The Good Life by Deverick Martin The ink in my pen hasn't really dried up. I've gone through a period of feeling a lot less like writing - in part because the demands of producing this newspaper on extremely limited resources have felt very depleting. I've questioned my ability to write about leadership of a vehicle dedicated to fostering spiritual life when my own existence has felt like one of mere survival, leaving little time to nourish my own life. I'm often working long hours, typically seven days a week, for quite modest financial compensation. Over the past several months, I felt a certain sense of relief not to add the extra work of writing a monthly article. Perhaps this was the energy of the absent father that I knew in my earliest years - a father that helped make things happen but was not able to be present at important times. There has been a part of me that was somehow ashamed not to be able to express the great insights that many others so eloquently do on these pages. There is a part of me that didn't want to share my vision of where our work could go for fear that I could not provide the financial resources to make it more than an unachievable dream. Now, more than ever before, I am feeling called to make the time and take the leadership role that is so important in my work. What am I doing all this for if I am unable to articulate the importance of my life work? I have many ideas, tremendous resources - cutting-edge information, important contacts, and, very importantly, guidance from Spirit - for all that I am doing. I have been able to steer a solid course through black ink for nearly two years - two years that have seen the demise of two similar publications in this area. I have a proven track record of manifesting many wonderful things over my lifetime. By the time most of you read this, I will have passed the halfway mark of a century of life in this mortal form. This is an auspicious time - a time for reflection, a time when I am working hard to recognize and demonstrate the gifts that I bring to be of service to humanity, and a time when I am finding myself compelled to challenge limiting beliefs. I am concerned about the grave consequences of the lack of accountability and misuse of power rampant among those in leadership roles across our planet. I must, then, be more willing to start here, and be more accountable in my leadership role at The New Times. I am concerned about the severity of crimes by today's youth. This, to me, dramatically demonstrates how different our world would be if children were honored and valued for who they are rather than who someone thinks they should be. As I read Cat Saunders' and Arian Sarris' articles about violence in this issue, I couldn't help thinking what a non-issue this would be in such a world. I have yet to meet anyone that was not psychologically wounded in childhood in some way. I want to provide simple, loving ways that we can support the healing of the wounded child within ourselves and within others who are in important relationships with us. Toward that end, the concept of parenting as a spiritual practice is a theme woven throughout this entire issue in book reviews, interviews, and articles, in both direct and indirect ways. Our editor, David A. Young, makes his debut as a feature writer in this issue with his front-page interview with Marc Adams and Todd Tuttle, who share how their experience has helped shape their life's work. Also on page one, Paul Fedorowicz offers helpful suggestions as he describes his journey to reclaim the artistic gifts set aside while he was growing up. One of the important roles for The New Times is to be an incubation ground for future top writers in our topic areas. Many of our regular writers, and I suspect many of our readers, have a desire to share their stories and to publish their ideas. To foster this, we begin in this issue a six-part series by writer and publisher Tony Stubbs (The Ascension Handbook) in our "Review" section. On the next page, frequent New Times contributor (and book reviewer) Douglas S Johnson begins an eight-month series, titled "Tales from the Dark Wood," on depression, something that many grapple with, especially during the darker days ahead that are punctuated with holiday festivities that often end up hollow and draining. It is my hope that this work will illuminate our thinking and allow each of us to touch the lives of those around us in uplifting and healing ways. In the past few weeks, a dark shadow has fallen across one of my own most important relationships. This is a deeply heart-wrenching experience, challenging and testing all of my resources. Yet, I'm finding my life full of love and support. Growing up, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of ultimately going to a place where people sat around on puffy clouds and listened to harp music. Sure, that would be fun for a brief respite, but for eternity...? So as I write this, I am embracing this life with all of its pain, despair, hard work, hope, opportunities, and rewards. Yep, I think this is the good life!