I try not to set myself up as different or as a celebrity or special. I have a husband that can get on my nerves. I have kids that test my patience. I've got a cat I can't keep off the sofa. It's real. On a bad day, I'm reading 'Acts of Faith.'.

Authenticity means that you must do what you do the way you do it and allow everyone else the same courtesy.

Many self-employed people provide services that are nonessential. So whether you get your hair done less or your hair cut less, or your nails done less, as a writer and a speaker I was very clear that corporations weren't being as open and as generous and I wasn't getting the kind of work that I usually got.

When you continue to give without receiving, the only thing you are proving is that you know how to be taken advantage of.

If you don't enjoy your life, sorrow, sadness, suffering, fear, shame and guilt will.

The only relationship we can have in this life is the relationship we have with ourselves. We cannot love anybody more than we love ourselves. We cannot treat anyone any better than we treat ourselves. When you forget you, give up on you, or devalue yourself, anyone coming into your life has a universal responsibility to follow your lead.

I now realize that just because you can take a punch does not mean you must stand in front of a fist, particularly not when the fist is your own.