“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give what I have received; and to share what I have been given.”

My yoga teacher ‘Kala,’ ends every class with this beautiful saying.

In Sanskrit, her name means “fine arts,” in Hindu, it means “God of time.”

One morning, after nearly a year of practicing with her at her makeshift studio at a local YMCA, I realized that her parting words were a gift to us, meant to seed our day with the practice of giving and receiving — the innate beauty of sharing our unique presence, attributes and knowledge with others, and to listen and allows others to share themselves with us – the receipt. Allowing these words to seep in more deeply, it dawned on me that giving and receiving is the same act; just different actions or actors separated only by a thing called ‘time’.

Last month, I received a note from a veteran in North Carolina. He had just finished reading my first novel, Beyond The Wall: The Journey Home. It had been recommended to him by a nurse at his VA hospital.

His note read:

“I read your book, Beyond The Wall. I’m not sure if you will ever know exactly how close you really got. Painfully close. But I’m glad someone did. Thank You.”

Read more "Beyond The Wall Program"