Posts Tagged ‘heart’

Spa Week Launches Mother’s Day Gift Card Sale

New York, NY (April 23, 2012)

Swisher Hits Grand Slam, Yanks Rally To Beat Red Sox 15-9

BOSTON (AP) — Nick Swisher hit a grand slam to help the Yankees erase a nine-run deficit, then he added a two-run double to give them the lead as New York posted back-to-back seven-run innings to beat Boston 15-9 on Saturday and send the Red Sox to their fifth straight loss.

A day after Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz gave up five homers and the Yankees spoiled Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary party, Boston chased New York starter Freddy Garcia after 1 2-3 innings and opened a 9-0 lead through five. but mark Teixeira homered twice, the second a three-run shot in the seven-run seventh that cut the deficit to 9-8.

Swisher hit a two-run double off the center field wall in the eighth to make it 10-8. Teixeira, who homered from both sides of the plate for the 13th time in his career, and Swisher each had six RBIs.

Rafael Soriano (2-0) pitched one inning of scoreless relief.

Red Sox closer Alfredo Aceves (0-1) gave up five runs without retiring a batter in the eighth.

It was Boston’s second straight loss to the rival Yankees, each of them heart-breaking in its own way. Friday’s 6-2 loss cast a pall over the feel-good 100th anniversary celebration, but the sequel on Saturday exposed the bullpen and had the hometown fans booing manager Bobby Valentine just 14 games into his Red Sox career.

Valentine tipped his capped to the fans as they booed him when he walked back from making a pitching change in the eighth.

Felix Doubront held New York scoreless on three hits until Teixeira hit a solo homer with two outs in the sixth. By that time, Boston led 9-0 thanks in part to a two-run homer by Cody Ross and RBI doubles from Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz.

Ortiz had four hits and a walk, and Mike Aviles drove in a pair of runs for Boston, which has now won just 11 of 41 games dating back to Sept. 1, 2011.

The Yankees improved to 9-3 since they were swept in the season-opening series by the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Red Sox scored two in the first on back-to-back RBI doubles from Ortiz and Gonzalez, added three in the second to chase Garcia and then made it 7-0 in the third. Ross homered in the fifth to give Boston a 9-0 lead.

Teixeira hit a solo homer in the sixth, then the Yankees made it a one run game with Swisher’s grand slam and a three-run shot by Teixeira.

Swisher put the Yankees up 10-9 with a drive off the center field wall. There was still nobody out in the inning when Teixeira added a two-run double; Russell Martin added a two-run, two-out double and Derek Jeter was given an RBI single that made it 15-9 when shortstop Aviles slipped and fell on his rear end as he went to throw to first.

NOTES: the Yankees shut down RHP Michael Pineda when he felt weakness in his shoulder after 15 pitches during an extended spring training game in Tampa. … Yankees manager Joe Girardi said LHP Andy Pettitte would probably make his next start in Double-A Trenton and be limited to 80-85 pitches. … Red Sox 3B Kevin Youkilis left the game in the fourth inning with a bruise on his left quadriceps. … Garcia allowed five runs on seven hits while getting just five outs. He has just one win in his last 10 appearances since 2008. … Ortiz is 17 for 32 on the homestand with 10 RBIs. … the most runs the Yankees have scored after the sixth inning was 16, against the Red Sox on June 19, 2000.

(Copyright 2012 the Associated Press. all Rights Reserved. this material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Luton Crash Out at Final Hurdle

Stood outside Kenilworth Road last night, having just watched Luton edged out of a Wembley appearance by York City, I wasn`t in the best of moods.In fact, instead of going home first, before re-emerging for a night of ale in the town centre, I hit the first pub I could find, desperate to drown my sorrows. Settling down, in the corner, I started to watch the Spurs v Bolton game

