IF YOU FEEL lost and gloomy, wandering in some thick, dark forest, trudging in circles, Bernie Parent wants to lead you out of that forest and into the sunshine. And no, he is not selling you a compass or a GPS app for your iPhone. Or maybe he is.
Yep, that Bernie Parent, the last Flyers goalie to lug the Stanley Cup around the ice in a victory lap. The guy who watched the Three Stooges on game days. The guy who began every sweaty postgame interview with a chuckling, "Some fun, eh?"
Parent has written a self-help book designed to steel you to overcome fear, take risks, unleash your inner wolf and find fulfillment. It's called "Journey Through Risk and Fear." You can find out more about it at www.bernieparent.net.
He wrote it in collaboration with writer Michele Paiva and his manager, Dean Smith. Why three authors? Because the strength of the wolf is in the pack.
"A lot of people are struggling," Parent, 66, said the other day. "They're lost in the woods, going in circles. It seems like there's no way out. I look at my life and there's something there that could encourage people to come out of it.
"I lost an eye, my career ended suddenly. I hit bottom."
He looked for answers in the bottom of a whiskey bottle and found nothing but headaches. He embraced Alcoholics Anonymous and has been clean and sober for 30 years.
"When my career ended," he said sadly, "all I knew how to do was play hockey. I had no business experience. I knew no one who could help me. Finally, I looked in the mirror and I saw a human being, not just a hockey player, and that was the turning point."
That, and reading a self-help book called "The Secret," a gift from one of his kids.
"It changed my life," he said. "It took me back to when I was a little kid. My purpose in life was to win the Stanley Cup. And that never changed. I played in Niagara Falls, I played for the Bruins, for the Flyers, for Toronto, went into the [World Hockey Association] and then back with the Flyers. And except for that time in the [WHA], my purpose was to win the Stanley Cup.
"What you need is a purpose. You have to get rid of the fear, you have to be willing to take risks. Then, bingo, the magic happens. You meet people you didn't know existed. You surround yourself with people who have great ideas and are reaching for their goals."
