Many of you read my blog sharing that on May 1, my daughter was diagnosed with leukemia.

Suddenly, my 3 year old daughter has become, by far, my greatest teacher.

Since her diagnosis, Cooper has had a flurry of chemo treatments, spinal taps and medicines round the clock.

Repeated spinal taps would put most adults flat on our backs, SCREAMING for someone to bring us more chicken soup and pain pills.

Hell, many of us complain when the barista screws up our coffee.

But a 3 year-old has this remarkable resilience.

Somebody wrote to me in an email, “Kids are amazing, and so resilient, so just remember even in her hardest days, that she will bounce back.”

I’ve read about this resilience, and heard about it from nurses at the Children’s Hospital.

Now I’m seeing it with my own eyes.

Cooper gets home from one of these procedures, and while grumpy and hungry, give her a few minutes and she finds a way onto her feet.

She might be too young to make sense of what’s going on .

She doesn’t ask the questions that you or I might be asking.

She doesn’t know the duration of this healing process.

Like any 3 year-old, she lives for THIS MOMENT, THIS SONG, THIS LICK OF THE LOLLIPOP.

Cooper is teaching me, and I will continue to share with you…

…that resilience is our nature…

…that we can handle anything…

….and our natural instinct is to BOUNCE BACK.

My wife and I are doing everything we can to STOKE her resilience, and to feed off it.

So many of you who read my recent blog have reached out to me.

I read every one of your emails and we are THRIVING off your love and positivity.

Friends I haven’t spoken to in decades have gotten back in touch.

Our close circle of friends have stepped up in the most gracious ways.

And even more powerful, our world at home has shrunk.

Our home life is less distracted.

Our center of gravity has shifted from a priority on work and making time for a workout…

…to being a close family and pumping the greatest love into our children.

In that sense of contraction and closeness, we are getting better and we are getting stronger.

It took childhood cancer to wake us up to the feeling of healing.

With an infusion of love that is undistracted and unadulterated, you too can come back from anything.

The past 10 days marked the first time in my life that I was at a loss for words

So let’s get it out there…

Last week, my daughter was diagnosed with childhood leukemia.

It will be a two year healing journey of chemotherapy, steroids, and massive amounts of tender love… as we get her back to perfect health.

As you can imagine, our lives have completely changed.

We are living out a parent’s worst fear, in a pandemic no less.

Let me talk you through it.

A week ago Friday, the pediatrician called us with my daughter’s blood work.

He told us we needed to get her checked into the hospital that night.

She and my wife spent the next five days at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

When you live in Phoenix, you drive by the tall, modern Children’s Hospital every time you’re on the freeway headed to the airport.

My wife said whenever she would drive past that building, she would always feel for the people inside those walls.

Last week, my wife and daughter were inside those walls, and they were the ones looking out at the cars driving by.

But one thing we have learned over the past few days, when you move into your fears, they are not as scary anymore.

So many people have reached out to us with “we are so sorry,” “we are so sad,” “we feel terribly.”

I would have said the very same thing.

But “sorry” and “sad” is NOT how we feel, and that’s NOT where we’re at.

We feel incredibly fortunate that we caught the leukemia early.

We feel beyond lucky that the type of leukemia she has is treatable.

We feel blessed to be 12 minutes from this amazing Children’s Hospital and have the resources to get our daughter healthy.

We feel grateful to whoever donated the platelets and blood that my daughter received in her first few nights in the hospital.

We feel like we’re on the right side of the aging spectrum. That my daughter, Cooper, is only three makes her more resilient, more adaptable, and more willing to understand that when she loses her hair from the chemo, it will be just like when she loses her teeth.

It’s all coming back!

Most of the day, those are our prevailing emotions.

Of course, we have moments that are difficult.

When my daughter is feeling the pain in her body and all the discomforts that came with chemo, we also feel the pain and the discomfort.

In these moments, it helps to share…with each other…and with you.

Over the days and months to come, my wife and I want to share with you everything we are learning along the way.