I just wanna write in my notebook

Q: How do you recognize a blonde in school? a: they are the only ones who erase their notebook when the teacher erases the board.The Notebook is probably my favourite film EVER. so many quotes in that film.’The Notebook’ Literally makes me cry.Completing my notebook .. BRBThe notebook her seferınde aglat benı tamam mı !watching the notebookNW The Notebook….this movie NEVER gets old.Shout outs to people who either hate on or wasn’t impressed by “The Notebook.”You’re all ignorant because you haven’t been in love.Browns notebook: SS T.J. Ward on injured reserve – Akron Beacon JournalI want that notebook that’s in the GYHAB lyric video. I want it a lot.that was some notebook shit right there.. The cutest.ron and i used to keep this notebook, and i remember this one entry i wrote about you. i kind of regret not showing it to you.Notebook&pen are my best friends. mostly when i jus need to get things off my mind13 inch Orange Heart Butterfly Notebook Laptop Sleeve Bag Slip Case for MacBook 13 / Most of Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP error: either unsupportedgah they bought so much T_T i got 1 keychan, 1 cellphone strap, 5 bracelets, make-up palette, chocolates, calendar and notebookI wanna scribble in my notebook suddenly @.@ off I go!The Notebook

JohnBenet Ramsey Father, John Ramsey, Regrets Allowing His Daughter In Pageants, Says Killer Is Still Out There

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 ”It's very bizarre,” he said. “Patsy and JonBenet didn't approach it that way. we — they just did it for fun.”

In the interview, John remembered his girl in taking part in a Christmas parade, just a few days before her death.

“Patsy had her sitting atop a friend's convertible in the Christmas parade waving at the people lining the streets,” he said on “Good Morning America.” “Patsy's mother later told me that a strange man approached the car during the parade and it made her uncomfortable. I think about these things now and it makes me cringe.  we were so naïve.  I now believe with all my heart that it's not a good idea to put your child on public display.”

John said that after hearing how her Patsy was a beauty, JonBenet was eager to take part in pageants. However, he regrets entering her in the contests.

“Only because that possibly might have drawn attention to us,” he said. “I don't know. but I think for advice to a parent — is just recognize that regardless of where you live, there — there could be evil around you. and — and don't be naive about it.  and keep your kids protected.”

JonBenet Ramsey was 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant. in December, 1996, John and Patsy allegedly found a ransom note, threatening to kill their daughter, if the family did not pay $118,000.

Police were called to investigate the scene. However, John discovered JonBenet's lifeless body in the basement of his home in Boulder, Colo. no one was ever charged with her murder.

“When I found her, it was a rush of relief,” he said. “And then, of course, within moments, I realized that she probably was dead.  but she was back in my arms.”

Police treated John and Patsy as suspects, which subsequently sparked national media attention.

“I had 24-hour-a-day cameras outside of our house for, gosh, a year, probably,” said John. Tabloid newspapers covered the family for years as clues were uncovered. John said he believes the killer is “ether alive, dead or in prison, and one of those three.”

In 2008, the Boulder district attorney cleared the Ramseys of any wrongdoing, issuing an apology.

John said he was bitter after all that transpired in his life, but in “The Other side of Suffering,” he discusses his journey from grief and turmoil, as he loses his daughter and his wife to ovarian cancer in 2009.

“But you can't stay there,” he said. “It's damaging to you as a person.”

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Life Purpose Vision Boards – It’s Time To Get Out of Your Own Way

Becoming a Helping Professional is often a heart-centred choice to lead a purpose-filled life. But, accomplishing this spiritual journey alone is not always easy. So, how can you manifest your spiritual path faster with a life purpose vision board?

What is it that brings up resistance for us as Helping Professionals and how come most of us end up broke, burnt-out, self-sabotaging and procrastinating instead of fulfilling our life purpose and manifesting the life we really desire?

So, why is it so common for Helping Professionals to know how to help everyone else, but they have a hard time sorting out there OWN lives?

The simple fact is many Helping Professionals do NOT feel truly worthy of having what it is they want.

The science behind the Law of Attraction is based on knowing how to manifest in a certain way that eases any vibrational resistance, so you can manifest everything that is important to you as you fulfil your Life Purpose with clarity, purpose, life/work balance, more vibrancy and prosperity.

This maybe creating a vision board that aims to attract more clients who resonate with your message, story, vision or mission or how you want to heal or help others improve their health and well-being.

What is a Life Purpose Vision Board exactly?

