David Giffen's Blog, page 2
February 2, 2021
Tuesday Talks with Tammy
Stoked to talk with Tammy at 4pm today.bookstagram #bookgram #askauthor #author #authorsofinstagram #authorsofig #bookchat #booksofinstagram #booksigning #indiepublishing #indieauthor #trauma #traumarecovery #traumahealing #traumasurvivor #childhoodtrauma #substanceabuse #substanceabuseawareness #christianity #religion #memoir #booksthatheal #mentalhealth
mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters __ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-6019f474b6f19', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });
January 20, 2021
January 14, 2021
Goodreads Giveaway
Enter for a chance to win one of 100 copies of Redemptive Trauma: Confession of a Defrocked Priest.
January 10, 2021
January 8, 2021
Thank you, CSMC
Incredibly grateful for the support of my friends at CSMC. It means more than I have words to describe.
January 2, 2021
Everyone Needs A Coach
Everyone needs a coach.
I wasn’t able to articulate this until as recently as just a few years ago. I didn’t know how much it mattered to have someone in your corner, bound to you in ways that lie deeply in your triumphs and victories. Someone who feels the weight of your failure just one iota less than you do… only so they can lead you back.
We all really need a coach.
My first memory of a coach was my Dad. 5 years old. Local soccer team. I had no idea what I was doing. It looked like he did at times. It’s actually one of my favourite childhood memories.
My best memory of a childhood coach is both Stephen & Joe. Couple local Markham Dads who knew how to lead a group of house league boys into battle on the baseball field. It was a cool team. With kids of different talent levels and commitments… from different kinds of households and life. Coming from the home of a deeply religious immigrant family, it was one of the first times I’d begun to have close relationships with people outside of my faith group, and the first time I’d really spent quality time with people outside of my own skin colour. No joke, Justin was the first black dude I’d ever hung out with or seen my parents converse with. He wore a hat to practice one day with an X on it. I asked what team it was, and he told me about Malcolm. I’d never heard of the guy. Makes me shake my head now.
Belonging to that team was where I bonded with some of my closest friends.
I never thought about it back then, because I always just assumed teams either have chemistry or they don’t. But Stephen and Joe –supported by assistant coaches like Mr. V and lots of Moms— created a culture and bound us together so that winning the championship that year was not our greatest accomplishment.
We learned how to be a team.
Extra practices – with mini home run derby’s and base stealing techniques for the couple of us who had serious wheels. Invitations to activities in each other’s homes – and a championship dinner at a Pizza Hut. I’m pretty sure different configurations of the team went to batting cages and swimming parties and movie nights. I wasn’t allowed to go if it wasn’t rated PG.
Stephen and Joe taught a group of young men how to be leaders and teammates and become a community.
It hadn’t occurred to me until quite recently that my longest standing coach is someone I wouldn’t have given the title to growing up: My Mum. My Mum is the one who instilled in me a deep faith in God and a love for humanity. My Mum is the one who taught me how to public speak and get elected the Mayor of Markham in my grade three class at St Joseph’s elementary school. She can take a lot of credit for my posture towards social justice, even when it wasn’t the most popular choice. Even with all the painful complications of family history, it was my Mum who first taught me to believe in myself.
Relationships are complicated. Families even more.
I recently said to my Mum that I didn’t need her to be all the things other sons might need her to be for them. But when I called, I needed her to be exactly what she’d always been. Someone in my corner, bound to me in ways that lie deeply in my successes and victories. Someone who feels the weight of my failure just one iota less than I do… only so I can be led back.
It was in that moment that I realized; this is not a new phenomenon.
Everyone needs a coach. Perhaps most of all, me.
December 24, 2020
So this is Christmas?
The kid in the golden diapers came to clean up this mess.
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December 8, 2020
The Gifters Podcast
Great experience spending some time with Christopher on his podcast this week.
Fortune 100 global speaker & #1 international bestselling author Christopher Kai shares inspiring stories from captivating entrepreneurs and extraordinary individuals who are changing the world.
December 7, 2020
Authentic Ginger
Thanks to the people at http://www.authenticgingerclothing.com for this authentic moment.
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