It was an exciting voicemail that I almost deleted since my first thought was it was to get me to renew my subscription to National Geographic Adventure magazine. Actually it was to ask me to submit some photos for possible inclusion in an upcoming magazine article on Ventura. They finally notified me that they would be using two of my images (the top ones) the day after the magazine arrived in the mail!
Fellow photographer, Bill Margulies, asked me to donate a photo for an upcoming auction at the Westlake Hyatt to raise money to fight child hunger. Even though I was only one of many photographers, I was lucky enough to be featured in the Ventura County Star and have my photograph taken in the shadow of one of my favorite subjects, the Ventura Pier. More importantly, the auction raised a significant amount of money for a worthwhile cause. It was also there that I met Bob Litvak who owns the Holistic Pharmacy in Santa Monica. He bid on my photo but someone else outbid him. Nonetheless, a few days later he bought one to hang in his store. Pretty fortunate for me since that led to...
Dena Saxer called me after seeing my photograph, Moon over the Rincon, hanging in the Holistic Pharmacy in Santa Monica, CA. She had been searching for the right photo for the cover of her new book, Emotional Wisdom and thought this might be the one. Fortunately her publisher agreed! The photo at the right is Montak Chia, Deena Saxer and me at the book signing held at the Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga, California.Amazon.com says this:
A groundbreaking book, Emotional Wisdom reveals powerful ancient tools for transforming our painful emotions into happiness and health. So-called negative emotions are valuable messages that let us know we are out of balance. With compassion and humor, Taoist authors Mantak Chia and Dena Saxer explain the messages that anger, depression, fear, worry, and stress offer us. They present three easy-to-learn twenty-minute internal energy practices, with helpful illustrations, to turn these imbalances into harmony and joy. They provide unusual nutritional advice for emotional healing and a Taoist First Aid section with proven natural remedies for minor ailments such as insomnia, indigestion, headaches, and overeating. Relevant quotes from the Tao Te Ching add inspiration to this practical, life-changing book.