No doubt this is our ultimate challenge. And we are wondering if you too will accept this challenge:

If we are able to get through this and find gratitude, peace, and joy (most of the time)…

…can you too embrace your challenges and find gratitude, peace, and joy (most of the time)

So many of you have asked us what you can do, how you can help, how in some small way you can make this better?

1. GIVE BLOOD

Because of some stranger we will never know, my daughter took the first steps on her healing journey.

2. SPREAD POSITIVITY…not negativity

We are thriving on positive energy.

When you are healing a 3 year-old, it’s all about positive energy, love, and anything that has to do with princesses (or Peppa Pig, or PBS Kids, or whatever her steroids have her craving at the moment).

3. PRAY WITH…not for

So many people have reached out and said they are praying for us.

It is so kind to hear and we appreciate it.

But there are so many people worse off right now who could use those prayers.

So instead of praying for us, pray with us.

Let’s get EVERYBODY feeling stronger, better, healthier.

One last thing.

I’d like to plant a seed in your mind and heart.

Some would call this seed: health.

Others would call this seed: love.

As I’m learning day by day…they are one in the same.

Hello Josh,

Who is the most ALIVE person you know?

By that I mean, when you see this person, they put down their phone, look you in the eyes, and draw you into their heart.

You leave your time with them thinking, “my experience with that person was different.”

I’ve known Josh Hurand for 20+ years.

We are the same age. We both had kids in our 40’s. We have come and gone from each other’s lives…

…but when we see each other, we pick up right where we left off…talking about college football, and jamband music, and whatever peculiar passions we’re both loving at that moment.

Josh always strikes me as someone learning how to maneuver an engine with massive horsepower.

If you too are an intense person who feels the full spectrum of emotion in all its pain and glory…

…maybe you can relate to this question:

What will it take to… once and for all, find your seat, harness your talent, and take FLIGHT!

Over the past year, Josh has answered that question and is currently SOARING.

This is his story, or at least what I’ve heard, and observed.

Last year, Josh was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer.

Some doctors told him a few months. Other doctors said a few years. And a few don’t talk in terms of time because there do exist outliers who beat the odds.

At the time of the diagnosis, Josh worked as a psychotherapist at the VA.

It was an intense job, that took much of his energy, as our careers often do.

After the diagnosis, Josh retired from 10 years of service at the VA to start a private practice.

He has become a prolific poet.

He writes poetry in his spare moments, between changing diapers on his 2 year-old and chasing around his 4 year-old…when pulled off to the side of the road…while waiting for a doctor appointment.

He shared with me a few of his poems.

“Cool air crisping my ears,
sunlight reflecting on reddening leaves
crisping, falling. Fall now,
the burner of red hot cells
removed. I am no longer falling.
I’ve landed in a new season of existence.”

Pre-diagnosis, he had a sense for poetry.

He could hear the faint buzzing.

Now he discovered the bees’ nest, the gift has been UNLEASHED, and the words are flying everywhere.

This time in his life affords him the space to experience more “flow” in his writing.

Since moving back to Arizona, I’ve made two road trips from my home in Phoenix to visit Josh in Tucson.

It’s an experience to spend time with someone whose life force is flowing so freely.

I mean, most of the time, we live with little urgency. What’s the rush!

Eventually, hopefully, you and I will make the changes that give us more purpose and freedom…that allow us to shine brighter.

But Josh said he’s way past “shining.” He is BURNING.

“The cancer has BLAZED a trail forward.”

The first time I spoke with Josh after his diagnosis, I tried to give a little motivational positivity talk.

He doesn’t want to hear it.

He said he is hoping for the best and hedging for the worst.

In that space of honesty with himself and others, there is a WAKEFULNESS to his words and perspective.

You don’t have to quit your job or make drastic changes to feel ALIVE.

What Josh emphasizes is time and space.

Spare moments that many of us spend scrolling through everyone’s political opinions can be repurposed for poetry, reflection, and writing letters to people you love.

Imagine if you took the 8 or 12 or 25 spare moments you have today…and used just a few of them

Here is a video with some simple steps to get started…

Enjoy this meditation about my meeting with 97-year-old Max.

