"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming." Johan Wolfgang von Goethe ... Read More

We owe most of our great inventions and most of the achievements of genius to idleness either enforced or voluntary. The human mind prefers to be spoon-fed with the thoughts of others, but deprived of such nourishment it will, reluctantly, begin to think for itself and such thinking, remember, is original thinking and may have valuable results. Agatha Christie Im not certain but methinks Ms. Christie is talking about me and these messages when she refers to the thoughts of others. All right. Ill be quiet now... Read More

Lost and alone on some forgotten highway Traveled by many, remembered by few. Looking for something that I can believe in Looking for something, that Id like to do, with my life John Denver I spent last weekend in Aspen, Colorado participating in the annual celebration of the life and music of my dear friend John Denver who died 15 years ago this month. John and I shared a generally positive outlook for ourselves and the world in which we lived.... Read More

"The secret of a full life is to live and relate to others as if they might not be there tomorrow, as if you might not be there tomorrow. ... This thought has made me more and more attentive to all encounters, meetings, introductions, which might contain the seed of depth that might be carelessly overlooked. Anais Nin Personal notes: my darling daughter Megan sent me this quote from Beijing which generated immense pride that (1) she has the awareness to notice the beauty and wisdom inherent in Ms. Nins words; and (2) that... Read More

I highly recommend clicking on "Stop Stealing Dreams" below to read Seth's manifest. The rest if the article is "how he did it" .... and has deep implications for anyone publishing anything. Robert Launching a new idea in a post-paper world Today my new manifesto Stop Stealing Dreams goes on-sale. On-sale is in air quotes because its free, but we dont have a word for the on-free date. Ideas that spread are worth a lotto the community and to the creator of those ideas as well. When theyre bound up in a book, an object... Read More

The most special thing about me is that I am an average man. I say that as a challenge to any limitation you may have accepted for your life. Buckminster Fuller Most of the quotes I comment on in Extraordinary Minutes either ring true or at least generate curiosity for me personally. This one literally changed my life. Bucky Fuller was someone I long admired from afar. I read his books, viewed his architecture and inventions in museums and did more than a little hero worship. Then I heard him... Read More

The following article by Rabbi Jack Reimer was originally published in the Houston Chronicle. I believe it is more than a good read and actually points the way toward factors of success of living an extraordinary life. To paraphrase my late friend John Denver, I was going to write it but Rabbi Reimer wrote it first ... and wrote it beautifully. On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came onstage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that... Read More

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." Joseph Campbell The series of interviews of the late Joseph Campbell by Bill Moyers titled The Power of Myth were deeply inspirational and contributed to the growth of your scribe. I acknowledge that the words are more poetry than specific instruction; more music than prose; more mystery than logic and reason. And, I do believe that there is a life waiting for us that is often... Read More