Basically, it is similar to a traditional vision board, a visual representation of your goals. But I named my vision board; my Life Purpose Vision Board to align my life purpose and the essence of who I am and have a balanced life

The main reason was realising that when you begin creating a vision board to help you fulfil your life purpose, you will feel free and no longer believe you have to choose one or the OTHER, you can have BOTH personal and professional fulfilment

Life Purpose Vision Boards really CAN and do free you up to give and receive, in all areas of your life including the physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, material, creative, adventure, character, financial and professional elements of your life.

Until we as Helping Professionals are ready to get out of our own way, we block not only our own destiny or any goal we might place on our vision board, but we hold our selves back from reaching the people we feel compelled to serve.

What Shall I Include on my Life Purpose Vision Board?

It is important to have a very ‘clear mental image’ of what it is you are asking the Universe for

The Law of Attraction concept is based upon what you think about most of the time eventually manifesting into your life. From this perspective it is very important that you find a way to focus your thoughts to be in alignment with what you want to do, be or have.

Using a specific theme such as you fulfilling your life purpose, creating life-work balance, manifesting more vibrancy and prosperity, you can be sure that things you place on your vision board will support you in making your difference in the world and at the same time manifest prosperity in every area of your life.

Life Purpose Vision boards will work for you to manifest your life purpose, your vision, your healing, your goals, your destiny, your dreams, your desires, wealth, prosperity and abundance, a soul-mate or manifesting absolutely anything

Knowing thoughts become things, your dominant thoughts (both subconscious and conscious thoughts), become things, in other words they manifest into your reality.

Even though we know that it is our thoughts that determine what we manifest into our lives and it sounds pretty simple, many Helping Professionals feel guilty about putting themselves first or feel unworthy of receiving money for their work.

This is dominant in their thoughts and this kind of negative thinking (poverty thinking) is constantly energized with negative emotion (poverty consciousness), often not being aware of how to manifest using the Law of Attraction, they use it in reverse.

Because their focus is centred around what they don’t want, they do not really believe they can manifest everything into their reality or they are not truly open to receiving or just don’t know what they want or are not placing their attention long enough to manifest anything into their reality.

Unfortunately, this is why so many Helping Professionals have had the negative experience of trying to manifest using the Law of Attraction and Vision Boards as they don’t really know how to make them work.

Put into action a vision to align your purpose in life, with your current business with your true-self and your personal life and you will begin seeing noticeable changes in a very short period of time.

Instead of trying to figure out or force your way to manifest a better life you’ll have a clear mental image and be telling yourself I can manifest anything and it will happen for me.

And soon, you’ll know how to manifest your vision for prosperity and abundance with your Life Purpose Vision Board doing the work you love

Preventing Medical Mistakes

My heart broke that day in November of 2007, when I read the story about the medication error that nearly took the lives of the infant twins of the movie star Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly. I was devastated that an overdose of a potent blood thinner had been administered to those two babies. At the same time, I felt a great sense of personal frustration and pain. I am a Pharmacist who has devoted my thirty year career in healthcare to preventing medical mistakes.

What most people don’t know is that this exact same mistake had occurred in an Indianapolis hospital one year earlier. this time six babies were given the overdose. Three babies lived, and three babies died.

That’s not the end of the story. in July of 2008 (one and one-half years after the Quaid overdose) the same error happened again in a Texas hospital. Fourteen babies were given the same drug overdose. Two twin premature babies died as a result of the same mistake.

Enough is enough.

In 1999 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a report which stated that nearly 98,000 people die needlessly each year because of medical mistakes. in 2009 the Consumers Union published a follow up to the IOM report basically stating that absolutely nothing had changed in the past ten years. The Consumers Union concluded that There is little evidence to suggest that the number of people dying from medical harm has dropped since the IOM first warned about these deadly mistakes a decade ago. The Consumers Union projects that preventable, medical mistakes account for more than 100,000 deaths each year- or as many as one million lives over the past decade.

