pray yesterday morning. I was visiting Calvary Cemetery of West Conshohocken, the burial site for Father William E Atkinson, an Augustinian priest who passed away in 2006 and is now being considered for canonization by the Catholic Church to be named a saint.
Continue readingMy Vietnam War book is finally published!
It took me more than 50 years, but I finally published my Vietnam War story and the toll it took on me after leading a combat infantry platoon when I was just a 21-year-old first lieutenant in the US Army.
I self-published with the help of editors who wrote the back cover description. They used a mug shot I had taken some ten years ago while attending a PTSD meditation clinic at Omega Institute for veterans and their families. The clinic introduced me to different forms of meditation that allowed me to eventually deal with the trauma and view the war experience in a more benign and compassionate light.
Continue readingEnlarged stupidity leaks on my prostate
Schmuck.
Dumb schmuck to be exact.
I got a call from my doctor at the VA Hospital of Philadelphia after having blood drawn earlier in the day. He was concerned about an increase in some bad things involving my prostate.
Whatever those things were, I knew they weren’t any good, and he advised me to have a test done to ensure that I was not developing prostate cancer.
Continue readingVFW opens me to a local veterans retreat
Well, I joined a VFW.
That is, the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I could’ve joined it right out of the Vietnam War, but at that time of my life, I didn’t want to help support the war that I had just left.
Continue readingJustice demands a guilty verdict for Trump
I look forward to eventually reading the news of an indictment against the former president and/or an update on all of the civil lawsuits against him.
You know they’re coming. All the highly experienced lawyers need to do is simply confirm their concrete and rock-solid facts before going to Court and contacting the News Media for reporters to share the information on the law with the entire world.
Continue readingUniverse says: ‘All roads lead to Georgia’
Today, I am a Georgia boy once again. And if we try hard enough, all of us could be Georgians!
Over the next several weeks, I hope Americans join with me in offering positive intentions to convince the universe to focus and raise up the wonderful State of Georgia.
Continue reading
Change Confederate generals’ names now
- As a veteran of several military bases, I would vote to change the names of all the facilities named for generals who fought for the Confederate army during our nation’s Civil War.
I offer such action with a heavy heart because of the link I still have with the facilities that helped to create the soldier I had become, and the lessons learned in the US Army.  Continue reading
Vietnam veteran recalls war 50 years ago
Today is Vietnam Veterans Day, and the Year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of my deployment in the war zone. I was a 21-year-old second lieutenant placed in charge of a platoon of some 25 men, many of them still in their teenage years and drafted like I had been.  Continue reading
Exercise Routine by Accident & Incentive
I exercise daily and try to get enough steps each day to add up to two miles. That’s around 6,250 steps if anyone is counting.
Well, my iPhone is counting ‘em. The steps, that is. And the miles.
Grandkids can open you to new worlds!
“It’s snowing!” is what Phoenyx happily announced to the household as the nine-year-old made her way up to the third floor at 6:58 am this morning.  Continue reading
Unmasking sleep apnea’s nightly ritual
- I have taken off the mask, and I can now sleep unencumbered once again!
- A doctor advised me that I no longer have sleep apnea and don’t need the machine that has forced air into my nostrils over the last several years just to keep me breathing.  Continue reading
Contoveros Blog turns 10 years old today!
- It’s been 10 years since I wrote my first post for this “Contoveros Blogsite,” and looking back, I feel a little like Ken Burns, the producer of PBS specials on such things as war, music, and other all-American things. 
I started the Blog shortly after attending the funeral for my last surviving blood relative, Uncle Dominic Hagel, my mother’s brother, who, together with his wife, Aunt Frances, helped to raise me when sent from Philadelphia to Egg Harbor, NJ. My mother had postpartum depression after the birth, and I was sent to my grandmother, who shared her house with Uncle Dom.
Something clicked inside of me. I had just gotten help for PTSD from the Vietnam War and learned to meditate from a VA psychologist who taught veterans mindfulness meditation. I also finished a 6-week course of dream-journaling after reading about Psychologist Carl G Jung.
After meditating, I rose from the pew and stepped out as if I were going for Holy Communion. I walked backward and studied the various statues. Each had a story to tell, and I internalized that understanding and wanted to share my own story.
