Just as there are guidelines in our daily lives for school, business, or sports, there can be rules that deepen our souls. Jan shares the true story of a tavern older than America and how its archaic list of regulations gave birth to ways we can each heighten our lives and tap into its blessings.

The Jewish holiday of Shavuot celebrates the first fruits of springtime. Jan shares three poems that open us to the gifts nature gives us, and how we each can find human gifts in our everyday lives, there for the picking.

AI is increasingly being used to mediate loneliness nationally. Jan points out that recent studies clearly show nothing can replace the physical and mental benefits of human interaction. And each of us can do one simple thing this week to feel the power of those benefits and claim the good stuff we each deserve.

From our 80th episode:

Jan introduces you to a priest who one day taught Jan and a group of students a powerful truth on the steps of a Los Angeles cathedral. It made all the difference in the world back then, and has a powerful lesson for each of us today.

During our lives, advice can mean different things depending on where we are in the moment.

Jan shares several pieces of advice others have passed along that can help us bring more light into our lives and the lives of others. If only we are open enough to listen....

Sometimes people do something, sacrifice something, that inspires and elevates us with their humanity.

Jan shares a recent event at the Boston Marathon that uplifts the soul and inspires the heart.

How we greet each day may tell us something about how we might live the rest of it, or...is it the opposite?

Jan shares the personal story of how his children greeted each day when they were babies, and how that turned into a gift that keeps on giving.

IT's National Poetry Month. That is cause for celebration. Poetry can tune us into the simple, profound mysteries and joys we may oftentimes miss.

Jan shares three poems and the personal story of one of the poets, who teaches us how to honor this one precious life we have been given.

Mary Oliver famously asks, " Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life."

Jan explores what is most precious in our lives:

the people, the work, the ideas-- asking--how do we honor them?

Adolescents often seek their place in the world and where to fit in. Adults do, too.

Jan shares a personal story of a single mom and her teenager and their struggle to fit in. He asks us all to flip the question-- not, how can we fit in, but how can we take what is unique about ourselves and make the world more fit?