Thanksgivings Past and Future

At a Thanksgiving potluck today, I was handed a three-month-old boy and had the privilege of feeding him his bottle for a while. Twenty minutes later, our host and another guest treated us all to an informal concert, playing the piano and the violin respectively. As I sat there, listening to the music and watching the woman next to me holding the same baby boy, I thought back to Thanksgivings past.

When I was a child, all the adults at our Thanksgiving dinners were firmly in control of the world around me. Some of them were in their prime, with their best years ahead of them and with dreams yet to fulfill. It was their world, and I was

The Comfort of a Beating Heart

Stories of love and loss don’t get more poignant than this. When thirteen-year-old Taylor Storch was killed in a ski accident, her family donated her organs. The following article in the Daily Mail by Rachel Quigley tells the incredible and life-affirming story of what happened next.

Taylor Storch, far left, with her father Todd, mom Tara, brother Ryan and sister Peyton

She died more than three years ago but Taylor Storch’s legacy still lives on in the five people she gave a second chance at life to – especially the recipient of her heart.

Taylor was just 13-years-old when she died in March 2010 in a freak skiing accident on the Colorado slopes.

It was the Storch family’s last day on the slopes when Taylor lost control and slammed into a tree. She was pronounced brain dead a day later.

Her father Todd said: ‘We went from it being the

A Debt Collector with a Heart

My only question after watching this video is why it took so long for someone to figure out how to collect money from people who have no money and no hope. The fact that the guy behind this “debt collection with a heart” approach collects twice as

The Doorway of Discontentment

Dan Millman

In his essay for Inspire Me Today, author Dan Millman shared a profound experience that continues to help him maintain his perspective during difficult times. It’s a beautiful lesson worth sharing.

Click here to read an excerpt from the  story Dan told me for my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything.

YOUR DISCONTENT IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD AWAKENING

In our day-to-day lives, most of our attention tends to focus on the realities of the conventional world: our relationships, perhaps raising children, going to school or work, addressing issues in the areas of health and finances.

At the same time, we each experience, from time to time or even persistently, that whispered voice of our heart or higher self, reminding us and calling us to look beyond the conventional world to a higher or transcendent reality.

Sometimes we experience a sudden wake-up call—a loss or change that forces us to consider what life is really about and what’s truly important. It shakes

Dream + Courage + Billy Joel = Life 2.0

MICHAEL POLLACK ACCOMPANIES BILLY JOEL
AT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

Michael Pollack

The floodgates of opportunity burst open for Michael Pollack with one word: “Okay.” Of course, it helped that the person who said it was Billy Joel.

During Joel’s appearance at Vanderbilt University in Nashville in January 2013, Pollack, a freshman, summoned the chutzpah to stand up and ask Joel if he could accompany him on his classic, “New York State of Mind.” Joel paused, nonchalantly said “Okay,” and Pollack proceeded to give a virtuoso performance.

Video of the event, which gives me chills every time I watch it, was

Of Bonus Time and Baked Potatoes

On my way to an appointment this morning, I was thinking about how most of us have escaped serious injury or death at least once in our lives.

• One friend told me that her car spun around on a busy L.A. highway; she braced herself for impact and thought, This is it, but when she opened her eyes, all the cars behind her had miraculously stopped in time.

• Another friend of mine was standing in his yard when he was shot by