————-
On my return home, I began to write about what I was taught in second grade as the “purpose of life.” That is “To Know, Love and Serve God,” according to the Baltimore Catechism. I wrote about all three.
In between, I had a dream about Socrates and coupled it with what Jung called an “active imagination.” I saw people in my life as Angels or Guides who directed me in my path to include my teenage mentor who taught me to sing Doo Wop harmony, my oldest brother who guided me into Officer Candidate School and eventual service in the Vietnam War, and a Scottish neighbor of my parents who suggested I study journalism when he heard I took printing courses in the high school trade school I attended.
——————-
I wrote about the war and PTSD, securing a not guilty verdict on my first jury trial and serving as a newspaper reporter covering Three Mile Island.
I shared my understanding of the Kabbalah and my journey to Jerusalem, my studies of WON Buddhism, and my trip to South Korea, and how I learned to dance a mean dervish whirl while learning about the Sufi and the Muslim faith.
—————
My total count is now 881 posts, something I never imagined I would reach way back then. I made so many good friends from all over the world to include Russia, Great Britain, Iceland, Greece, and Canada, not to mention my fellow countrymen and women.
It has been very therapeutic and enlightening, particularly when receiving comments from readers who shared my view and added to the discussion.
I hope I can continue for another 10 years and use the old Al Jolson line:
“You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet”
Seeing a Divine Hand in the Worst of Times
God Works in Mysterious Ways.
Put another way, the Universe will conspire to bring about what you really want and need in life, even though you may not know it when the Divine Intervention takes place.
Or even like it. The intervention that is. And on first blush, it may even seem bad, but you realize on reflection that it had to have happened for you to progress in life.  Continue reading
Confession of a US Army dog-tag deserter
- I confess. I disobeyed orders when I marched into combat as a young man and I want to finally get it off my chest after all these years.  Continue reading
‘Welcome Home’ this Veterans Day 2018
- One hundred years ago, peace-loving people throughout the world commemorated the “War to End All Wars” by institutionalizing a holiday that morphed into Veterans Day in America.
World War I, as historians have named it, did not end all of the wars, and in 20 years, the nations of the earth faced the worst world war mankind has ever known.  Continue reading
Meditation can rescue us in dire situations
Joy filled my soul as I read that the 12 boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand were thinking of entering a monastery in honor of the former Navy SEAL who gave his life in an effort to save them.  Continue reading
Memorial Day cries out for those who died
Memorial Day always brings back memories of the Vietnam War and one of the soldiers I served with who I called a friend and a true “comrade-in-arms.” He was Victor Lee Ellinger, a fellow who lived in Staunton, VA. He was shot and killed by an enemy sniper while leading a platoon some 50 miles outside of Saigon. Continue reading
Writing frees us up for past recollections
Writing has opened me to a world above and beyond my five senses and I feel like an H.G. Wells whenever I revisit the past and recall what life was like when I was fortunate enough to stop the world for a few brief moments and write about something. Continue reading
Father Koenig’s life lessons at St. Ludwig’s
Father Koenig put the gloves on me when I was ten years old and directed me toward the kid who was my same size but some two years older. That kid – Billy McLaughlin – kicked my butt. But I never cried or gave up as I swung wildly at him in an effort to land my own punches.  Continue reading
My Atticus Finch Moment in Philadelphia
She stared at me as I walked from the courtroom, and I felt her hate bore into me. Her whole posture seemed to drip with contempt, and what I could only feel at that moment was a curse from her whole being.  Continue reading
Grateful for Choosing the Veteran’s Way
I didn’t want to go to Vietnam. Who did back in 1968? I was never a gung-ho type of guy, even though I’d go a little berserk when a buddy of mine got attacked by some bully at home or in school.  Continue reading
Big Moose bar helps wayward boys to grow
My mother hit me upside the head when she caught me drinking beer in the Big Moose Bar up the street from where we lived.
I was 16 years old at the time and sipping a Ballantine beer with a friend from Dobbins Technical High School. Someone must have ratted me out, as my good friend Joe Walsh and I — both young white guys — drank in the African American bar in a section of Philadelphia called Brewerytown. Continue reading
Being born out of wedlock makes me what?
I was born Out of Wedlock.
That kind of makes me a Bastard!
