Hi everyone!

What a pleasure—and honor—to have spent this month with you.

Dotsie, I can’t thank you enough for inviting me and then regularly fertilizing the conversation. Thanks also to every one of you who posted, as well as those of you who didn’t. Can you imagine all of us in one room together? Watch out world!

JJ-- Remember how I said I’d send you a ticket to come visit me if my book becomes a runaway best seller? I meant it. Maybe I should invite everyone to come along. Wouldn’t that be wild?

As the Featured Author these past four weeks, I hope that our discussion has stirred something inside each of you and prompted you to ask yourself, “Am I the person I aspire to be? Have I designed the life I truly want?”

If the answer is “yes”—and for some of you it clearly is—I applaud you and encourage you to share your story with others. If the answer is no, it’s not too late to make a shift. As my friend Scarlett said to me an hour ago, “We’re living longer; we can reach for longer dreams.”

I truly believe that each of us must forge our own way. But if you feel stuck in your life, here’s an exercise from the workshop I attended this past weekend. You may find it helpful; you may not. If you’ve read my book, you’ll see that it’s reminiscent of the exercise that catalyzed my writing career five years ago.

Begin by asking yourself: “In my wildest, most far-out dreams, what would I like to do with the rest of my life?” Don’t worry about how much money, education, or time your goals will take to accomplish. Don’t worry about how old you are now. Don’t censor yourself at all.

Now imagine that you’re ninety and that you have in fact accomplished those dreams. Writing in the present tense, list at least 10 of the things you’ve done, created, manifested, etc.

Here are the first four of the ten items I put on my own (dream) list yesterday:

1) I am a radiant being that uplifts people wherever I go.
2) I raised compassionate, responsible, and successful children—happy with their choices and financially independent.
3) I wrote several best-selling books, each more truthful and powerful than the one that preceded it. I sold my work without selling my soul.
4) I envisioned and created my dream life of writing, public speaking and teaching interspersed with extended periods of reflection and play.

I’m not there yet, but you just wait. J

I was watching the Super Bowl this evening and am reminded of something I read in the NY Times today about Tom Brady. Supposedly, Brady’s sports psychologist taught Brady to take responsibility for his actions and forget about the factors he couldn’t control. A winning strategy! I can’t control whether my book will be a best seller or whether my children will be successful. But I can take responsibility for my choices, my effort, and my attitude. And step by step, I can walk towards my dreams.

Author Gail Godwin in her novel Evensong says, “Something’s your vocation if it keeps making more of you.” That’s what Defying Gravity has done—and is still doing—for me. I don’t want to presume that you’re looking for a vocation, so I’ll simply wish you boundless joy and all the best.

Smooches, hugs and much, much love.