I wanted to share the opening of this story by Alison Thompson of Miami from the February 2012 issue of Guidepostsbecause it demonstrates that gentle sweetness and quiet beauty can exist even in the midst of chaos and horror. I believe that experiences like this are what Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis had in mind when he said, “You’ve got to look hard for the sparks of divinity in the ashes of atrocity.”
HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD
Alison Thompson
That morning I zoomed through another set of red lights on my Rollerblades, heading downtown in Manhattan. I had a pretty hefty first-aid kit and a small bottle of perfume in my backpack.
People streamed toward me, disoriented, their hair and clothes covered in soot, holding cell phones, trying to get a signal. I pushed forward. Soon I was alone in a blizzard of ash. The ground rumbled, and I dove under a UPS truck for cover.
The second tower of the World Trade Center had just collapsed.
I grew up in Australia, my dad a preacher, my mum a nurse. I had been a nurse’s aide at Mum’s hospital in my teens. More recently in New York I’d been a freelance filmmaker. That day, September 11, 2001, I skated downtown, thinking that I could help somehow.
Without really knowing it, I had also skated into a new role: passionate volunteer.
In the sooty darkness I said a prayer asking God for strength. I darted out from under the UPS truck. I took a whiff of perfume to ward off the stench of smoke then made my way into a store and commandeered a pair of Read the rest of this entry »
Imagine an actor playing a character who is plagued by terrible financial, relationship and career troubles. The actor must inhabit that character and let the character inhabit him—to the point that the character’s problems become so real to him that he considers them his problems. Only then will he be able to act authentically and give a credible performance. Yet when the movie wraps or the play ends, the actor drops the character’s problems at the stage door and returns to his real life.
So it is with your life. If you would but step back and look at the world through God’s eyes instead of your own, you would see that, like the actor playing a role before returning to reality, you Read the rest of this entry »
In this nine-minute film, Change for a Dollar, Sharon Wright reminds us that it doesn’t take much to make a big difference to others and that we are perpetually swimming in opportunities to serve others. All we need do is open our eyes.
The cover of my book in Brazil. Note that the author's name is Philip Charles, my first and middle names.
While shopping in the produce department at Whole Foods today, a woman asked me if I knew anything about the odd-looking vegetable on display near us. It looked like a cross between broccoli and cauliflower. While we were talking, another woman approached and joined the conversation. The second woman said she was from Brazil and was now living on the east coast with her husband and family.
Smiling, I told her that I had written a book that was translated into Portuguese, but that they couldn’t use my name on the cover in Brazil. Puzzled, she asked why. I said, “Because of my Read the rest of this entry »
I painstakingly calculated the odds of Jacqueline Novogratz‘s “Blue Sweater” story and concluded that the chances of this story actually happening were 184 gazillion to one. Wow!
Thank goodness there are people like Novogratz in the world. She is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture capital fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. As their website states:
Can you really touch the lives of tens of millions of people in just 10 years? Our companies have. From ambulances to electricity, we have $73 million of approved investments in 65 breakthrough enterprises that serve the poor.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint the origin of a worldwide shift in consciousness. The following story accomplishes just that. It reveals how one man’s change of heart set in motion a series of events that led to the spiritual awakening of millions of people around the globe, a movement that may yet be in its infancy.
The man at the center of the story is Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, a railroad executive in Gorakhpur, India.
A GURU IN GORAKHPUR
Abinash was Bhagabati’s subordinate officer in Gorakhpur. One day Abinash applied for a week’s leave. Because he had previously taken several leaves of five to seven days, Bhagabati refused. Work could not be kept current if employees took unnecessary time off. Talking the matter over with Abinash, Bhagabati asked him where he went on these leaves.
“I go to Banaras to see my guru,” Abinash replied.
Bhagabati upbraided Abinash: “So you are trying to acquire piety. Can you tell me what religion really is? Our nation is being ruined in the name of religion. My dear man, there is nothing in it. Don’t be a fanatic. If you want to get ahead in life, work. Work, and you will surely profit in the long run.”
