Our lives are precious. Never more so than for 19-year-old Alexander Stobbs who has been a cystic fibrosis sufferer from birth. For him, each day could be his last. But as he says in the BAFTA-nominated documentary - A Boy Called Alex - 'you can't do stuff if you're afraid'.A truly inspiring story of a young musician determined to live his dreams, Alex takes us on his journey to survive a daily round of drugs and treatments as he also prepares for his yearning ambition to conduct Bach's three-hour-long St Matthew Passion. Everything we take for granted is a struggle for Alex - eating, sleeping, even breathing. His determination to live life to the full, constantly striving for perfection in his musical performance, is set against the exhausting every day rigours of medication and treatment simply to keep him alive. Yet he has already achieved some extraordinary goals. An Eton scholar, he has now won a further music scholarship to King's College, Cambridge. Introduced here by his mother Suzanne, Alex's account of living with no certainty about his future is a spur to all of us to make every day count.

"What makes a home exceptional, with an unforgettable sense of personality and passion? The answer [is revealed in this collection] of 30 ... European houses, from France and Italy to Switzerland and Sweden"--Amazon.com.

Is your passion for living include money, health, love, things, success, fame, or ease. These may all feel good, but whatever fires you up, turns you on, and ignites your passion for living must be more than something you attain, claim, or own. Otherwise, when you accomplish your goals, the passion will fade. This book gives a step-by-step prescription on exactly how to get what you really desire in life.

Who are you and who do you want to be has never been made so clear. Jeremy Hodal, Operations Chicago ORD, Platinum Cargo Logistics, Inc. Many of us want it; few have it. Deep inside, we may have a strong desire to live a passionate life filled with zest, love, and purpose. But how do we make it happen? In Live Your Passion, seasoned entrepreneur Melyssa Moniz shares thought-provoking, empowering questions designed to pull you out of your comfort zone and motivate a life-changing transformation that attracts success and happiness. Moniz relies on her experiences derived from creating passion-driven services for her clients to help anyone interested in discovering his or her true passion and applying it to life. She encourages you to listen to your inner voice through a variety of questions. She also offers a step-by-step plan that can help you determine your self-identity and passions, define self-esteem and core beliefs, use an internal compass for guidance in life decisions, and turn to the root emotion of love in every experience. Included is a glossary that defines terms and a bonus section intended to further support a journey of renewal. Live Your Passion offers key questions and practical advice that can motivate anyone ready to embrace the kind of reflection that induces change and ultimately creates a fruitful future.

NOTES FROM A FRIEND is a concise and easy-to-understand guide to the most powerful and life-changing tools and principles that make Anthony Robbins an international leader in peak performance. Based on the concepts and stories in the bestselling AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN and UNLIMITED POWER, Anthony Robbins shows us how quick and simple it can be to take charge of your life. 'Vintage Tony Robbins...It distils the complexity of human potential movement into one single but powerful idea' JAMES REDFIELD, THE CELESTINE PROPHECY 'Tony's warmth, passion, and commitment will inspire you to truly master your life and touch others in the process' KENNETH BLANCHARD, PH.D., AUTHOR OF THE ONE MINUTE MANGER

The coauthors of the bestselling Peak Performance dive into the fascinating science behind passion, showing how it can lead to a rich and meaningful life while also illuminating the ways in which it is a double-edged sword. Here’s how to cultivate a passion that will take you to great heights—while minimizing the risk of an equally great fall. Common advice is to find and follow your passion. A life of passion is a good life, or so we are told. But it's not that simple. Rarely is passion something that you just stumble upon, and the same drive that fuels breakthroughs—whether they're athletic, scientific, entrepreneurial, or artistic—can be every bit as destructive as it is productive. Yes, passion can be a wonderful gift, but only if you know how to channel it. If you're not careful, passion can become an awful curse, leading to endless seeking, suffering, and burnout. Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness once again team up, this time to demystify passion, showing readers how they can find and cultivate their passion, sustainably harness its power, and avoid its dangers. They ultimately argue that passion and balance--that other virtue touted by our culture--are incompatible, and that to find your passion, you must lose balance. And that's not always a bad thing. They show readers how to develop the right kind of passion, the kind that lets you achieve great things without ruining your life. Swift, compact, and powerful, this thought-provoking book combines captivating stories of extraordinarily passionate individuals with the latest science on the biological and psychological factors that give rise to—and every bit as important, sustain—passion.

