In so many ways, that talk in 2019 set a level of engagement and expectation that I have been trying to recapture ever since. I left that stage flying high, ecstatic over the interplay between the audience and me. A few months later, I gave the MSUM commencement address, and while the audience wasn't as effusive, it was clear the talk landed. Two months after that I spoke at Creative Mornings Fargo, and that audience was all in, too.
Public Speaking Blog
-
-
One down, many, many more to go
So I can't say that I had anything other than quiet, sweet relief that it was over when I said thank you. I sat down and felt a boulder slide down my back and land softly into place at my feet. I know boulders don't fall softly, but this one did because one of the points of the talk is that if you lift the boulders off your chest, you can stand on them to see a whole new vantage point from which to view your life. This boulder simply slipped into its position on the path I am literally building as I walk it. And so are you. You…
-
I hear you, Universe, and I’m grateful
I feel that way about these extraordinary signs, too. Perhaps they were just by chance. Maybe I'll start hearing "My Favorite Things" on all the Christmas channels I stream, and maybe spin class will continue to play songs from movie musicals about ancient Jewish miracles, but I don't think so.
-
I’m coming home at last
What if the role of David Helfgott had been open 10 years earlier? Mr Rush would likely have wanted to go up for the audition. But, he wouldn't have been the right age to play him; he might not have had enough lived experience, have worked with the right acting coach, had the agent who could get him in the room or fill in any number of blanks to play that role. And had he not been cast in Shine, it's entirely likely he might not also have been cast in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Shakespeare in Love, The King's Speech and so many other memorable films with…
