Last night I told a very attractive woman that I wasn't interested in dating or being romantically involved with anybody anymore. I have come to realize that I really do enjoy my own space and privacy far too much to share it with anybody.

This morning, while drawing Angel cards (a morning ritual), Soulmate came flying out of the deck. When I cut the deck, New Love and Romance showed up.

Of course.

Thanks Angels. Hope you're enjoying this giggle.

In case you missed it, here's Deepak Chopra's take on what's happening now.

When Barack Obama declared, "I am my brother's keeper," he stated not just a Christian obligation but a core tent of society. When the social contract is viable, the majority protects the rights of the minority. The obligation becomes stronger when the social contract runs into crisis, because that is the point where common bonds are most frayed. There's also a sense of natural morality at work. Passengers who made it into lifeboats on the Titanic pulled others out of the water. The same happened among the passengers on the recent crash landing of a jet in the Hudson River.   So, yes, if you have escaped a collective economic disaster, it's your obligation to help the less fortunate. This is simple morality, and most people abide by it. 

From a friend who said this made her feel "soul squishy":

Here's a simple, yet powerful way to immediately make your life more rewarding.

Move away from the things that drain you and move toward those things that empower and fulfill you.

Begin to take notice, as you go through the day, which is which. When you take the time to look, it's easy to distinguish the things that lift you up from the things that bring you down.

Have you ever noticed how little things start to conspire to show you something new in the old? I love it when that happens.

Today, my favorite little coffee place was closed. And the Peets Coffee that is on the most direct path from the train station to my office just doesn't put any heart into making my coffee. So I headed to the one across the street from the SF Museum of Modern Art. There I know they take great pride in making a great soy latte.

As I passed the Moscone Center walking through Yerba Buena Gardens, I suddenly realized that I was right above the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. And he called me to come spend a moment with him.

Have you ever read one man's words and had them pass through your brain and grab you by the heart and throat? Had tears well up for no good reason, other than you know you're reading a deeply profound truth, spoken by a person who has been to the top of the mountain? Someone God has called?

I love it when that happens too.

This man has been speaking to me for a while now. Inspiring me to live a bigger life. Inspiring me to climb to the top of the mountain. To see the Promised Land. To find a way to help get us all there. Because we can only get there when all of us move as one.

Walking through the Memorial, this caught my eye, my heart, and sat in my throat. Which usually means that I need to share it.

"Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."

— Martin Luther King, Jr. at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968

Imagine that.

Ever found a TV show that mirrors part of your life? I always had this funny feeling that my new friend was a lot like Dharma from Dharma & Greg. But this morning, I flipped on the TV and there she was. Dharma, that is, doing something I could totally see my friend doing.

And I not only laughed at the funny lines, but smiled knowing I have a part of that in my life. I could totally identify with Greg -- totally lost at times in a world that often doesn't make sense to me, but with a wonderful woman who makes me smile in ways I never expect.

And it reminded me that I'm truly blessed. In ways I can't even express.

I keep forgetting to promote my book about life in the refugee camps in Northern Uganda. So here's the link. You can even preview the book. And $5 from each sale goes directly to Inveneo, who is doing something to help.

So you can read the book and do some good if you're so disposed.

You can see Picturing Hope here.

Today was one of those days where the sun was a little brighter, my steps were a little springier, and my smile was a little warmer. Guess that's why Stan picked me.

Stan was sitting on the sidewalk, leaning up against the a building where a lot women who don't speak much English sew clothes for not much money. He asked if I would be willing to listen to his story. Which I did.

Stan was a retired operating engineer. But he had fallen on hard times and now he just wanted to get something to eat. Having no change, I invited him to walk to the burger place around the corner with me.

As I asked Stan more about himself, he explained that he used to operate a crane, like the one we could see on the horizon. He told me he had helped build some of the nicer hotels in San Francisco. He was an gentle man who had hit a rough patch after 35 years of building this beautiful city.

I got him a combo meal and treated him like a friend.

He promised me he'd pay it forward. I told him that while I'd never been there, I'd been close. And that's when he said something that made me want to tell his story.

"You don't need to be in the gutter to know it's there. You understand. And I love you for it."

I know you understand too.

My prayer is that the next time you encounter one of the millions of Stans out there, that you take the opportunity to walk with him, talk with him, and maybe share a soda with him.

It really is a gift from above.