Moments of Being: . . . Finding Your One Moment in Time

by Barrie Brett, F. Murray Abraham (Contribution by), Mark Strand (Contribution by), Bonnie St. John (Contribution by), Brendon Burchard (Contribution by)

Overview

True stories from Brendon Burchard, F. Murray Abraham, and other high-profile contributors on the turning points that changed their lives.
 
Can one moment, one brief encounter, change the course of the rest of your life? If so, how will you recognize that moment? Will you let it pass you by? Will you let it defeat you? Or will you allow that moment, that experience, to help shape who you are and who you might become?
 
Moments of Being reveals true stories that altered lives forever. Join celebrities, athletes, business and community leaders, and men and women from all walks of life as they share their amazing "twist of fate" tales. These are stories of courage, destiny, reunions, love, sacrifice, dreams, and the fears and triumphs that are an integral part of the human experience. More than that, they illustrate that, by recognizing and acting on a single, pivotal moment, a person can change his or her life forever.
 
"A fabulous wake-up call . . . a must read." —Donna LeBlanc, author of The Passion Principle

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614482857
Publisher:	Morgan James Publishing
Publication date:	09/10/2019
Sold by:	OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	300
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Emmy Award-winning producer/writer, Barrie Brett, has written and compiled this compelling collection of personal challenges and triumphs over the course of more than a decade, and for the first time shares the story of her own pivotal moment. She shows you how to "Map Your Moment' using the Three A's - Awareness, Acknowledgment, and Action - so that you can harness the power of your own transformative moment in time, your moment of being.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Teachers Do Make A Difference

Years ago, I taught second grade cultural arts and writing. I consider teaching to be a noble profession and value the dedication of those who stay on this path. That's why I've chosen to start this book with teacher-inspired moments.

I was thrilled that the following two immensely talented men agreed to share their memories and moments here. As you'll see, both of their lives were transformed by a devoted teacher.

"I believe things that happen to change our lives are legitimate openings, and are revealed to offer opportunities."

- F. Murray Abraham

F. Murray Abraham is a highly regarded stage and screen actor. He has received both the Academy and Golden Globe Awards for his brilliant performance as Salieri in Amadeus, and his distinguished resume includes performances in classical and contemporary plays. As an avid admirer of his work, I've seen most of his films, television shows and stage performances, and think he's one of our finest actors.

Murray's early years were far removed from the worlds of film and theater. In fact he might never have entered the acting world at all, if not for one teacher, and one moment that transformed him from a rebellious youth into a dedicated actor.

A Teacher's Gift

F. Murray Abraham's Story

A child of hard-working, blue-collar immigrant parents from Italy and Syria, I grew up in El Paso, Texas. My dad was a mechanic, and many members of my family were steel and coal workers. Around my home, most of the days were filled with work and more work, and there was little time for entertainment.

At the age of twelve, I was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, and became quite ill. I spent much of the next year in bed. During this time I became interested in books and reading; although I had never read much before, now I had little else to do. And so I read, hour after hour, day after day. I fell in love with books and words.

When I emerged from this experience, I exploded into a tumultuous adolescence. I started getting into trouble and acting wild with neighborhood friends. This phase could have gone on to become truly destructive if not for one of my high school teachers, Lucia P. Hutchins.

Before becoming a teacher, Miss Hutchins had gone to New York to try her hand at acting. Unfortunately, she had not received much acclaim. A stocky woman, she had a flair for dressing in distinct, bright colors that made you take notice of her. She, in turn, noticed me.

Now almost seventeen years old, I had little interest in the theater and no knowledge of acting. But Miss Hutchins saw something in me. She suggested I try a drama and speech class, and for my first attempt at performance start with a one-act play by J.M. Barrie, The Old Lady Shows Her Medals.

From that first day of drama class, I changed my ways. I stopped hanging around with my neighborhood friends and started working on my acting abilities. I read extensively and listened to recordings of great actors such as John Gielgud and John Barrymore. I also recorded my own voice and listened to myself. I discovered that I didn't like what I heard, so I worked on my diction. I didn't think my Texas-Mexico border accent would survive in the acting world.

I think it was because Miss Hutchins believed in me that I listened to her. I'm glad I did. That first performance led to my joining a drama team and participating in a local competition, which we won. This led to a state competition, which we also won, and that helped me receive a college scholarship to the University of Texas, El Paso, where I studied acting. After graduation, I practiced my craft in Los Angeles and then in New York, studying with actress and legendary teacher Uta Hagen.

