Try to make a point to read from an inspirational book every now and then. I guess they're not for everyone, but over the years, inspirational books have gotten me through some pretty tough times. I have always thought that a big part of better health is better mental health. When we feel good emotionally, we usually feel better physically. For me, better mental health can be as simple as reading an inspirational quote, aspiration, or meditation.

There are lines of poetry so powerful, so soul shaping that one must carry them in one's memory -- or at the very least post them on the corkboard in the kitchen; or tuck them into the little clips holding up the bathroom mirror so everyday the poet can console or confront you while you clean your morning-and-night teeth.These poems are what I have come to think of of as "plainsight poetry," that is, verses which must be kept at easy access. The one I most need now is this:

Motivation is the number one thing we all need if we are going to be successful at losing weight. But, it's also the number one thing that tends to slip through our fingers and land us back in the cookie jar.

Truly fifteen years ago, after writing poetry and fiction most of my life, I stopped. There we many reasons at the time—all of which made sense—but the one that I did not consciously understand then, which I see so clearly now, was that I was afraid. I was afraid of my own voice, afraid of what I might say, and afraid I might—because I had had some true success-be heard. And so I stopped writing poems and stories, wrote only articles and essays, instead, and then, not many years later, left writing to work in technology.

If you could have just one wish and one wish only, what would it be? Better yet, what if you knew that a thousand of the world's most innovative thinkers just might back you up if your wish inspired them the way it inspires you? What would you wish then?