All That Matters

Recently back in Vermont, Jan visited the restaurant his dad used to own and where, while working part-time in college, this astounding moment took place, captured in this reprise from this popular episode from Season 1:Jan shares the uplifting unimaginable moment when, as a young man, he received a startling phone call from the composer/maestro, a human interaction that illuminates the power of connection and living out our dreams.

You ever feel at the end of your rope? Like you must tie a knot at the end of it to simply hold on? Jan celebrates two remarkable poets, Lucille Clifton and Ada Simon, who help us see both our own power in shaping ourselves and how we can join the spring trees who unfurl new leaves of hope as if to say to the world in front of them: "I'll take it all."

Have you ever spoken truth to power? We each would like to think we could, and some of us perhaps have. Jan shares a personal story about a remarkable prosecutor/Krav Maga hero/dear friend, a big time Hollywood producer, and the possibility of making a film with Tom Cruise.And how saying NO taught Jan, as it teaches all of us, a bit more about what we stand for.

Recently a school in Miami-Dade objected to the fierce and electrifying inauguration poem, The Hill We Climb by then 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, being available to children. They moved it into an older section of the library, away from the eyes of its younger students, claiming, the poem will "lead to confusion and indoctrination..." and was, therefore, a threat.Jan highlights the poem and the power of absolute clarity the poem brings and how each of us can see ourselves as a piece of light if we're "brave enough to be it."

Sometimes forgiveness and music go hand in hand. Jan shares the true story of how his childhood Rabbi forbade music at one of the most important moments of his life, and how that man's grandson has, poetically become one of the gods of contemporary rock n'roll and a fitting tribute to his own grandfather's eventual expansive vision.

Sometimes if we go just a wee ways beyond our comfort zone, we find the real soul of our lives. Jan shares the true story of a stranger's challenge for him to truly see Scotland and the miracle of a panhandler on Skid Row. Here's to second impressions!

Our family stories are integral to who we are and who we can be!Jan shares the story of his grandfather, a country doctor, and the remarkable horse that saved his life so he could save others.

Jan shares an interaction with bestselling author Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People , who recently died. Kushner shows a new way to understand the Book of Job and how to more clearly see that unfairness doesn't have to destroy you but can deepen you and lead to good, if you allow it.

Jan revisits an ATM podcast from a year into our broadcast, the message reverberating with a tool of empowerment. With dialogue from the Academy-Award winning, Cher-starring movie Moonstruck he reminds us all the uplifting self-message that comes from reaching for clarity, knowing at who we are and what we really stand for.

Jan's mom, Roberta Goldstein, an award-winning poet, raised him to delight in words. He shares 3 poems from Dickinson, Wordsworth, and Oliver, that empower us with new ways to see light and life through the poetry of Spring.

Where do you want to go today? What if we shared the attitude of A.A. Milne's verse: If you were a bird, and lived on high, You'd lean on the wind when the wind came by, You'd say to the wind when it took you away: "That's where I wanted to go today!” Jan shares the power of improvisation and meeting the child within you.

The question: Are we the person we hope our child or young people growing up will become? Jan introduces you to the words of a poet who captures the path to humanity and kindness that can elevate life.

Up in the air with a missing wheel. Life on the line. And a stranger steps in and helps rescue you. Jan shares the true story of Taylor Hash and Chris Yates and reveals how each of us both need guardian angels at moments in life, and, maybe more importantly, can be one!

There are moments in life where luck can drop out of the sky and change the way you look at things. If we're open. Jan shares the power of luck in his life and the path to seeing life not as a cup half-empty-but half-full, awaiting us to fill it.

What purpose makes you happy? What about it brings you joy? The power of cheering on ourselves and others, even facing impossible odds, is part of the magic of Sister Jean. Jan shares the story of a 103 year-old nun whose life reminds us to see the miracles in one another.

Speaking truth to power has to be one of the most difficult of ethical challenges, yet essential to who we are and hope to be. Jan shares his personal story when his livelihood was threatened for speaking out and those who've inspired him with their "culture of candor."

Everyday we perform rituals, large and small, that beg the question-why? Our lives may answer, as does the famous milkman from the hit musical, "it's a tradition!" Traditions of all kinds are they so important to us, in small and larger ways. Jan shares a bit of his own Tevye as he celebrates the rituals of our lives.

Jan shares memories of his boyhood tailor and his parents' local business friends as he commemorates the anniversary of his Dad's passing. We recognize that the good stuff from our past, and the people who touch us, are course corrections for negativity. You deserve the positive. Remember it!

What is the most unusual place you have ever met someone? And what gift, unseen at the time, unfolded in the future from that meeting? Jan shares the personal story of two men who met on a frozen lake long in the past, men he would never meet himself but men who would, without knowing, change his life forever.

How can a soapdish enable us, the latch of our window awaken us to freedom? Jan shares the magical words of the Anglo-Irish poet, David Whyte, who urges us to consider the familiar and the fortuitous nature of our lives.

Trees can inspire us. Especially the redwood that teaches us about support and interconnection. Jan shares a bit of the tree magic that can remind each of us how best to grow and thrive!

Sometimes you end up in a place you didn't expect to be, having an experience that changes you somehow. Jan shares the day he was cast on a national TV drama, the wonderful actress opposite him and the Basketball All-Star boyfriend who made the change uncommonly human. And yes, that's the correct spelling of his name!

What gift have you received that you consider most precious? What gifts have you given that meant the most?Jan shares the exciting chapter from his novel ALL That Matters (following the 2 chapters from last week), a scene where an opening to life and hope begins.