From the moment I stepped into that first drama class, I knew that's where I belonged. I can't explain it, but I knew my life was changed forever. Until then, I thought that I'd spend my life working at some low-paying job, that I'd probably get drunk a lot, that I'd never find any real direction. In the play Gypsy, Gypsy Rose sings, "Got the dream but not the guts." I believe you can discover your calling, but then you have to have the guts to give it a shot. When you run into someone who has faith in you, you owe it to him or her to go for it. Miss Hutchins, God rest her soul, saw something in me that opened my future.

I'm now fortunate to have the opportunity to perform all around the world, on stage and on film. I'm also a drama teacher in New York City and strongly believe in the importance of offering opportunities to others. I take the responsibility of "seeing something" in my students quite seriously. When I'm acting in films and plays around the world, I like to offer classes for young actors: it's a way to give back, and I believe I get something back from them as well. The acting world is a community, and the interaction between teacher and student helps create that sense of community.

I believe things that happen to change our lives are legitimate openings and are revealed to offer opportunities. We just have to keep our eyes open to recognize these moments. I feel I've been fortunate to recognize all the opportunities offered to me, and it all started because of a single moment with Lucia P. Hutchins.

Moments of Being A-A-A

Awareness — Acknowledgment — Action

Here's an opportunity for you to start the process of mapping your moment using the stories in each chapter of this book. After reading each story, there will be a box (like the one on the oppposite page) where you can record the moment of awareness and/or acknowledgment and the action taken. Would you have reacted the same way as the person in the story? If not, you can write the action you would have taken instead. Do you think the outcome would have been the same?

This interactive exercise gives you the opportunity to practice Recognizing moments, so that hopefully you will be able to acknowledge your own moments when they appear. At the end of the book, there will be a section where you can map your own Moments of Being.

Following is the first A-A-A for F. Murray Abraham's Story.

A-A-A: Map the Moment

What was the moment of Awareness?

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What was the moment of Acknowledgment?

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What was the Action taken?

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"I couldn't read as quickly as my classmates ... To compensate, I became the class clown, the great distracter."

- Morry Alter

For over two decades, Morry Alter reported the news with the number one television market in the country: WCBS-TV in New York City. His news pieces stand out for their humor and human interest value. With at least twenty-two Emmy Awards to his credit, Morry is well-known for his distinctive writing skills and quirky sense of humor. He's a natural whether reporting live or on taped pieces, and his written and verbal communication skills are hard to beat. On TV, a report from him is often called "A Morry Story."

I was pleased to be his producer more than twenty-five years ago in Miami, Florida, where he hosted a weekly magazine show; we have remained friends ever since. When he told me that he didn't always have a way with words, I knew I had to hear his story.

Here's the moment behind every "Morry Story," a wake-up call that literally came as one swift blow.

Young Man, You Can Write!

Morry Alter's Story

As a young boy in Davenport, Iowa, I had trouble in school. Though not officially diagnosed, it was thought that I had a learning disability in reading, which made school very difficult for me. I was a terrible student. I was painfully slow in class and probably would have been held back a grade or two if it hadn't been for the respect my parents received in the community. Reading was a struggle and this carried over into all subjects.

At about eleven years old, I remember pretending to read. When a fellow student gave a report and held up a cartoon with a bubble caption and the whole class laughed, I pretended to understand the joke, even though I couldn't read as quickly as my classmates and had no idea what was so funny. To compensate, I became the class clown, the great distracter.

During my sophomore year in high school, in a desperate attempt to "straighten me out," my parents enrolled me in a private Catholic school. I was the only Jewish student enrolled there. Though discipline was sometimes harsh, only one priest ever slapped me. I think there was a spoken or unspoken consensus to "lay off the kid from Temple Emanuel."

We were in glee club one day, and there I was, the great distracter, flying a paper airplane, when the smack came. It shocked me, but something about Father Boyle's decision to subject me to equal justice impressed me as well.

Father Boyle was also my English teacher. One day, he assigned us to write a short story with a science fiction theme. When he handed back the story, I expected to see the usual comment of "This won't do," or "This is no good." But instead, he had written, "Young man, you can write!" And if that wasn't enough, he had my little story published in the St. Ambrose College newspaper, with a byline! Pretty heady stuff for a kid who'd have been happy with a "C" instead of the "A" that was emblazoned on my short story!

