Nine-year-old Mak Shulist of Ellisville, Missouri was battling an incurable brain tumor that robbed him of his sight when the Make-A-Wish Foundation came to his side for comfort. It’s not unusual for Make-A-Wish children to wish for things like a trip to a theme park or to meet a famous celebrity. But Mak was different. He wished that his friends could have a rock-climbing wall on the school playground. “It says a lot about the family and the type of [...] Read more »
The Pursuit of Meaningfulness
I recently read about the Salwen family from Atlanta. They decided to sell their home and other possessions and give half of it to charity. You can read more about them at thepowerofhalf.com. The following was posted on their blog in May regarding a speech by Toni Morrison. I wanted you to see it. I love the Nobel Prize winner’s speech at Rutgers University’s commencement a few days ago. An excerpt: I have often wished that Jefferson had not used [...] Read more »
Florence Nightingale: Be Different. Make a Difference.
I shared this story yesterday morning at TNC. It’s the story of someone who chose to “be different to make a difference” so I thought I would share it here as well. Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 to wealthy English parents. She grew up having all of her wants and needs. She was well educated, knew all the right people, and enjoyed the ability to travel the world. But she was not happy with that lifestyle. Early in her [...] Read more »
For Donna on my 42nd Birthday
The following post was written by Courtney Carver of www.bemorewithless.com. It was originally published on her site last week. Courtney gave me permission to post it here. When I was 20, I was a student in art school in Savannah, Georgia. I also worked as a bartender. The bar was my home away from home and the owner of the bar was my mother away from from my mother. Donna and her husband ran the bar and they became my [...] Read more »
Why Authenticity Matters (or Why I Loved WDS)
Last weekend, I attended The World Domination Summit hosted by Chris Guillebeau in Portland, OR. WDS was a gathering of authors, bloggers, speakers, leaders, entrepreneurs, coaches, and other amazing people. It was probably the most diverse group that I’ve ever encountered. There were speakers, breakout sessions, networking, etc. In many ways, it was an ordinary conference. Based on the Twitter feeds at #WDS, many of the attendees were blown away by the weekend. WDS breathed life into old ideas and [...] Read more »