If you think about it, how much time do we spend in our heads wishing things were another way, beating ourselves up, beating others up, crafting a different past, wishing for a different future? All of that is resistance. All of that is pain.

Now I know what success is: living your truth, sharing it. Whether through a book, raising a child, building a company, creating art, or a conversation. Whatever human endeavor we choose, as long as we live our truth, it is success.

Ask yourself: what is it, that if I believed it down to my core, would change everything? Make the fears irrelevant? Make the person I’d become so unbelievably amazing that I’d blow my own socks off?

Each time James mentions his daily practice, whether in a new book or a tweet or a post, it makes me happy. It is the biggest public service one can do — show others exactly how to transform themselves, make their lives better. Because when we are better, those around us are better.

Knowledge is never enough. Even action, if it’s just following a prescribed way, will never fully express your potential. But to dive in, test each theory out, kick the tires, keep what works, discard the rest, add your own — that’s where magic happens.

Let’s make our time count. Live our best selves. Take the risks, share our dance, belt out our songs. That what we do, even if it’s forgotten after we’re gone, matters while we’re here. That is a life well lived. A fulfilled life.

The things I carry are my thoughts. That’s it. They are the only weight. My thoughts determine whether I am free and light or burdened. Regardless of whether the world is exploding or celebrating, my inside determines the quality of what I experience outside.

That’s another thing I’ve learned. There is strength in this vulnerability, in tearing down the walls. People sense it in you. The world is hungry for it. And the greatest healing — for you, for those around you — it comes from opening. Opening yourself wide. To your humanness, to your feelings. And ultimately, to yourself.

Do all artists have to suffer? Part of me resists when I ask the question. I don’t want the answer to be yes. But I let go, and the answer, instead, is of a different sort. They have to experience. To live and experience life fully because when you create art, if it’s not true and real, you know.