To hear how special and wonderful we are is endlessly enthralling.

We must be willing to change chairs if we want to grow. There is no permanent compatibility between a chair and a person. And there is no one right chair. What is right at one stage may be restricting at another or too soft. During the passage from one stage to another, we will be between two chairs. Wobbling no doubt, but developing.

Frustration is the mother of risk.

My mother had demonstrated that the best way to defeat the numbing ambivalence of middle age is to surprise yourself - by pulling off some cartwheel of thought or action never even imagined at a younger age.

To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist.

No sooner do we think we have assembled a comfortable life than we find a piece of ourselves that has no place to fit in.

When you have self-respect, you have enough.