Bhagabati hadn’t intended to be rude. His sarcasm reflected an undercurrent of sensitive frustration about his own unsatisfactory relationship with religion. He soon repented of having spoken so harshly. “After all,” he reasoned to himself, “each one has to make his own choices in life. Only then can he say for certain whether the decisions were good or bad. In any case, roughness in unbecoming.” Bhagabati decided to talk further with Abinash.
That afternoon he met Abinash on his way home from the office. Dismissing his palanquin, he walked with Abinash and tried to explain his reasoning. Abinash remained silent. Bhagabati could see that he was grieving, and also embarrassed because of the difference in their official positions at work. A junior officer would never contest an issue with his superior. At the time, Bhagabati didn’t know that Abinash was Read the rest of this entry »
The next time somebody you don’t know mechanically asks in passing, “How are you?”, forgo the typical, “Fine” or “Great.” Instead, boldly and happily exclaim:
Heidi von Beltz, a former championship skier and aspiring actor, was paralyzed from her earlobes down in a two-vehicle head-on collision while working as a stunt double in The Cannonball Run in 1980. Unbowed by her doctors’ prognosis that she had perhaps five years to live, von Beltz routinely endured a grueling regimen of physical therapy and muscle stimulation for up to ten hours a day. Nine years later, she was able to sit up on her own. Six years after that, outfitted with lightweight aluminum leg braces, she taught herself to stand.
Sixteen years after the crash, while promoting her memoir, My Soul Purpose, von Beltz, who had devoured countless books on philosophy and spirituality, said she considered herself lucky and wouldn’t have wanted to miss the experience of her paralysis for anything. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been,” she told Entertainment Weekly magazine. ‘‘I was always so active that I would never have sat down long enough to learn what I’ve learned. I can’t imagine going through this life and not knowing what I know now. I just had to break my neck to do it.’’
The following paragraph from page 97 of von Beltz’s memoir illustrates the start of her transition from body identification to a higher awareness of self:
After the crash, talking with good friends or “losing myself” watching a movie, I forgot about my physical body. This was a new experience for me because I am such a physical, active person. Other people always had reinforced the importance of my body because, even when I was growing up, they reacted to my appearance: I’m a tall and Read the rest of this entry »
In church today, the minister offered a surprising analogy:
Connecting to God is similar to connecting with the Internet.
His reasoning was thus:
If you have a top-of-the-line computer, you may be able to do all sorts of amazing things with all the software you can dream of. Yet even though you can accomplish great things, your capabilities will be limited until you connect to the Internet and gain access to a universe of information and Read the rest of this entry »
Imagine being trapped in a body that is constantly on sensory overload. Imagine not being able to speak. Imagine that your legs feel like they’re on fire, or like a hundred ants are crawling up your arms. Imagine that the world, even your own family, considers you mentally disabled. Imagine that you are still you, intelligent and capable, but unable to express yourself in any way for eleven years. Until . . .
You may not believe in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, but like ESPN.com writer Rick Reilly, you can believe in Tim Tebow. Bravo to Reilly for regularly highlighting the positive side of sports and athletes.
I BELIEVE IN TIM TEBOW
Tim Tebow with Jacob Rainey, one of the many people dealing with health problems Tebow hosted at Broncos games this season (photo courtesy of Tim Tebow Foundation)
I’ve come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde.
No, I’ve come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am.
Who among us is this selfless?
Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them Read the rest of this entry »
In her book, Heart Prints; Walking on Holy Ground, Julie Ireland Keene starts off a chapter titled “The Faces of Angels Among Us” with a heartwarming story about her son who died far too young. All the elements line up so perfectly that it would be a stretch to attribute it all to coincidence. You make the call.