As a Pharmacist who has cared for thousands of patients over the past 3 decades, I have also investigated thousands of medication errors. I have led countless teams of healthcare professionals through the process of analyzing why the errors have occurred. I have provided oversight for medical professionals throughout hospitals, nursing homes and HMOs in an attempt to get to the root-cause of serious events. I have reviewed errors in small private community hospitals, small rural hospitals, large teaching hospitals and government institutions. these errors have happened to people regardless of age, gender, race, income, education, or social status. If a potentially fatal medication error can happen to the newborn babies of a movie star, they can happen to you.

In my personal experience, I have yet to find one person who does not know someone or who has not experienced a medical mistake. I have heard stories about parents being given the wrong drug, siblings getting a drug meant for someone else, children getting the wrong dose, spouses getting drugs that they are allergic to, friends taking two drugs that interact with each other and acquaintances taking the drug in the wrong way. The mistakes that I have heard about would fill volumes. All of these people have endured a tremendous amount of personal pain and expense because of preventable and needless medication mistakes. this is a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless.

Preventing medication errors and improving efficiency is a main focus of the healthcare reform plan. not only will reducing medication errors improve the quality of patient care it will also provide a significant cost savings to our nation.

There is one key element that continues to be overlooked in the prevention of medication errors and that is the patient himself.

The focus of medication error prevention should now include the empowerment of the patient by providing the tools necessary to conduct effective and complete dialog with their doctors and other healthcare providers. Healthcare consumers (and the people who care for them) must realize the importance of taking responsibility for their own healthcare and take action to prevent a medical mistake from happening to them.

‘Real Housewives’ Marlo Embarrassed about Fight with Sheree

The newest the Real Housewives of Atlanta star, Marlo Hampton, recently gave an interview about her role on the show, her horrible behavior in South Africa, her use of the anti-gay slur and where her money is coming from. And most importantly, it seems that Marlo does have a heart because she feels embarrassed about her fight with Sheree in South Africa. “I just loved that experience, it changed my life,” Marlo explained of the trip to South Africa. “It was wonderful, the bad part definitely being Sheree’s argument, I hate that that happened.”

But rather than taking responsibility for her life and her actions, Marlo points the finger at Sheree, claiming that when she made accusations about where Marlo’s money is coming from, she flipped out. “I guess the part that blew me was when she was like, ‘Oh don’t go there, you’re dating an 80-year-old white man.’ I just lost it,” she explains of her The Real Housewives of Atlanta costars. And where does Marlo’s money come from? well, she claims she still gets some revenue for her store, Red Carpet Boutique even though it closed earlier this year. And she also says she has been careful with her money. it just seems weird for her to be careful with her money, considering she has a large amount of shoes and designer handbags.

And as for her anti-gay slur use in South Africa, Marlo is apologetic. Sure, she has issued a formal apology, but it just seems like an easy fix on a horrible issue. “I feel absolutely awful. When I said the ‘f-word,’ this wasn’t on camera, but I was crying, I was so pissed off and frustrated,” Marlo adds to her apology. “It really did hurt me, and I did apologize, my friends love me and they know I was just talking, and I’m just trying to build that relationship back with the gay community, because, I mean that was awful, I really feel bad about that.” And while some of her close gay friends have forgiven her, she may have a long way to go for the gay community who watches the show.

CIAA Basketball: Fayetteville State 83, Livingstone 80: Blue Bears lose 10th game by 5 points or less

Sunday, February 12, 2012 12:00 AM | Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend | Comments

SALISBURY — Livingstone’s Josh Hodge threw himself into his work Saturday night at Trent Gym — but his work threw him back.

a 6-foot-4 junior, Hodge had an automatic jump shot in the first half when he drained six 3-pointers and scored 22 points. But his accuracy betrayed him in the closing seconds when his 3-ball from the left side misfired, allowing Fayetteville State to escape with an 83-80 win.

“It’s heart-wrenching. it really is,” coach James Stinson said after LC (6-14, 2-10 CIAA) buried itself deeper in the Southern Division basement. “Sooner or later we’re gonna have to get on a roll and really play the way we’re capable of playing.”

the loss completed a 1-3 homestand and prevented the Blue Bears from evacuating last place. They actually played a solid game at both ends — forcing 20 turnovers and blocking eight shots on defense and shooting 51 percent (26-for-51) from the field.