He is as strong and tough as he appears in the picture. But as it goes with strength, it starts in the mind.

Enjoy this sample from my 6 Month Daily Meditation

Begin Today

(enter the code: magic)

In August, I was in Boston to give a speech. Elaine, 70, was the head honcho in the room.

I noticed that her team and her clients revere her.

By that, I mean she is the boss, but she is also the guru with the wisdom and guidance that only 50+ years of professional experience can forge.

Most “elders” I meet are looking back on life, sharing their insight from a relatively calm place on their timeline.

But Elaine is in the thick of it!

She told me of her travel schedule for the week to come…London, Amsterdam, Dublin, back to her home in Southern California, then back to Maryland.

I used to think that sounded so glamourous… first class airfare, luxury hotels.

But a good friend once told me the perks can be nullified by the absolute exhaustion of international travel.

This is where Elaine becomes worthy of your attention.

At 70, she has the energy to run big meetings in international capitals…constantly.

How?

She began her career with the intent to travel, but travel with a cause.

So she got a job working for World Airways, the charter airline that flew soldiers to Vietnam.

Elaine shared her story:

“These handsome gorgeous young military men would come in on helicopters and load guns and arms in the belly of the plane.

“I’d fly them on a 15 hour flight into Danang or Cameron Bay or Saigon. Helicopters would be waiting and take them to the jungle.

“I would be the flight attendant for the 15 hour flight. We would take these boys who were scared to death. I mean, these were boys off the farm in Omaha who didn’t know where Vietnam was.

“We would entertain them. We’d sing and dance, anything we could do to help them pass the time without thinking about death.

“I was a big hawk and didn’t like the people marching against the boys. Didn’t matter whether I believed in the war. I believed in those boys and I saw those boys die.

“The people we see today on the streets were the boys I took in who survived Vietnam. I think of that every time I see homeless people in wheelchairs with military outfits.

“We brought them in and we brought the bodies out.”

She described how the return flights from Vietnam back to the U.S. were filled with coffins on the bottom of the plane and survivors on the top.

“The survivors often couldn’t stand up. They were so shell-shocked. They didn’t call it PTSD back then.

“When we landed, there was a brass band at the military base greeting the soliders. They’d be looking out the window. They’d say “There’s a band playing.’

“I’d say, ‘That’s for you for the great job you did.’

“They said, ‘That’s for us?’

“I mean..to go from the jungle and 15 hours later to land in Oakland?”

Elaine sadly remembered how the injured veterans “had no support getting out of the hospital. Many had no arms, no legs, we didn’t do much to help them.”

We barely think about that war anymore.  Have you been to the Vietnam Memorial?” she asked me.

“Yes.”

“Do you know how many thousands of names are on that wall?”

“Is it 50,000?”

“That’s a whole generation of men.”

Then Elaine’s life swung hard in another direction.

In the early 80’s, she worked for a corporate travel company running incentive trips. Companies would spend $12 million to send 30 people to Asia for 3 days.

“Sex drugs rock n roll everywhere.

“We built a plexiglass stage over the ocean in Hawaii with Burt Baccarat entertaining a Board of Directors.

“I’ve seen $24 million spent on 6 people. I’ve seen corporate America spend money like crazy in the 80’s and early 90’s.

“I saw the Prince’s wine cellar in monaco. I rode a hot air balloon in kruger national park. The people there had never seen white people.  We took polaroids pictures, they thought we were Gods.”

Now at 70, she is the Executive Vice President at a prestigious hotel company. She has led her division through impressive growth.

And her travel schedule is relentless.

One of her young clients said to her, “You’re a 30 year old in 70 year old body. I’m a 70 year old in a 30 year old body.”

Personally, I get tired traveling with toddlers from Phoenix to Scottsdale to pick up burritos. That’s a 12 minute drive.  I asked Elaine her secret to stamina during nonstop intercontinental travel…at 70!

She said, “I have a passion. Passion is energy. I don’t eat as much on the road. I don’t drink. Learning about people is fascinating. i like to take care of people. I live in the now. I enjoy it.”

