Finding the Inner Voice

The Human Fire 3.7 - March 16, 2025

An update and emerging directions.

Two months ago, I began the last edition of this newsletter with this update:

"Later this week I'm going on retreat to consider my own purpose and passions. As I prepare for that, I'm thinking about the spaces in my own life where that balance has been off or tilted, where there's been an overabundance or scarcity of fuel that's caused internal or external damage. What I want most is to use my own fire to sustain myself and others."

I spent four days listening to myself in a way I don't know I've ever done quite so deeply. I emerged with a renewed sense of what matters to me and what commitments are important. One concrete fruit of that renewal is that I'm offering an online course for teenagers on ethics and the world of Harry Potter starting at the beginning of April. After I announced this new endeavor on LinkedIn, it became clear that there was also considerable adult interest in it, so I'll also be offering an adults-only version as well (more to come on that!).

It may come as a surprise, as someone who delights in using my voice - through spoken and written word, through song, through laughter - that I might find it challenging to listen to my own internal voice. But it has been one of the great struggles of my life. Someday I may write more openly about that struggle, but for now I offer that as an explanation for my need to continue the quiet listening to myself until I was ready to speak and write again.

When I first started this newsletter, I wanted both a means of creative expression and form of digital connection to others. I had an intuition that others desired something similar, and thus far the feedback I've received from readers has validated that intuition.

Times are changing, though, and in this critical moment I believe that the work to cultivate "the human fire" is more urgent than ever. And here's where I need your help, dear readers.

I want to continue offering my thoughts and sharing resources, but I also don't want to spend time creating something that nobody wants to read. Your time, as well as mine, is precious and short.

So, if you'll indulge me with a bit of a departure this week, I'd like to ask you three questions to shape how I proceed with The Human Fire.

Question 1: Format

When I started writing, I came up with the "oxygen-fuel-heat" format as a way of organizing both the content of the newsletter and my own writing process. I feel like it's a way to keep content short while also pointing to a greater depth. I've mostly stuck to it in 48 issues.

I've toyed with other ways of doing this, though. For example, I could organize single issues around one element, like "fuel," to go deeper on particular issues. But that might lose something distinctive about what I've been trying to do. So here's my question:

​

Question 2: Content

Conventional advice in the newsletter world suggests that writers should find a niche and double down. I've mostly resisted that advice, both for temperamental and philosophical reasons. My own interests range across education, business, spirituality, and public life, and I believe that the connections between these are crucial to being human today.

But maybe I'm stubborn and foisting content on an unwilling readership. So here's the second question:
​

Question 3: Upgrades

Writing a free newsletter is a labor of love, if one that has an opportunity cost. I do it in hopes that my words might help create a wider community of those committed to being human in our time. And it's a reflection of what my wider work in the world is about.

I currently offer a tip jar for readers to express their appreciation for my work financially. Beyond that, I do want to reach a wider audience with my words, coaching, courses, and professional services. And that leads to my third and final question:

​

I appreciate your feedback and am deeply grateful for your engagement with me as I consider how best to continue this newsletter. I will take your answers to heart and value your continued readership, however you answer.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves and carve out time to listen to yourself. I can vouch for how important that work is, especially in these turbulent times.

Until next week, I'll see you down the path.

Chad

HumanWealth Partners

P.O. Box 1486, Newburyport MA 01950
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​