The Day Mahatma Gandhi Threw His Sandal Off a Train

June 20, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Last year, I featured excerpts from several college commencement speeches. This year, I’m focusing on one. It’s a speech by a U.S. senator from my home state, Cory Booker of New Jersey, given to the graduating class at the University of Pennsylvania last month. Booker is an excellent storyteller and he kicked off his speech with a fascinating anecdote about Mahatma Gandhi that I’ll paraphrase below. Mahatma Gandhi had a busy schedule and was often rushing from place to place. One day he was lite … [Read More...]

Take off the mask. Tell your story.

June 14, 2017 By Leave a Comment

There are two sides to all of us. There is the public-facing side, the person we are at work, at social functions or out and about in our community. And then there’s the side behind the mask, our private side, the place where we keep our innermost beliefs, our hopes and dreams, our fears and struggles, our relationship with God.It’s this private or inner side that is most fascinating. It reveals who we really are, what makes us tick. While we may share this side with close friends and loved o … [Read More...]

A Total Stranger Left My Friend $250—and the Reason Is Heart-Warming

June 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Imagine opening your mailbox one day and finding an unmarked, sealed plain white envelope inside—containing an unsigned note and $250 in cash. Here’s the story of an act of generosity that may surprise you:Good friends of my family live in a rural section of Maryland, where the houses are few and … [Read More...]

The magical missing ingredient to a happy life.

June 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Are you happy? Chances are, if I caught you on a good day, you’d probably say yes. But on other days, you might feel as if something was missing, as if there was a small void in your life that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. A magical missing ingredient.This sense of subdued dis … [Read More...]

Is the cure for our aches, pains and fatigue, right in front of us?

May 24, 2017 By Leave a Comment

How are you feeling today? Healthy and alert with some pep in your step? Or are you suffering from aches and pains, feeling tired or even mildly depressed? There’s a fellow from a small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland who may have a cure for what ails you. His name is David M … [Read More...]

Is the fantastic claim Jesus made about Heaven true?

May 16, 2017 By Leave a Comment

It’s funny how we usually think of heaven as being in a faraway place, one we can’t reach until after our death. But Jesus left a clue that may indicate heaven is a lot closer than we imagine.If you were brought up in a Christian household like me, from a young age you heard that when someone had … [Read More...]

Will you meet the 3 criteria to get into Heaven?

May 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Do you consider yourself a Christian? Do you hope to get into heaven one day? I’ve been reading a new translation of the Gospel of Mark and one fact really stands out: the doorway into heaven is pretty narrow.You may know the passage from the Gospel of Matthew that states when it comes to e … [Read More...]

What does the world owe you?

May 3, 2017 By Leave a Comment

We all want to make a good impression in life, to be the best possible people that we can be. Yet, sometimes we let ourselves down.Despite our best intentions to be shining examples of love, happiness and good vibes, we occasionally get worn down—by the struggles at work, by the demands of the k … [Read More...]

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An 8-Step Guide to Meditation—and Deep Inner Peace.

April 26, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Are you familiar with the writer Sam Harris? In 2005, he wrote a bestselling book The End of Faith that, in a nutshell, portrayed religion as little more than a collection of myths and superstitions that could be blamed for much of the world’s ills.It was with some trepidation that I picked up h … [Read More...]

Marriage Advice from an Unlikely Source: Jesus.

April 20, 2017 By Leave a Comment

If you’re like me, a lapsed church-goer who still considers themselves spiritual in nature, you may have come to the same conclusion I have: It’s hard to find many insights of real value in the Bible. I’ve written before how many of the lessons Jesus teaches leave me scratching my head, for instance … [Read More...]

The Fantastical Story of Dr. Seuss & Fate.

April 13, 2017 By Leave a Comment

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. ~Dr. SeussThere's a fascinating story behind Theodor Geisel, who later became known as Dr. Seuss. (And who hasn't read the great doctor?) I can recall reading Dr. Seuss books in my … [Read More...]

Was the Best Spirituality Book of All Time Written 120 Years Ago?

April 6, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Every few years there’s a spirituality book that captures the imagination of the public and becomes a big bestseller. Think The Secret by Rhonda Byrne or A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, or before that, you may remember The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield from the early-90’s or even Jonathan Liv … [Read More...]

Get Out of Your Rut and Make Life New Again.

April 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Are you in a rut? Are you going through life limiting your contacts to the same narrow group of people each day? Are you restricting your activities to the same routine you followed yesterday and all the yesterdays before that?  Maybe it’s time to try a different approach.The definition of being … [Read More...]

60-Second Inspiration: The Hidden Meaning of Zen.

March 27, 2017 By Leave a Comment

During his storied life, the religious scholar Huston Smith studied and then practiced virtually all of the world’s religions. But in a tale he tells in his autobiography Tales of Wonder, Zen may have been the most difficult to grasp.Smith studied for a grueling week at a Zen Buddhist monastery i … [Read More...]