What do the young and the elderly have to teach one another? Jan shares an excerpt from his novel, ALL THAT MATTERS, featuring a young woman ready to give up and her grandmother's desperate magical race against time to help her fall in love with life.

A player falls and the world holds its collective breath. We make a wish. Jan shares the impact of one of his heroes, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, and a lesson in wishes that has changed lives, one that could lift us all.

Jan shares with us the new year's message from actor Sir Anthony Hopkins who celebrates 47 years of sobriety with a message of hope and empowerment for each of us. Tell others, won't you?Happy 2023!

Perhaps we forget that the symbol of freedom is a woman as evidenced by the statue atop the US Capitol. Jan celebrates his mom's birthday and the example she set for wisdom and the responsibility from freedom that can empower us all..

Where do you find your own individual light? Tis the season for light-Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, among others. Jan celebrates one such light-Linda Chester, his literary agent who passed this week, and how she saw writers as helping to illuminate the world.

What if someone appeared in your life with a secret from the past that would completely upturn your world and present you with a second chance at the thing you most wanted in life? Jan shares the first chapter of his novel in progress-The One-set at the magical mountain retreat of the Trapp Family in Stowe, Vermont. Come take a journey of colors, poetry, and risking it all for what matters most.

The poet Rilke urges us to live out our inner questions, the answers often reveal themselves down the road. Jan shares the birth of a new novel begun when he was writer in residence at the Von Trapp Family Lodge and the questions that can both upend us and lead us home.

Two years ago this month Jan recorded a podcast in the thick of the pandemic. Listening we realize we've come so far and yet, miracles like the one in South Central Los Angeles (and the question put to Deborah that began it all) are as inspiring for each of us as ever.

Sometimes it takes another to discover miracles at the most painful times of life and remind us by rekindling our inner light. Jan shares retired NBC correspondent Mark Potter's story-the journey shared with his wife during cancer-and the sunrise photographs he took that are producing healing and hope for so many.

What gives you hope? A butterfly? A new moon? A human experience of others that connects us? Jan shares symbols of hope and the remarkable story of his meeting a muslim inside a dwelling built for a Jewish holiday and the power each of us can draw from connection.

What we inherit in our souls, matters. Jan shares how his dad passed that on to him, in part by introducing him to theatre and acting, while exploring the power of playwrights like Tony Kushner and Mathew Lopez to use imagination to elevate our spiritual inheritance.

The Christian All Hallow's Eve, and the secular Halloween, come to us with a history we may not know. Jan introduces us to that story and a modern poem that reflects the emotional ghosts from our past that we have the power to release, renewing our own lives.

Ralph Waldo Emerson urged kindness as a path to a fulfilling life. Jan shares the story of the nuns who taught him about his own father's kindness and the journey to his understanding that kindness can often be the best map to positivity and healing.

Jan introduces you to the story of Snowflake Bentley who taught us no two snowfall crystals were alike, each original, just like each of us. Asked as a teen to write the theme song for the local PBS production on Bentley's life, he discovers the inspiring creativity found in nature that definitely leads to more of the good stuff of life.

Fun. Jan shares stories of how some celebrities do it: Hanks and typewriters, Beyonce and actual Beehives-and introduces us to his simple childhood game of catching autumn leaves: pointing us to the power and balance created when we simply prioritize fun!

Longing vs. Living. Jan shares with you the vital story of a divorced woman sitting on the sidelines of life who discovers the power of getting on its dance floor and creating her own choreography of living!

We are all primed to go far in life, each in our own way, but to do that, at times, we must first find our way home. Jan shares the true story of his mother's Alzheimer's and the inspiration for his LA Times bestselling second novel of a mother and a son and the meaning of art.

Jan continues exploring grief and loss and why they are necessary parts of love and life and happiness. He turns to Toni Morrison and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross to help us understand how to talk to others about grief and loss and all that matters.

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Jan explores the grieving process as he introduces you to an older woman, Ruby, who taught him how to approach loss. As the Queen herself said after the death of her beloved husband last year, "Grief is the price we pay for love." How we pay and the power of that love matters.

Through words of his grandmother, as well as Mrs. Jihan Sadat, and Rachel Naomi Remen, Jan suggests there's a boon to our health by 'acknowledging' and 'letting go'.

There are memorable people we encounter who have the ability to alter our understanding of life itself. Jan introduces you to Hannah, who, in the corridors of a home for the elderly in Jerusalem, showed him what turning darkness into light looks like, and helped inspire the central character of his first novel.

Jan shares with you how his late brother gave the gift of celebration to their father by opening up the world of possibility. Come share life stories that lead us to the good stuff!

Jan shares the wit and wisdom of America's one-time cowboy-philosopher and the importance of sometimes being "a little dangerous" if we want to lift up ourselves and others.

Some call it "insolence," others "spiritual audacity." Jan shares the meaning and evolution of a word that, when put into practice for the right reasons, can help you make all the difference in your life and others.

Sometimes you rediscover a singer who reveals anew the good stuff in life and all that matters. Jan shares with you his recent evening of rediscovery and how, once and a while, we truly see the shared humanity in an artist and, even more, know that he/she is talking directly to us.

Jan introduces you to his first novel, the inspiration for this podcast, a work that #1 NY Times bestselling novelist, Kristin Hannah calls, "A compelling, deeply moving story of love, friendship, family, and second chances." Come share the roots of Jan's LA Times bestselling novel, All That Matters!

How do we express the hope that our love, in all its forms, is unbreakable? Join Jan as he introduces you to Namsam Mountain and the bridge of lovelocks in Seoul.