"We often mistake letting go for giving up. Knowing the difference betweenthe two can make all the difference in the end."

"For all the energy directed toward the stratagem of big city living, New Yorkers are never too distracted to respond to, and more often, proactively assist visitors. Tourists tracing the routes of subway maps with their fingers, squinting at street signs or staring at a slip of paper with confusion are typical recipients of our generosity. We know our city can be as challenging as it is fascinating, and we want visitors to have a good experience."

"If you built the box, you can also break it down."

"If you've broken any promises you've made to yourself, now is the time to make up for it."

"Whether you need to make a call or answer one,don't put your passions on hold."

"Till your inner garden and your outer landscape will flourish."

"Life only plants the seeds. It's up to us to help them grow."

"Until that rainy Sunday at the movies 31 years ago, for me, companionship had been a mandate for life's good times. After Orca, it became a choice. My trip to the theater helped me to distinguish between loneliness (experienced by default), and solitude (choosing when and how to enjoy my own company), as I began a journey of engaging the world on my own terms. Over the years, that journey deepened as I traveled life's roads with increasing independence and confidence, whether I was attending graduate school at night while working during the day, buying my first house or changing careers."

"If companionship is a mandate for all of our experiences, then we will miss out on many of life's blessings."

"When your safety is in question follow your intuition. It will help you balance along the precipice between vulnerability and adventure."

"Go for it. It will make a great story."

"The alchemy of diamonds from the rough is to mine every moment."

"New insights from being present are a gift."

"The cruise was the conduit for what would become my third book. While I was traveling and writing for ctnow.com, women across the United States and from the Caribbean emailed not to ask about my geographic journey but my existential one. "How do you find the courage to travel on your own? they wondered. "How do you keep from getting lonely? Don't you feel self-conscious eating out alone? After the first 30 emails like these I thought, There's a book here. It would be eight years before I published Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road. But the inspiration for publication came during the cruise."

"The study book for life's tests is the whole of our experience. Though we mayfeel unprepared, tests appear only when we are truly ready to ace them."

"To commune with your heart and soul, be willing to go out of your mind."

"Keep moving. Your next big thing may be just around the corner."

"Embrace those parts of yourself that you've skillfully avoided until now. That's your true adventure."

"Forgive someone today. Especially if that someone is you."

"Showing up begins long before you stand at the start. Prove yourself an exception in a world where people talk more than act. Intent without follow-through is hollow. Disappoint yourself enough times and empty is how you feel. Make yourself proud. Fill yourself up. Show up."

"Sometimes we have to break down to break through."

"Nothing is lost in a stumble, only in the refusal to get up."

"This is your first marathon. Possibly, you'll want it to be your last. Focus on future races draws energy from the one in front of you. Like the mileage that comprises them, train for marathons one at a time."

"Taking risks to create the life you want is an act of trust. It means believing in your ability to create a new reality while you are in the process of creating it."

"Be who you are. You may not always please but you will never go wrong."

"Like flowers blooming through cement,we, too, can grow beyond our cracks."