acknowledgments.         This book exists as a result of the patient urging of my publisher, Steve Piersanti. He has been a helpful guide for the focus of the book and also is an executive who lives out these ideas. Acting on what matters is the essence of his publishing company. I am grateful to Allan Cohen for supporting the ideas in the book at a vulnerable time earlier in the writing.

Bernard Booms has been a great friend and also helped early on. His own care, compassion, and humanity changes everything he touches and I am always grateful for that. This is the second book of mine that Frank Basler has reviewed and his reactions are always thoughtful and from the heart. Neal Clapp also put care and thought into improving an early version, and I am always grateful for his insight and friendship. I want to also thank David Eaton, a therapist and wise human being who has influenced me in a hundred ways. He has offered me a more accepting way of looking at the human condition that I hope has leaked into this writing.

Bill Dan is a California-based sculptor who balances things in nature. Working with only his hands and a uniquely focused mental state, he painstakingly stacks rocks, glass, and other natural and found objects in gravity-defying arrangements. Clustered along a beach, a park, or other public space, his sculptures are both a meditation on form and balance as well as beautiful, if impermanent, works of art.

The photographs of Bill Dan’s sculptures on the cover and throughout the book are by my brother, Jim Block, a San Francisco-based photographer specializing in portraiture for corporations, public institutions, and community non-profits. His recent documentation of architectural restoration has been published in a book entitled A Celebration of Craftsmanship. Upon encountering the rock sculptures of Bill Dan, Jim felt that these images would provide a fitting visual metaphor for the ideas expressed in the book.

I want to thank four more people who have made the book more accessible to the reader. Leslie Stephen is my all-time editor of choice, and she had to do double time on this book. Veronica Randall copy edited the book and did as careful and dedicated job as I have ever experienced. Rick Wilson at Berrett-Koehler has been patient and supportive in the design and production of the book, and Brad Greene, the book’s designer, has given a lift to it with his adventurous spirit.

Finally, thanks to Maggie Rogers who supports me and my work in a way that makes writing possible, especially this book.