About 2 months ago, a friend was staying with me and gave me the space to express concerns about the challenges I was having with not feeling I had enough space in my life to do the things I wanted, including serving more, and allowing myself to get distracted. Resisting the urge to give me advice, he instead gave me space to come up with ideas to help myself.

One such idea was creating a blackboard on our bedroom wall. I shared the idea with my wife Shreema...a day or so later she came home from work with some erasable markers and started creating a list on our bathroom mirror. The red marker was for fun messages of love to one another or inspirational quotes and the black marker was for things we needed to do or wanted to remind ourselves of...its been very helpful to see things I believe in, on a daily basis, in front of me as a constant reminder to focus on putting "values in action." Notes to Myself include: "Inner Transformation. Meditation. Go to the Gym 3x a week. RAOK all the time... and asking myself, "How will I change my story today?"

I share this in hopes that perhaps the next time you feel the need to give advice you may hold back and give a person space at first to come up with their own solutions (this is much harder to do than it seems). I also share this in hopes that perhaps leaving notes to yourself or a loved one can bring a smile to your face and others while aiding you in your journey. Thank you my dear friend (brother) for the space. Thank you wife for turning it into action. Thank you all for even creating the inspiration for me to want to remind myself of these values in action on a daily basis - even when I may fail at it at times.