Some have called me that, and I guess they knew more about my life than I ever did.  Continue reading
Failure can often lead to a greater success
I took a leave of absence from my work as a newspaper reporter to serve as a union organizer years ago. I had helped to negotiate several contracts at the Pottstown Mercury and only took the job when I was overlooked for a copy editor position at the paper.  Continue reading
My Memorial Day recall — Third of June
“It was the Third of June, another sleepy . . . day . . .”
With that phrase starting one of most memorable country songs in the 196os, I began my life as a man, a soldier, and a leader of an infantry platoon in the Vietnam War.  Continue reading
Expressway of a heart leads to equanimity
I wanted the driver who cut me off to crash and burn.
For a brief moment, I thought of praying that he would immediately die for cutting in front of me as I was doing 60-miles-an-hour on the expressway behind a car just five lengths in front of me. I beeped my horn and flashed my high beams at the driver. I relished in the hatred I felt burning inside of me. I loathed him from the bottom of my heart and wanted a bloody accident to befall ‘em. Continue reading
Confession of a Kresge juvenile delinquent
Today we have the Dollar Store but when I was growing up, we kids enjoyed the old Five and Dime Store. Continue reading
Thích Nhất Hạnh sees the suffering in us
Thích Nhất Hạnh looked at me from the most sorrowful eyes I have ever seen, and I understood what it was like for a person to feel all the suffering the world is experiencing.
I had attended a five-day silent retreat at Blue Cliff Monastery in upstate New York with some thousand others who meditated morning, noon, and night. Someone would ring a bell as you walked through the monastery grounds and just like clockwork, everyone would stop what they were doing and rest in the present moment.  Continue reading
Sleeping Again as if I’m still a Youngster!
I slept through the night last night.
To me, it’s a big deal for it is something I haven’t done in quite a while. You see, I have prostate problems. I got diagnosed with it while at the VA hospital, and I take medication every night, but no matter what I do, I still have to get up in the middle of the night and take a pee.  Continue reading
Balance needed in journey of heart & mind
- Living on the right side of the brain can be uplifting most of the time, but you could face deadly consequences if you try it too much while driving.  Continue reading
A Writer’s love song to his favorite muse
My mind’s a blank.
I can’t think of anything to write about. I feel lost, adrift, less than human.
That is what happens when you make writing your life’s love. You want to write all of the time and never be too far away from what writing can do for you. Can do to you!  Continue reading
Sounds Touching the Heart & Soul of Me
A Tibetan Singing Bowl rang out just now. It called me back to the peace inside despite the noises of harshness my life has heard played out for me in recent times.
Accepting the ‘As Is’ with Gratitude & Joy
There is a message I receive every time I travel to the IKEA store and visit the “As Is” department. I get a feeling that the Universe is telling me to open myself to the message the Swedish furniture store wants to share with the rest of the world.
Accept life “As Is,” it softly calls out to me. Continue reading
Seeing the real world created for you & me
Want to change the way you see?
Close your eyes. Take three full breaths.
Visualize a loving moment.
Stretch out the feeling.
Extend that feeling to the entire world when you open your eyes.
Do it until you do it!
– a student of Losang Samten. Tibetan Buddhist Monk
Sign language opens my heart to neighbors
My greatest concern when I placed the political signs on my lawn was whether they would offend someone in my neighborhood. I live in a working class section of Pennsylvania, some 15 miles outside of Philadelphia. It was dependent on steel and manufacturing for many years, but eventually saw a decline as jobs left the little borough of Conshohocken for elsewhere. Continue reading
Freedom arises as my ego desires dissipate
Those seeking help for PTSD war wounds are not all that weak, my dear Mr. Trump!
Dear Mr. Trump,
I never felt “weak” when I started feeling the rage that grew in me from Post-Traumatic Stress following 25 years after leading an infantry platoon in Vietnam. Continue reading
Got a Ghost Tale for this Halloween?
My Uncle Mike was a grizzly white haired Greek who spoke little to no English when my father invited him to stay in our house in North Philadelphia. I don’t know if he really was a blood relative, but he was one of the meanest mother-humpers I had ever come into contact with as a child. Continue reading
How would like to see yourself next year?
