This has been a rough run. I have all the tools to navigate hard times but I get sad, hurt, angry. You too? I thought so. So none of us is alone in our moments of despair and pain. I can easily forget how hard others have it. I can easily obsess on self.

My dear friend Gary Coursey was THE BEST example of someone who struggled to make ends meet and yet never let me forget that we need to share, help, and give voice to those less fortunate.

My friend Chuck Horn would show generosity of spirit to all despite his desperate struggle with his own very active addiction. He and I would talk daily and a day never went by without Chuck referencing his concern for someone else’s suffering.

My friend Jerry Cichon had more than most. But again, he made frequent references of concern about people who were caught in spiritual, financial or emotional pain.

The irony is these great teachers who passed through my life but then passed beyond are often the very reason I feel lost. Without their counsel and friendship, I forget how good I have it and get lost in losing them. Just like when you lost someone close to you. Remember how much it hurts. Hell yea! I find myself humming the song from Les Miserables

There’s a grief that can’t be spoken,
There’s a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables,
Now my friends are dead and gone.

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me
That I live and you are gone
There’s a grief that can’t be spoken,
And there’s a pain goes on and on

Tomorrow may bring a new friend, lover, teacher. It may bring blessings unimagined today. It may just as likely bring more pain, loss and depression. But if I stay in the moment, breathe, accept and give to others, and cease and desist my propensity to drink poison, grasp hot coals or wear a hair shirt (a shirt made of rough animal hair worn next to the skin as a penance) it will be okay. I wish it felt okay now but that would be unrealistic.

I am a lucky person to have and had so many good friends. And I know, really know, that you have your moments of despair also. I hope reading this caused you to nod your head in understanding, because after all, No one is getting out of this life alive.