All That Matters

Perhaps we forget that the symbol of freedom is a woman as evidenced by the statue atop the US Capitol. Jan celebrates his mom's birthday and the example she set for wisdom and the responsibility from freedom that can empower us all..

Where do you find your own individual light? Tis the season for light-Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, among others. Jan celebrates one such light-Linda Chester, his literary agent who passed this week, and how she saw writers as helping to illuminate the world.

What if someone appeared in your life with a secret from the past that would completely upturn your world and present you with a second chance at the thing you most wanted in life? Jan shares the first chapter of his novel in progress-The One-set at the magical mountain retreat of the Trapp Family in Stowe, Vermont. Come take a journey of colors, poetry, and risking it all for what matters most.

The poet Rilke urges us to live out our inner questions, the answers often reveal themselves down the road. Jan shares the birth of a new novel begun when he was writer in residence at the Von Trapp Family Lodge and the questions that can both upend us and lead us home.

Two years ago this month Jan recorded a podcast in the thick of the pandemic. Listening we realize we've come so far and yet, miracles like the one in South Central Los Angeles (and the question put to Deborah that began it all) are as inspiring for each of us as ever.

Sometimes it takes another to discover miracles at the most painful times of life and remind us by rekindling our inner light. Jan shares retired NBC correspondent Mark Potter's story-the journey shared with his wife during cancer-and the sunrise photographs he took that are producing healing and hope for so many.

What gives you hope? A butterfly? A new moon? A human experience of others that connects us? Jan shares symbols of hope and the remarkable story of his meeting a muslim inside a dwelling built for a Jewish holiday and the power each of us can draw from connection.

What we inherit in our souls, matters. Jan shares how his dad passed that on to him, in part by introducing him to theatre and acting, while exploring the power of playwrights like Tony Kushner and Mathew Lopez to use imagination to elevate our spiritual inheritance.

The Christian All Hallow's Eve, and the secular Halloween, come to us with a history we may not know. Jan introduces us to that story and a modern poem that reflects the emotional ghosts from our past that we have the power to release, renewing our own lives.

Ralph Waldo Emerson urged kindness as a path to a fulfilling life. Jan shares the story of the nuns who taught him about his own father's kindness and the journey to his understanding that kindness can often be the best map to positivity and healing.