“How alive are you?”

“Never stop.  Never settle.”

“Have a story.”

“Honestly, I wanna see you be brave.”

     On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is “going through the motions” and 10 is a “vibrant, joyous, meaningful life”, where are you?  If you’re not a 10, what’s holding you back?  If you know what you want, why would you give up while you’re still vertical, or settle for anything less?  The only thing that will remain when you leave this life is your story.  Have one.  It takes courage to step outside the box and to do something different.  Be brave.

     That is not the abstract for the latest self-help bestseller.  It is not a transcription of my last session with a life-coach.  It is a collection of life affirming ideas from the makers of the Jaguar F-Type automobile, Hennessy Cognac, Jose Cuervo Tequila and Microsoft’s Tablet Computer, respectively.  All the while we thought these folks were just trying to sell us stuff, it turns out that they actually cared.  Driving the right expensive sports car, drinking the right alcohol, and owning the proper gadget really can make you whole.

     Maybe our stuff does have something worthwhile to say.