If I had a magic wand, I’d wave it all over my body, magically ordering it to relax and begin to accept all the good and the bad life has to throw at me
I would want to treat it all with equanimity.  Continue reading
Creativity flows from a true act of defiance
When the Good Lord created the Universe, He created order out of chaos. He instilled Free Will in earthlings, something he withheld from the angels of whom He created first. Continue reading
Shooting political signs never the answer
I wanted to shoot the political sign I saw outside of Philadelphia the other day but ended up feeling sorry for all of us who react violently against the person we demonize on the other side of the aisle. Continue reading
Dream a little (recurring) dream with me
I had my recurring dream again last night. For several years, I have gone to work at the daily newspaper, dreaming that the deadline for submitting copy was just minutes away and I had typed nothing about my story for the day.  Continue reading
African Americans lose all, Mr. Trump
“What the hell do you have to lose?” Donald Trump shouted to the all-white audience while pretending he was asking African Americans to vote for him last week.
In response, Chris Rock responded with one word: “Everything.” Continue reading
Immigrants unite against Trump out of love
I was unashamed of the tears that fell while watching the father of a young soldier describe the sacrifice his son made for America the other night. Khizr Khan, a Muslim immigrant, spoke with pride at the Democratic Convention and I couldn’t help but see my father in him and the love all parents felt for children called by our nation to defend it. Continue reading
Play as if your life depends on it – It does!
Playing is something I do quite well, if I do say so myself. I enjoyed it ever since I was a kid and don’t see how I could truly enjoy my life if I didn’t incorporate some sort of play in my daily living.  Continue reading
Fear of the black stranger causes tragedies
I cried when I saw a woman comforting a black police officer who was helping others get hospital treatment from an assassin’s attack in the streets of Dallas last night. The cop was like many I knew in the legal profession, good guardians of the peace who laid their lives on the line every day to protect us civilians, particularly those of us in the inner cities. Continue reading
Mother recalls son’s last ‘earthly’ words
By TEA
It was Saturday morning, May the 19th of 2012. I awoke that early morning feeling well rested. Since the beginning of the new year, I have been working Monday through Thursday, having Fridays off. In the past, when working a full week, my Saturdays were spent sleeping in and catching up on the many hours of sleep lost during the week. Continue reading
Words of ex-wife full of life-long wisdom
“Don’t do it Michael,” my ex-wife told me when I began planning for a debate between the candidates running for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 1978. I didn’t listen to her, and I spent too much time and money on an effort that failed miserably, and kept my dreams of entering politics a nightmare that I never again wanted to materialize. Continue reading
Only one bigamist per family, thank you!
“My grandfather lied to my grandmother. I guess it runs in the family. *
But I never got married while I still had a family. That’s what I’m talking about. He lied about being married at the time he married the only grandmother I ever knew Continue reading
Universe brings music ‘Homeward Bound’
I saw the singer and songwriter Paul Simon last night, and he’s “still crazy after all these years.”  Continue reading
Congress protest makes me proud of USA
I’ve never been so proud of being an American as I was the past week when some forty members of the Senate held an unprecedented filibuster and it was followed up by Congressional Democrats who took the House Chamber hostage for a “sit-in” protest against our nation’s inability to halt the sale of high-powered weapons now being used for mass destruction. Continue reading
Anger starts out from my basic personality
Why is anger my “go-to” emotion? Why does it crop up whenever I’m confronted with something I don’t understand or something I feel threatened by?
“Crop up“ is not the right phrase to use. My anger “erupts.” It goes from zero to sixty within the span of a millisecond. It always seemed to be that way, even as a kid. Now at last I think I know why. Continue reading
Touch at least one heart with Meet-Up now
If you could go back in time to attend a Meet-Up in Jerusalem with the famous rabbi from Nazareth to share some bread, wine and good conversation, would you sign up and go?
How about traveling back some 2,600 years to give a listen to the Four Noble Truths in northern India by a fellow who some claim had reached enlightenment? Would you agree to meet weekly to discuss life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Continue reading
Regulations needed for mass shootings!
You don’t fly?
You don’t buy!
It should be as simple as that! If the federal government has reasonable suspicion to place you on a terrorist “No Fly List,” you should also be barred from buying guns.
No ands, ifs, or buts.  Continue reading
Wounds of Love Still Hurt this Soldier Boy
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Peggy’s mother, Mary, answered and said “Hello, Michael.” She didn’t invite me in, but smiled, and I kind of smiled back.  Continue reading
Newspapering requires typing correct obit
“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.”
