Inspiration of the Day: "In every moment and through every situation, we are offered the opportunity to choose our greatness, our passion, our light. What do you choose in this one?" • The Way of the Abundant Fool, available from major online booksellers and my website (link in photo)

Writer's Life: "I don't write my books. My books write me." • more creativity tools, tips and inspiration at The Mark David Gerson School of Writing (link in photo)

Inspiration of the Day: "We tend to forget that our real gift is not so much what we can do, but who we are."

“Call it God, higher self, great spirit, or great pumpkin. It lives within us.” • from Stories & Reflections #29. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + my website’s podcast page (link in video)

Writing Inspiration of the Day: "It's through the alchemy of our stories, lived authentically and shared truthfully, that all worlds change, beginning with our own." • more creativity tools, tips and inspiration at The Mark David Gerson School of Writing (link in photo)

“My work may look disconnected…scattered across multiple genres and media. But it isn’t. A common thread runs through all of it.” • from Stories & Reflections #29. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + my website’s podcast page (link in video)

Inspiration of the Day: "You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

“It is only with the heart one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” • from Stories & Reflections #29. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + my website’s podcast page (link in video)

Inspiration of the Day: “‘Trust. Leap. Surrender.’ – It’s the most important principle I’ve learned.” • more inspiration on my website (links in photo)

“It isn’t that I’ve outgrown the story. It’s that the story is so far ahead of me that I needed all that life experience to catch up with it.” • from Stories & Reflections #28. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + my website’s podcast page (link in video)

Quote of the Day: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” • more inspiration on my website (links in photo)

“If I stay, it won’t be an act of spiritual surrender. I’ll be running away – from the world, and from myself.” • from Stories & Reflections #28. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + my website’s podcast page (link in video)

“Spiritual surrender is at the heart of everything I do. And it links everything I do — my spiritual and metaphysical work as much as my creative work.” • from Stories & Reflections #29. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + my website’s podcast page (link in photo)

Creativity Inspiration of the Day: “There are no rules for good photographs. There are only good photographs.” • more creativity tools, tips and inspiration at The Mark David Gerson School of Writing (link in photo)

“I call my extended road trips ‘odysseys’ for a reason, because they always represent some sort of death and rebirth for me.” • from Stories & Reflections #27. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + my website’s podcast page (link in video)

This past week marks the 29th anniversary of the border crossing that turned me into "an accidental US immigrant." I share that story (and others) in Stories & Reflections #27 • on all podcast apps, YouTube and the podcast page of my website (link in photo)

Quote of the Day: "Stories are mightier than any wizardry. Nothing can rival their magic." • Discover the magic of storytelling for yourself in The Bard of Bryn Doon...and by letting The Mark David Gerson School of Writing help you create your own stories (links in photo)

“My only option, I suddenly realize, it to make my own rules and find my own way, regardless of Catholic tradition and established convention.” • from Stories & Reflections #28. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + www.storiesandreflections.com

“Where do I begin?” I asked. “Where all stories begin: Once upon a time.” • from Stories & Reflections #26. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + my website’s podcast page (link in video)

Writing Inspiration of the Day: "Strive for excellence, not perfection!" • more tools, tips and inspiration at https://www.gersonwritingschool.com

“I’ve lived in many places over the years, but only one keeps calling me back. It’s done it again. I’m going home.” • from this week’s Stories & Reflections (#27). Full episode on podcast apps, www.storiesandreflections.com + YouTube

“It was as though all the stories ever told by all the storytellers who had ever told them were speaking to me…were me.” • from Stories & Reflections #26. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + www.storiesandreflections.com

“As I continued deeper into Minnesota, the CBC signal grew weaker and weaker. Finally, it stuttered into solid static. Canada was gone. In that moment, I knew that I was, too — for good.” • from Stories & Reflections #27. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + www.storiesandreflections.com

Wishing you a safe and happy 4th of July. ••• In these disturbing and challenging times for our country, remember that it's our stories – the voices that express them and the wisdom and action that derive from them – that will change the world. Don't let yourself be silenced!

“Not all my real-life experiences make it into my fiction. Here’s one that did: My time at an ancient Hawaiian temple, now part of my fantasy novel, The SunQuest.” • from Stories & Reflections #26. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + www.storiesandreflections.com v

Creativity Inspiration of the Day: “Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.” • more creativity tools, tips and inspiration at www.markdavidgerson.com

Wishing all my friends and family back in my home and native land a safe and happy Canada Day! (You can take the guy out of Canada, but you can never take Canada out of the guy! 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦)

“I have lived in many places over the years that I would call places of the heart. Only one has kept calling me back again and again…for 29 years.” • from today's Stories & Reflections (#27). Full episode on podcast apps, www.storiesandreflections.com + YouTube

“I should have known right then, as soon as the poisonous centipede struck, that Hawaii wasn’t going to be the paradise we’d expected.” • from Stories & Reflections #25. Full episode on podcast apps, YouTube + www.storiesandreflections.com