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Boar’s Head Festival returns to Trinity Church Jan. 9-11 From Jan. 9-11, the Boar’s Head Festival will take place at Trinity United Church in Springfield. The festival is based on a medieval festival in England celebrating the Epiphany — the birth of Christ and the arrival of the Three Wise Men.
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DINING & ENTERTAIN MENT
Heartbeat Theater aims to bring more intimate theater to valley A new theater company established by a group of passionate area stage actors and crew is debuting its inaugural production, “Proof,” to kick off the new year .
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Pastor pens book on humility and happiness By Mike Lydick Correspondent
AGAWAM — Daniel Cohen is not your typical pastor. Cohen was born into a Jewish family and was raised in Harlem as a toddler. He also has been a practicing psychotherapist for nearly 10 years. Cohen, the newest pastor at the Agawam Congregational Church, is the author of a recently published book on humility, “It’s Not All About You! The Secret Joy of Practical Humility.” It took him more than a decade to write the book. Cohen, who had a brief stint as a journalist, started writing it about 15 years ago when the pastor at the church he attended suggested he write a book. Cohen said that suggestion was the nudge that spurred him to thinking about writing a book on humility — a subject he approaches as a psychotherapist and a church minister. He said one of the challenges he faced was that he had to start from scratch since he was unaware of a book on humility like what he planned to write. Cohen drew inspiration from the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous’ “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,” The Dalai Lama’s “Essential Teachings” and Michael Singer’s “The Untethered Soul.” Cohen, 63, said his book, which features an essay on consumerism as well as 70 humility paths, is unique and is the culmination of much thinking, researching, organizing, writing and rewriting. “It took 10 years
to write, in part, because there’s nothing like it out there. I spent a lot of time researching and there were times I didn’t write for nine months — I had to wait for the right energy,” he said. According to Cohen, humility is the key to downsizing our fragile egos in a narcissistic age. He adds that countless people have told him how their lives have been transformed by his book. “I’ve had so many compliments and the book has helped both me (I read it regularly) and my psychotherapy clients who I share it with, as well as many others who have bought the book from me,” he said. “It’s a real blessing to make a difference in someone’s life without having to spend a lot of man hours doing so.” Cohen begins the book with an introduction that explains why humility is so essential to our happiness. Following the introduction are four main sections. The first section is an essay describing why — as a global society — we are further from humility than ever before. He also includes a discussion of two questions about why society has been by trying to get us to buy more stuff to make us happy. The next three sections which are the heart of the book. That’s where Cohen lays out the various humility paths — or “mental happiness tools” — that will help readers put themselves in perspective. See PASTOR on page 2
Daniel Cohen, pastor at the Agawam Congregational Church, holds his recently published book on humility, “It’s Not All About You! The Secret Joy of Practical Humility.” Reminder Publishing photo by Mike Lydick