You are not your own.

What if the things you have, the things you know, the things you can do — weren't just for you? What if the very things that make you you are also what connect you to everyone else?

I believe that's true. Not as a nice idea — as a biological reality. A bee pollinates a flower just by feeding. Likewise, we give what we uniquely carry simply by being fully who we are.

Neuroscience and every wisdom tradition land in the same place — isolation diminishes us, connection restores us. People who understand that they're connected show up differently. For their families, their teams, their communities.

My story.

I do what I do because it's what I know to be right. I've learned that the only thing that really matters is people. You, me, all of us. And all of us matter.

In 2014 my daughter fell from a ten-story building. It made me contemplate — and rediscover — truths I'd believed but never fully known. Death brings an honesty. It strips the blinders that distort and hinder us. You encounter a new reality, and you have to respond.

My grief showed me that I loved Naomi more than I knew — and that her value, her preciousness, is beyond anything I'd been able to fully grasp. I know now that this is true of all of us. Every single one of us is more valuable than we know.

My purpose is to love — to give what I uniquely carry, in the ways only I can, to those within my reach. This is how we're meant to be with each other. Everyone is validated.

I do this because I see a bigger truth. I do this because I recognize that you are immeasurably valuable.

And so am I.