I typed this over and over again, hoping that one day I’d learn the fine skill of typing as I sat in a class with all girls. Young women, I should say. I was the only male in the Delaware County Community College course of study, and I never once felt out of place or unusual.
I wanted to be a journalist, you see. So, I figured I had to learn the fine art of typing to file my stories. Continue reading
A Course of Love is uniquely one of a kind!
Reading a chapter from the book, “A Course of Love,” is much like my study of the Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah.
I get uplifted and carried to another place, a different state of mind where I feel closer to the Word. The Word of God, if you know what I mean.
Emergency hits home; order soon restored
My second wife stopped breathing shortly after they placed her in the emergency vehicle en route to a hospital some eight years ago. The day was six-months to date of her first bout with an emergency wagon when she fell in our Conshohocken, PA, home, suffering a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
She remained in a coma for more than five days. This time, however, they were more certain that she would not recover from her latest, unplanned date with Miss Fate. A nurse or a social worker at the Hospital suggested I contact a priest to say the last rites for Wendy. Continue reading
‘Love & Rockets’ explode near this veteran
My son, Nicholas, just didn’t seem to understand how much pain I suffered in Sutcliffe Park when I took him to see fireworks on clear and starry night sky on the Fourth of July some years ago.
At first, I enjoyed the rockets zooming into the air. They were colorful red, white, and blue explosions that took your breath away with gasps of wonder and awe.
Soon, however, they took on a menacing demeanor, as each blast began to remind me of the Vietnam War and the rounds of mortar fire that fell on me and my platoon some 30 years earlier.  Continue reading
‘Brewerytown Way’ Brought Back to Life
I see my life through the eyes of a kid who grew up in Brewerytown, swashbuckling my way through fights on the streets and later the jungles of Vietnam before finding my true calling as a spiritual clarion who wants all North Philadelphia children to return to their God-given Nature of Love. Continue reading
Smoke handcuffs me when stress hits home
I never wanted a cigarette as bad as I did when I got thrown into a “lockup” after getting kicked out of the courtroom by a judge whose ire I had raised by raising my own voice at him.  Continue reading
‘I don’t know’ — first step for my true path
“I don’t know” is soon to become my life-long mantra.
It has helped me immensely in calming the “monkey mind” after a wonderful Korean woman introduced it to me, and it took a full day for me to understand its profound ramifications.
For me, saying “I don’t know” is a way of humbling myself and admitting that I know very little about the world I live in and what really matters in the scheme of life. No matter how hard I try to “get it right” through searching and throwing myself into one spiritual path after another, the end result brings me no closer to any definite answer and it’s okay to let it go and simply say “I don’t know” to the world.
First learn the ‘Way’ before leading others
Pride cometh before the fall.
Serving graciously as a St. Ludwig altar boy
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Ad Deum Qui Laetificat Juventutem Meam!
That’s one of the prayers I’d recite as an altar boy at St. Ludwig’s Roman Catholic Church, and I’ll never forget it ‘til the day I die. Don’t ask me what it means right now. I never figured it out as a kid, but I loved to say it!  Continue reading
Korea calling me to seek answers within
Korea awaits me next week as I travel more than a thousand miles to find myself and discover reasons why I am still here on planet earth.
Yes, I’m joining a group from Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago that will fly to Seoul, South Korea, to take part in the centennial celebration of the WON Buddhism by its master on April 28th, 1916. Continue reading
A Course of Love awakens love inside & out
The Beatles got it right in the 1960s.
“All you need is love.”
“Love is all there is.”
————–
I couldn’t agree with them more, particularly after experiencing the warm glow and gentle caress of a bunch of lovers who helped me to open my foolish heart to “A Course of Love.”  Continue reading
Aging is hurting me and my writing skills
Getting old is a real pain in the ass.
It’s a pain in the hip, the shoulder and the lower part of my back, to tell you the truth.
I recently learned that I have arthritis. It’s killing me. Continue reading
Equanimity for anticipation & expectations
Carly Simon sang it . . .
The Heinz ketchup bottle illustrated what it could look like . . .
And I have fallen victim to it whenever I try something new and start to visualize what could possibly go wrong.
It’s called “Anticipation Anxiety!” Continue reading
Contoveros 
