“I am grateful I learned how to give room for grief, and how to listen without trying to control. I learned how to be still with people in pain. It may be the most human thing you can do. There is no less humanity in a person in a hospital gown, an IV dripping into their veins, than there is in an athlete in victory or a model on the runway. No, I am wrong. There is more humanity in the person in pain. We are all that person.” PainHumanity Author:Adam McHugh
“I don't know why human life seems to require suffering for growth to take place, or why things have to be taken away from us if we are to expand. The pattern branded on the human heart seems to be that only pain brings lasting change, that we must learn how to grieve if we want to truly celebrate, that we have to get lost in order to be found again. The lesson of the grape seems to apply here: in order to get the life out, something has to be crushed.” PainSufferingChangeGriefPersonal GrowthCelebration Author:Adam McHugh
“The sort of people that we become is, in large part, determined by the voices that we choose to listen to. Truly, we do not have a choice of listening versus not listening. We all obey certain voices, and thus the question is not “Will I listen?” but “Which voices will I listen to?” But it is not only a matter of choosing to listen to good voices over bad ones. If only it were as simple as the proverbial whispering angel and devil on our shoulders. It is also a matter of whether we will choose to listen to different voices, voices that don’t sound the same as our own. Will we listen to the voices of different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds and beliefs? Will we listen to the voices that unsettle us and might make us feel anxious or guilty? If we choose to listen only to voices that echo our own, we will be limited in our growth and stunted in our spirituality. Choosing to tune in to only one or two stations may be comfortable, but it is not transformative. The voices we want to hear are not always the same as the voices we need to hear.” CharacterWisdomListeningTransformationInfluencesSpiritual FormationAdam MchughThe Listening Life Author:Adam McHugh
“...after significant wanderings of grief you do not reenter the world through the same door you departed it, nor do you reemerge as the same person you once were. It requires some time to adjust to the new version of yourself.” Grief Author:Adam McHugh
“My temptation is to look back and reject or resent what came before, but that is like taking a cross-country trip and getting angry at Chicago for not being New York. It is a stop along the way, and you can't get to where you are heading without going through it.” RegretResentmentThe PastMoving Forward In Life Author:Adam McHugh
“Sometimes the old parts of your life, even when they were good and essential in a past season, can become a hindrance to new growth. They must be removed to give space for the new version of yourself to flourish. Pruning will make the fruit of the next season that much sweeter, the wines of the new vintage deeper and richer. Death makes a way for life.” LifeDeathPersonal GrowthPruning Author:Adam McHugh
“There is something almost subhuman about living the nocturnal life. You start to understand why all the paranormal creatures and fairytale beasts occupy the night. The darkness is for ghosts haunting old barns, monsters lurking in closets, and overtired people making terrible decisions. That is the natural order of things, and woe unto you who disobeys the rule of the night.” NightDarknessNocturnal Living Author:Adam McHugh
“I have always believed that in a good marriage two people should be softened and deepened, their hard edges polished, their separate parts coming together like wine mellowing in a barrel, creating something richer and more beautiful. Unfortunately, not all wines age well. Some wines fall apart prematurely, their components break down, and they turn to vinegar. Once a wine goes to vinegar, it can't turn back. Love may never end, but some love stories turn sour.” LoveMarriageLove Stories Author:Adam McHugh
“In good marriages, partners help bandage each other's wounds. More often we seemed to squeeze lemons over ours.” MarriageMarriage Gone Bad Author:Adam McHugh