“I want to move, but I need to have a job in the new city first.” “I’ll follow my passion, as soon as I have enough money in the bank.”

Over and over I hear my clients_______________ their dreams before the dreams are even fully imagined. Seemingly undefeatable road blocks destroy all hope. They have lost ________ they have even begun to play the game.

Dreams are just wishes if you do not take action. Receiving your dream life   _________ with movement. Big or small doesn’t_________, as long as it is movement.

When my husband and I moved to Mexico last year, everyone thought we had taken one big step. My husband was very rooted back in Illinois. The thought of leaving was not___________for him. Then he was provided with a job in another city. He did not take the   _________ at first, but in exploring it as another choice, we knew we were both ready to make a _______.

_________   we moved toward our dream even when we didn't know what the ________would be. We took large and small risks to continue our forward movement. We said yes to our first trip to Cabo. We said yes to exploring the job in another city. Saying no to either would have blocked our dream. We supported each other__________ the unknown and celebrated the__________ opportunities which came our way.

I recently visited India to meet women with AIDS. In many parts of the world, having AIDS is considered as a mark of disgrace and the punishment is abandonment. Most of these women had been _________ by their family.

What I remember most is how much they wanted to touch me and be touched as if physical _________ somehow proved their _________

I spent time with the dying and saw rows of cots (折叠床). Every cot was _________ except for one in the corner, so I went there, hoping to provide some help. The patient was a woman in her 30s. She had _________ eyes and was skinny.

However, I suddenly felt helpless. I had nothing to _________ her. I couldn’t save her, either.

I _________ down and reached out to touch her and when she _________ my hand, she grabbed it and wouldn’t let go. We had been there together for a while when she pointed upwards. It took me some time to _________ that she wanted to go up to the roof and sit outside. It was getting __________ and the sun was going down, and no one seemed

__________ to take her upstairs.

I carried her up. She sat on a chair, facing the west and watching the __________. I reminded the workers to fetch her later. Then I had to leave. But she never left me.

Sometimes it’s the people you can’t help who __________ you most. Optimism isn’t a passive expectation that things will get better. It is a(n) __________ that we can make things better and we can help people, if we don’t lose hope and don’t look __________.

I had graduated from college with a degree in education. But I still couldn’t find a(n) _________ teaching job. I waited for the phone to ring so I could _________ work as a replacement. One day I would be teaching high school science and the next day I would be _________ with kindergarteners on a playground. This time I was in a local grade school as a(n) _________ for a 5th grade teacher for the day. Determined not to let my time simply _________, I went over the lesson plans and stayed _________ with the students, smiling and encouraging them. I was determined to _________ the great teachers I’d had when I was a boy and not the critical ones who always left me _________ bad.

At the end of the day just as they were leaving the room a girl handed me a _________ note. I waited until they were all gone before I opened it. It was a lovely drawing full of __________ wonder and a note that said: “You are the best teacher I have ever had!” My mouth fell open in __________. It really amazed me that my kind __________ had touched that girl’s heart so deeply. I took that note home and put it in a folder. Anytime I was feeling __________ I would look at it and it always made me smile.

That experience showed me the __________ that a single kind word can have on a life. I never saw that girl again, but I __________ that her life has been full of kind words and loving people. And I continue to try my best each day to let love and kindness live through my words and my life.