A HUG FROM RICHARD
The wise words of Rumi: “Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment” apply to an experience I had several years ago that remains vivid, consoling, and bewildering. For quite some time I had been focused on releasing the grief concerning my son Richard’s sudden death at age nine. For far too long I had carried the hundred pound weight on my heart and with the help of my dear friend Ione along with spiritual teachers such as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Stephen Levine,Ram Dass and others, I made great progress. I took care of my unfinished business with him, dealt with guilt over not being a perfect parent, and was able to see the wonderful gift of having this dear loving soul in my life for nine years.
I had always dreamed of Richard in his nine year old earth suit. However, after I had gone through the process of releasing the pain but keeping him close in love, I had a dream of him as a Read the rest of this entry »
The business of professional sports is unforgiving. It is a pure meritocracy, with no excuses tolerated for poor performance: You’ve got problems at home? I’m sorry to hear that, but I don’t want to hear about it. Leave your personal life at the locker room door and go do your job.
It’s an environment that is ripe for feel-good stories of redemption and triumph. Like this stellar story by ESPN.comwriter Rick Reilly about San Francisco 49ers placekicker David Akers.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
David Akers had a rough ending to the 2010 season. Professional and personal turnarounds made for a different story in 2011 (photo by Jason O. Watson of US Presswire)
This is the show-stoppingest year for QBs in NFL history, which is how San Francisco 49ers kicker David Akers’ story ended up in 4-point font.
Too bad. It would look nice on Paramount Pictures’ summer schedule.
Yes, Akers, 37, had the finest kicking season in NFL history this year, but that’s just the riding-off-into-the-sunset part.
The crying-in-the-shower part was exactly a year ago last week — wild-card weekend — when his Philadelphia Eagles were about to host the Green Bay Packers. The day before the game, doctors found a tumor on the ovary of Read the rest of this entry »
People occasionally ask me how many hours I work, assuming that I must be putting in at least sixty hours a week. I just laugh. Yes, I am often at the computer from early morning until late at night but that doesn’t mean I’m piling up the billable hours. Far from it. I devote far more time to my life’s work than to my work life.
My life’s mission is to encourage and inspire people to live more positive, loving lives. I do that through writing books, posting on this blog, and talking to people whenever the occasion presents itself. Yes, I enjoy my work life but my life’s work brings me joy. Big difference.
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on Read the rest of this entry »
Louie Schwartzberg, an award-winning cinematographer, director and producer, has chronicled nature’s beauty through time-lapse photography for thirty years. In the above ten-minute TEDx video, he offers this profound wisdom:
When people see my images, a lot of times they’ll say, “Oh, my God.” Have you ever wondered what that meant?
The “Oh” means it caught your attention, makes you present, makes you mindful.
The “my” means it connects with something deep inside your soul. It creates a gateway for your inner voice to rise up and be heard.
My friend, Lori Anne Yang, wrote this insightful post for her blog. I encourage all parents to read it. Hopefully, Lori’s wisdom will prevent them from making parenting mistakes that they will later regret.
Lori is the proprietor of an enterprise that has perhaps the best name ever: Mammaste, which is essentially Namaste for Moms. Through its message, products and philanthropy Mammaste promotes loving the whole world with a mother’s heart and reminds us to see divinity in ourselves and others, every day. Click here to check out the Mammaste website.
AN OPEN APOLOGY TO MY ELDEST DAUGHTER
by Lori Anne Yang
The artistic stylings of Lori's youngest daughter, Harper
There is a sweet little drawing of a smiling face scribbled on the wall next to my bed. The artist is my youngest child when she was about three years old. At the time I calmly told her that walls are not for drawing, and then complimented Read the rest of this entry »
Imagine an actor playing a character who is plagued by terrible financial, relationship and career troubles. The actor must inhabit that character and let the character inhabit him—to the point that the character’s problems become so real to him that he considers them his problems. Only then will he be able to act authentically and give a credible performance. Yet when the movie wraps or the play ends, the actor drops the character’s problems at the stage door and returns to his real life.
Heidi von Beltz, a former championship skier and aspiring actor, was paralyzed from her earlobes down in a two-vehicle head-on collision while working as a stunt double in 
The wise words of 