Bursting with superb photography and exquisite room drawings, a sumptuous showcase of interior decorating ideas and trendsetting design details that add rich character to any home, by one of America's brightest decorators. Full-color photographs and drawings throughout

To put it very simply, Dawna Markova is a teacher. A Ph.D. educator, she travels the world working with schools, Fortune 500 companies, and individuals. While coaching people on systems thinking and how to revolutionize the way children are taught, she also teaches people the most important lesson anyone can ever learn -- how to listen to one's own heart and how to live with heart and mind wide open to all life's possibilities. Wide Open is the gift of Dawna's wisdom, wrapped up in gorgeous photos. In thirty luminous lessons and passages, Markova encourages us to learn from our wounds, find our gifts, celebrate our values, and live our dreams -- to live on purpose and with passion. Twenty years ago, Dawna Markova discovered these eternal truths when she faced a life-threatening illness and began a journey of rediscovery. This book follows her path to finding deeper meaning in life. "In a similar way to A Gift from the Sea, the readers of this book are invited to accompany me on a journey to come to know more intimately the value and purpose of their lives."

Most of us want to make a difference. We donate our time and money to charities and causes we deem worthy, choose careers we consider meaningful, and patronize businesses and buy products we believe make the world a better place. Unfortunately, we often base these decisions on assumptions and emotions rather than facts. As a result, even our best intentions often lead to ineffective—and sometimes downright harmful—outcomes. How can we do better? While a researcher at Oxford, trying to figure out which career would allow him to have the greatest impact, William MacAskill confronted this problem head on. He discovered that much of the potential for change was being squandered by lack of information, bad data, and our own prejudice. As an antidote, he and his colleagues developed effective altruism, a practical, data-driven approach that allows each of us to make a tremendous difference regardless of our resources. Effective altruists believe that it’s not enough to simply do good; we must do good better. At the core of this philosophy are five key questions that help guide our altruistic decisions: How many people benefit, and by how much? Is this the most effective thing I can do? Is this area neglected? What would have happened otherwise? What are the chances of success, and how good would success be? By applying these questions to real-life scenarios, MacAskill shows how many of our assumptions about doing good are misguided. For instance, he argues one can potentially save more lives by becoming a plastic surgeon rather than a heart surgeon; measuring overhead costs is an inaccurate gauge of a charity’s effectiveness; and, it generally doesn’t make sense for individuals to donate to disaster relief. MacAskill urges us to think differently, set aside biases, and use evidence and careful reasoning rather than act on impulse. When we do this—when we apply the head and the heart to each of our altruistic endeavors—we find that each of us has the power to do an astonishing amount of good.

This is a biography of Dr Felicia Wu. Felicia was a unique person: a very successful cancer researcher, an extremely brave cancer patient, and an incredibly determined cancer fighter. Originally, this book was to be written by Felicia. She wanted to tell other patients about her long 13 years of experience fighting cancer, and to prepare them to face their own treatment without fear. What she did not realize then was that her time was ticking away, and writing her own book proved to be an impossible task.After Felicia passed away, her husband, Dr Cheng-Wen Wu, finished this task. Originally published in Chinese, the book was used as a reading model for students in schools and was nominated by a publisher for an award in Taiwan. The American Cancer Society has also sponsored a documentary film of Felicia's story, entitled “A Passion for Life”. This English translation serves as an inspiration and a source of strength to people who encounter difficulty, frustration and hurt in life.