At Conscious Café, a discussion group run by Drs. Neha Sangwan and Alise Cortez, I considered their question: What gives my life gusto? What can I not not do? My book manuscript answered.

My memoir is a glimpse into my own transformation while I worked for a decade in Afghanistan. There, I was mesmerized by how our common humanity is so often draped in contrasting coverings that form disparate patterns. Beauty and magic lived in between and underneath the preordained categories that we each bestowed on the other, legacies from our home cultures which might be viewed as ignorance or prejudice. But I went over there with an open mind. There was learning to be shared and growth to be had.

I live to embrace contrasts and unite opposites by dancing passionately in between. I step into the unknown to bring focus to the next crossroad and the landscape surrounding it. The gift I receive while traveling through others’ lives as a doctor or a coach is to see further and wider in many directions at the same time.