Something for Men

I'm coming off an unusually busy weekend. In three weeks, I'll be off to serve on the staff at one of those men's training weekends I have written about in the past, and preparations--for me at least--began on Saturday with a lengthy meeting to set the tone and assign responsibilities. Then, yesterday, a country-wide phone bridge to connect those men who will be in leadership positions. As I may have mentioned in the past, as one who has attained a respectable number of years on this planet and who has been involved in the ManKind Project since 1992, I am now regarded with much appreciated respect as a leading elder who is credited with more wisdom than I actually possess!

I always approach these weekends with a mixture of skepticism, judgment, fear--and real excitement. It's always an adventure, a risk whose opportunities I at once welcome and reject and which requires me to put myself on the line without hesitation or compromise. Before, there's a whole big part of me that arises (out the fear, for sure) to mock the whole notion of spending a weekend in the company of men who are, pretty much, in search of their own hearts and souls. But when I get to the site, I'm in. The event itself never fails to be unbelievably inspiring, a kind of return home to some true place, an elevation of the spirits I have experienced nowhere else. From Friday night through Sunday afternoon, it's a beautifully orchestrated drama that leads toward a powerful catharsis. And the results, for me, back in 1992, were literally life-changing; the weekend opened up powers and paths I had never dreamed possible or available to me before. I have witnessed the same since that time for too many men to warrant my skepticism, yet it never fails to return.

Do you know of men who are looking for the next step in their lives? Who are ready--I mean this literally, though I know it sounds odd--for adventure? Who have reached a glimmer of realization that they want something more from their lives and loves, but don't quite know what it is? Who are ready to take a risk, to step into the void in order to discover something new? Do you know men who are in some way removed, detached for whatever reason from themselves and those they love, and want to get reconnected with the joy they once experienced? If you know such men, please send them my way. Or send them to this site to find out more. When I first read about the opportunity, my skeptic had me almost convinced that this was not for me; but that was more than fifteen years ago. I signed up anyway, and here I am today, still battling with my inner skeptic, still showing up, and still ending up refreshed, rejuvenated, and inspired.