For me hope isn't wishful thinking or blind faith about the future. It's a stance toward life - one of curiosity and humility.

Because we are living in a culture increasingly dominated by fear where many feel blocked.

Hope is not wishful thinking. It's not a temperament we're born with. It is a stance toward life that we can choose...not not. The real question for me, though, is whether m hope is effective, whether it produces or is just where I hide to ease my own pain.

I learned this [ that fear doesn't have to stop me] when my world came apart. I was living a life-long dream of a family life combined with an organization to promote living democracy - all on a gorgeous 45-acre compound in rural Vermont. I'd spent a decade building my dream, and then it started to crumble, piece by piece - my marriage, my organization, my confidence.

I had no identity [when I was 27] - I was terrified that somebody would ask me what I was doing, and I would have no answer.

If we cannot know what's possible, then we are free to do that which is pulling our hearts and that which is life serving.

I think that fear of embarrassment is the essence of the human challenge.