Contemplating Christmas when you are isolated and far from home brings its own unique pain.

Every day I have many choices to make about who I want to be.

I think it's the human spirit inside of all of us that has an enormous capacity to survive.

The road to recovery will not always be easy, but I will take it one day at a time, focusing on the moments I've dreamed about for so long.

I'm afraid of elevators, because they are an enclosed space, but I get in.

Christmas was the one time of year when my brothers surfaced at home, when my parents and grandparents congregated to eat my mother's roast turkey.

Getting on a plane is hard for me, but I do it, because travel is vital to me.

I've realized that the world is, in essence, full of banana peels - loaded with things that may unwittingly trip an internal wire in my mind, opening a floodgate of fears without warning.

I used my captors names every chance I had. It was intentional, a way of reminding them that I saw them, of pegging them, of making them see me in return.

Forgiving is not an easy thing to do.

I don't think I'm unusual in that, in my 20s, like many people, I felt invincible.

I'm Allen Walker!"My life....is over...I'm going to die....

There should be a healthy ‘stubbornness’, assertiveness and confidence that comes from knowledge of your clear vision, mission, values and personal brand.

If I want to gain her trust, I have to give her mine...

I'm really into California art from the '60s.

On the other side of every mountain was another mountain.

A different world can be created or re-created-but not until we stop enshrining the economic values of invisible labor, infinite and obsessive growth, and a slow environmental suicide.

Every moment of your life, including this one, is a fresh start.

If you can change your mind, you can change the world. Before you can be creative, you must be courageous. Creativity is the destination, but courage is the journey.

You know what? I knew that my God was bigger than his [about Muslims in Somalia]. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.

We pass by common objects or persons without noticing them; but the keen eye detects and notes types everywhere and among all classes.