Cathy Krizik 

Wellesley High School Writer: Cathy Krizik 

            Cathy is the author of 52 Reasons for Hope: Finding Inspiration in Times of Trouble, described by the publisher as “a collection of wise and lyrical essays that gently shift our mindset from pain to promise … (the book) invites us to tap into the wellspring of resources we have inside and celebrate the blessings found in all of life’s complexity.”

            As a career counselor at a public agency for fifteen years, Cathy has sat with thousands of people navigating the troubled waters of unemployment, earning her the title of “Minister of Hope.” She grew up in an alcoholic home and spent decades lost in a fog before stumbling into Al-Anon where her awakening began. Rooted in atheism, Cathy learned to meditate, studied metaphysics and, over time, crafted a daily spiritual practice that transformed her life. In spite of multiple run-ins with a surgeon’s scalpel, career overhauls, a broken heart or two and the deluge of bad news that floods us all every day, she remains an unapologetic believer in the blessing of life.  An essay about hospice and the right to die earned her a Pushcart Prize nomination. Cathy lives with her wife and two cats in Santa Cruz, CA, where the redwoods meet the sea.