The pendulum has swung hard through Elaine’s life. It’s not just from the horrors of Vietnam to the corporate greed of the 1980s’.

She has loved and lost three times.

Her father left home when she was young.

She has earned money and lost it all, three times.

The older I get, the more I realize this story is part of the human experience.

At 46, I know many people who were riding high in their 30’s and 40’s and have bottomed out in late 40’s and 50’s.

Whether their business hit a wall, or their marriage fell apart, or they lost a loved one, it’s the human experience.

Some people get struck on a hard swing into dark times. Maybe you’re there right now.

As Elaine said very clearly and emphatically:

“You can come back from anything. You can be anything you want to be. You can achieve anything. You just have to focus on it and believe in yourself.”

Enjoy this sample from my 6 Month Daily Meditation

Begin Today

(enter the code: magic)

Today is a tribute to one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met: Sean Stephenson

Last week, Sean passed away at the age of 40.

You’ve got to hear his story.

Sean was born with a condition called osteogenesis imperfecta. He stood three feet tall, had fragile bones, over 130 surgeries. and through it all, he was a total badass.

A few years ago, my friend Ian got me the gift of a daylong session with Sean Stephenson. It was supposed to be about becoming a better public speaker

Sean was a world class speaker. I mean… he was RIVETING to watch.

So I showed up and thought Sean was going to give me tips on projecting your voice, how to command the stage, etc.

But over the hours we spent together that day, I spilled my beans to him. Told him everything. He kept asking questions. I kept sharing and sharing.

At one point, I said to him, “Isn’t this supposed to be about becoming a better speaker?”

He explained how his background was in therapy, and you can’t be a great speaker until you are true to yourself.

His exact quote that summarizes his life and his teachings, at least to me:

“Being a world class speaker means being a world class human.”

So I put all my cards on the table and we looked at them… together.

It was a beautiful experience…super healing…to be vulnerable in the most real way.

Sean committed his whole life to vulnerability. He had no choice.

When he was born, the doctors told his parents that he would be dead within the first 24 hours.

40 years later, he lived and all those doctors had died.

I want to share a few lines from Sean’s legendary TedTalk:

“Never believe a prediction that doesn’t empower you.

“How many predictions have been thrown at you your whole life?

“If you believe predictions that do not empower you, you will wither away and die, either physically die or your spirit will die as you just walk around the world like a carcass that is just following the masses.

“I get stared at everywhere I go, and the moment people meet me, if they don’t know a thing about my résumé, they automatically, just by the human nature, think to themselves: ‘Oh, it must be so difficult to be that man!’

“If somebody pities me, they’re wasting their time, because I have chosen a life of strength, and I am here to help you choose a life of strength.

“You know what the worst drug that ever hit the human race is? Pity.

“The moment you feel sorry for another person, or the moment you feel sorry for yourself, you’re hosed. You’re totally, completely frozen in potential.”

CHOOSE A LIFE OF STRENGTH!

Take a look at the Facebook post announcing Sean’s passing… Look at the comments. The outpouring of love is incredible!

He created an internal stirring in others.

It’s a very rare human with the ability to do that.

As Marianne Williamson writes,

“Achievement doesn’t come from what we do, but from who we are.

“People who profoundly achieve aren’t necessarily people who do so much. They are people around whom things get done.

“Gandhi and JFK were examples of this. Their greatest achievements lay in the energy they stirred in other people. The invisible forces they unleashed around them.

“But touching their own depths, they touched the depths in others.”

Just in case that’s unclear, I’m putting Sean right there with Gandhi and JFK. At least that’s the impact he had on me.

i didn’t fully appreciate the gift of a day with Sean until after his death.

Sadly, that’s how life often works.

But isn’t it so much better to appreciate life as it happens… in the moment?

If a man who was 3 feet tall in a wheelchair with over 130 surgeries can have this kind of authentic presence and gratitude, do you and I have any excuses?

For just a moment, would you open your mind and heart and allow yourself to feel the depth and heart and blessing of this man’s incredible spirit.

Experience the outpouring of love for Sean…