“We played with a lot of energy at the end of the game,” guard Mark Thomas said, “The problem is we need to learn how to finish.”

Livingstone failed that test against FSU (6-14, 4-8). the visiting Broncos shot 52 percent from the floor (29-for-56) and nearly squandered an 8-point lead in the final minute-and-a-half.

“We’ve lost a few games like that,” said Fayetteville State coach Alphonza Kee. “And I think those losses helped us win this one tonight.”

Livingstone suffered its 10th loss by five or fewer points,but not before delighting the crowd with a dizzying first half. Hodge, a Hartford, Conn., native, hit four 3-pointers in the opening six minutes. he finished 6-for-12 from beyond the arc and scored a team-best 25 points.

“The point guards were penetrating and that left me wide open,” he said. “The easy part was knocking them down. the point guards did all the work.”

only 1:38 remained in the first half when Hodge nailed his sixth long ball to give LC a five-point lead. And when teammate Tyler Johnson converted both ends of a one-and-one with 1:02 on the clock, the Blue Bears sat atop a 45-38 cushion. FSU cut it to four when freshman Anthony Shelton his a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half.

“That changed the momentum,” Stinson said. “We had the ball right before that, but instead of pulling it out and using the clock, we took a shot we probably shouldn’t have.”

Shelton, who shot 7-for-9 from the field and scored a career-high 22 points, opened the second half with another home run ball. Later his botched jam fell through the hoop with 1:26 remaining, providing a 79-71 Broncos lead.

“We fought through some adversity,” he said. “We finally came out with some fire in the end and it paid off.”

Livingstone used three foul shots and a 3-pointer by Thomas to tie the score 80-80. Shelton won the game with a driving layup and ensuing free throw with 11.3 seconds to go.

“I’ve done that before in high school,” he said. “I like pressure. I did what needed to be done.”

When Hodge’s desperation shot clanked off the iron in the waning seconds, Livingstone was narrowly beaten again.

“Most of them are tough to walk away from,” Thomas said dejectedly. “This one too. we could have won a lot of games that we’ve lost.”

FAYETTEVILLE STATE (83) — Shelton 22, Evans 17, Donnell 11, Plummer 10, Tate 7, best 7, Baxter 3, Underwood 2, Fields 2, Johnson 2.

LIVINGSTONE (80) — Hodge 25, M.Thomas 14, Austin 10, Henry 6, T.Johnson 6, Jackson 6, Redfern 5, D.Thomas 3, Ford-Bey 3, Anderson 2, Paul, Williams.

Fay. State 41 42 — 83

Livingstone 45 35 — 80

Wednesday Is Steve Jobs’ 55th Birthday. Happy Birthday Steve

Tomorrow is Steve Jobs’ 55th birthday. many happy returns Steve.

Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955.

To celebrate his birthday, we’re replaying Jobs’ great 2005 commencement speech to Stanford University’s graduating class. Delivered just a year after being treated for cancer, Jobs is uncharacteristically open about life and death.

Jobs tells three simple stories from his life, and they all include some some great advice. He advises to trust your gut, follow your heart and do what you love.

It’s a great speech. The video is 15 minutes long. if you haven’t seen it, you should.

The video and full transcript of the speech after the jump.

‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says.

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. no big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. so why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. my biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. she felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. so my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “we have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “of course.” my biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. she refused to sign the final adoption papers. she only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. and here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. so I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. it was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. and much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. it was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. and we designed it all into the Mac. it was the first computer with beautiful typography. if I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. and since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. if I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. you have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. this approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. we worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. we had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. when we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. so at 30 I was out. and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. and so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. it freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. and Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. it was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. and that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. if you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. and, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. so keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “if you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” it made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” and whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. you are already naked. there is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. my doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. it means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. it means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. it means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. and yet death is the destination we all share. no one has ever escaped it. and that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. it is Life’s change agent. it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. it was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. this was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. it was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. on the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” it was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. and I have always wished that for myself. and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

DON’T MISS Steve Jobs: “Love What you do.”