I knew that my teacher was a member of the highly educated Jesuit order, and had been educated in Rome: in short, any praise from this guy was a serious compliment. His encouragement lit my fire and gave me the confidence to write creatively. The more I wrote, the more I enjoyed it.

For some reason I had always liked reading out loud, perhaps because that kind of reading was literally more my speed. Now, just for the fun of it, I'd spend time reading aloud what I wrote. Who knew? But what I do know is that Father Boyle's rave review sparked a major turnaround in my life.

Around that time, my parents re-enrolled me in public school. I may have been back at my old stomping grounds, but I was a different student now. Father Boyle's words had been an educational jumpstart. At Bettendorf High School, I started doing well on essay tests and joined the speech team. I won statewide awards for interpretive reading of my own writing, and the writing of others. For the first time in my school career, I was the best at something.

Gradually I started to read more and more, even if it wasn't a lot faster. Along the way, I discovered Ernest Hemingway. He was so easy to read! Short, declarative sentences. He wrote the way people talked. I never got as good as Hemingway, but he showed me the way: his use of language was perfect for the competitions, and helped me succeed in my interpretive readings. So here's to Father Boyle, Papa Hemingway and The Old Man and the Sea!

I went on to college, a place one guidance counselor thought I'd never be. But there I was, keeping an eye out for courses that included essay tests! After graduating from the State University of Iowa with a political science major, being perhaps less than directed, I held various jobs, including one as a probation officer. Two years later I was back at the university, working on a graduate degree in public relations.

Over that summer, I worked at a radio station in Davenport, Iowa. There, I got a job on air, almost by accident. One night, after the newsman got in trouble for writing bad checks, I volunteered to do the news without pay. The station owner wasn't going to pass up a deal like that. I not only read, but wrote the stories!

That summer news job convinced me to change my Master's course of study from Public Relations to Radio/TV news. And that was it. For forty years now, "it" — read'n and write'n — has been pretty darned rewarding. Along the way, I was even asked to teach the writing part of my job at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.

As I take stock of things, I give all the credit to the writing. Not mine — to Father Boyle's five little words on that 10 grade paper: "Young man, you can write."

A-A-A: Map the Moment

What was the moment of Awareness?

____________________________________________________

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What was the moment of Acknowledgment?

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

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What was the Action taken?

____________________________________________________

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CHAPTER 2

One Quest ... One Telegram ... One Report

There are decisions we make in just ONE moment that alter the rest of our lives. For the following three men, that's exactly what happened. As a result, a lifelong vision was realized, a family was born, and a life was saved and reshaped.

"Impossible is only in your mind."

- Gary Hirshberg

Psychologist Dr. Debi Warner told me of an exciting seminar she attended, which she found to be helpful and encouraging to entrepreneurs and business owners. She knew of my book project and suggested I speak to Gary Hirshberg, the sponsor of the Stonyfield Farm Entrepreneurship Institute.

If you're a yogurt eater, you know the name Stonyfield Farm. This organic yogurt brand is a leader in its field, and Gary Hirshberg is this company's leader and "CE-Yo." Gary's entry into the field of yogurt production came as the result of what he calls an epiphany. That moment, along with a few others, started him on a personal quest and eventually gave him the means to help others with their life choices.

The Man From Stonyfield Gary Hirshberg's Story

I grew up in New Hampshire, the eldest of five children. My father was a successful businessman, my mother a homemaker.

My parents divorced when I was fourteen years old. Soon after the divorce, my father's business started to fail and my mom became the sole supporter of our family, working for a friend in the hotel industry. She worked hard and rose to become senior buyer for the Sheraton Hotel chain. From there, she transferred to Disney and became the senior buyer for the EPCOT project; it was her job to find and purchase everything from carpeting to plumbing supplies. One year, she asked me to help her find a birch bark canoe! If you've been to EPCOT Center at Disneyworld in Florida, you know how huge the area is, and my mother helped fill it with product. She was an amazing role model for us.

I had two contrasting models as I watched the decline of my dad's business compared to my mother's rising career. She'd done the impossible, rising from nothing to the top of her field in record time. Watching my mother's growth, I developed an understanding that "impossible is only in your mind." This idea would become very meaningful in my life.

Growing up, the mountains of New Hampshire were my backyard. I was a skier and a racer, and I was passionate about the outdoors. As time passed, I watched the farms around my hometown start to disappear. Mountaintop views changed as the open spaces previously occupied by farms faded, swept away by an ebbing tide of farm profitability and a changing view of land use. The open fields, barns and chicken coops of my childhood were replaced by housing developments and industrial parks. I was very affected by this. When it was time for me to go to college I chose to study climate and environmental changes. After graduation, I decided to continue on that path in grad school.

It was at this time that I had an epiphany: I realized that the science elite were identifying the problems of climate change, but were not developing programs focused on solutions. In the late 1970s, I decided it was my task to focus on those solutions. I left my graduate studies and began work on wind engineering and organic agriculture at The Alchemy Institute in Cape Cod. There, I studied organic farming methods, and learned how to build windmills. The teaching here was very advanced in the areas of food storage at commercial levels, and energy production that left no "carbon footprint." The Institute was very much ahead of its time, and only now are the ideas that were taught there being appreciated.

I eventually became the executive director of The Alchemy Institute, and it was my task to find our funding, over a million dollars a year. It was now the early 1980s, and funding was being slashed for renewable energy research and development. One evening, I was scheduled as the keynote speaker for the National Solar Energy Commission. That very night, a tax cut for renewable energy funding was announced, affecting everyone in the audience. It was like speaking to a group of ghosts.

Right after my speech, I boarded an airplane to Florida for a scheduled visit with my mother. While walking around EPCOT the next day, I passed the Kraft Foods Big Land Pavilion, which featured an impressive display showing how humans evolved from being hunter/gatherers to using techniques of modern agriculture. The exhibit focused on modern technology, heralding the future of food production.

I was immediately engaged. The contrast was so apparent to me. At the Alchemy Institute, we were teaching people how they could eat three meals a day, 365 days a year, using no fossil fuels, chemicals or pesticides — while the Kraft Pavilion was exhibiting traditional methods of food production which I believed would harm the environment by burning fossil fuel. Here was this beautiful pavilion being heated with oil in sunny Central Florida, where solar energy would be an obvious alternate energy source, and promoting a "big business" approach to food production which used large amounts of pesticides and herbicides.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Moments of Being"
by .
Copyright © 2009 Barrie Brett.
Excerpted by permission of Morgan James Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Foreword,
Introduction,
1. Teachers Do Make A Difference,
A Teacher's Gift: F. Murray Abraham,
Young Man You Can Write: Morry Alter,
2. One Quest, One Telegram, One Report,
The Man From Stonyfield: Gary Hirshberg,
A Peace Corps Moment: Steven R,
Goodbye Weight, Hello Gold: Al Arden,
3. The Gift of Life,
The Gift of Life: Pam Garrett,
A Mother's Love and Appreciation: Fran Steinmark,
4. Healing Choices,
Drink Your Wine, Use Your China: Valerie Smaldone,
Spiritual Healing: Lynn Pierce,
5. Prayerful,
Finding a Wallet; Finding Faith: Lisa Hauptman,
The Power of Prayer: Lamberto Dominici,
6. Loss and Inspiration,
A Helpful Human: Liz Neumark,
Spiritual Journey: Sherri Mandell,
A Childhood Loss: Dottie Herman,
7. Chances Are,
Jazz Soul: Bob Kindred,
A Greek Odyssey: Elena A.,
The Woman on the Bench: Carl Rosenberg,
8. Accidents of Change,
Choosing Life: Jim MacLaren,
Second Chances: Brendon Burchard,
A Golfing Moment: Dennis Walters,
9. Dreams Come True,
Dream Big: Bonnie St. John,
Living a Dream: Josephine Rose Roberts,
Bread, Cookies, Cupcakes: Liz Weidhorn,
10. Helping Hands,
A Helping Hand: Dick Young,
Listening to the Silence: Brad Hauter,
11. Art and Literature,
An Artist's Calling: Marc Klionsky,
A Poet Remembers: Mark Strand,
12. Moments of Meeting,
Opportunity Knocks: Murray Meets Kate,
A Childhood Meeting: Marc Meets Irina,
13. Moments of Being,
A Career By Chance: Robert Knakal,
A Psychic Speaks Out: Micki Dahne,
Chasing Butterflies: Ron Brothers,
Analysis of Moments by Dr. Debi Warner,
Map Your Moment,
Contacts,
Credits/Endnotes,
Acknowledgments,
About the Author,

Editorial Reviews

."..a fabulous wake-up call. Barrie's compelling book is a must read. It's about the pivotal moments that shape your life. It can help you to seize the opportunities that often show up as pivotal moments to help you live the life you want versus where you might be heading." — Donna LeBlanc "psychotherapist and coach, international speaker, author of "The Passion Principle""

From the Publisher