Many times all it takes to turn a potential failure into huge success is just the slightest change in perspective and energy. Open Life and Other Options to any page and you have that needed change in perspective and energy. Anita has done a great service by giving us all a tool for changing our perspective and, hence, our reality.
-- Robert "Butch" James, President - KDM Marketing, Inc

Note from Anita Bergen: I was fortunate to have the gifted, inspirational author, John Harricharan, pen the introduction for my book, Life and Other Options. While his published works tell stories filled with motivation and inspiration, his many loyal fans flock to catch his inspiring quotes and messages of motivation during his lectures and seminars.

In his introduction, John confessed to using many of the inspirational and motivational quotes found in Life and Other Options as part of his charismatic presentations.

As the sub-title suggests... For the Curious, Bewildered, Weary, Frustrated and Skeptical... here -- in it's entirety -- is John Harricharan's inspirational introduction to Life and Other Options.

I've always believed that the ability to make choices was a special gift from our Creator. When Anita Bergen first told me about "Life and Other Options" my initial reaction was there could be no other option to life, that life either is or isn't. Yet, in retrospect, it would seem that there are several options in life, options such as to live life gloriously and to its fullest, to use the abilities and gifts we came here with, to leave this place a little better than we found it, to make a difference.

Other options would be to live life at the bottom of the barrel, to eke out a meager existence and to plod a weary, whining way from birth to death. Yes, as in almost everything, there are options as to how life could be lived.

I have traveled a strange path to this point in life. From my birth in a little farming village to my current occupation as an author and lecturer, I've seen the best and the worst of humanity. I've mourned the death of my wife, wept at the passing of my parents and grieved at the graveside of some of my best friends. I've climbed the heights of happiness, descended into depths of despair and have visited many points between those two extremes. And still, I wonder how I made it through to this day.

I am here, precisely because others have paved the way for me. The great minds of history have left gifts of wisdom to guide us through the most treacherous rapids on the river of life.

They have given us a rich legacy encapsulated in words, handed down from one generation to the next. Modern day guides and teachers leave us books to read to help us or entertain us on our journey. But alas! Today there seems to be no time to even touch the tip of this monumental collection of the earth's wisdom. We hunt and peck, hoping that we may uncover some gems of wisdom to help us along. We long for a helping hand to point the way.

I was thrilled to find "Life and Other Options." Anita Bergen has compiled a marvelous anthology of the best this world has to offer. This is not a book of quotations like other quotation books I've seen. This is a well thought out volume, which captures the essence of humanity and, at the same time, serves as a map through the mazes of life. Anita has collected the very thoughts that sustained me through some of the lowest moments of my life. She has, in fact, provided us with a book of magic, a book that spans time and space to bring us the very words we need when the tempests roar all around us.

I have used the quotes Anita has compiled to help make a point during many of my lectures. They have been with me as a comfort when I faced the cold, hard winds of life. They have shown me a way when there appeared to be no way at all. They have comforted me, brought tears to my eyes, moved me to the mountaintop and provided a helping hand. You, too, will find strength in these pages. You will find the courage, hope and faith to keep on keeping on until you finally break through your limitations into the sunlight of success.

Thank you, Anita, for making it possible for us to have "Life and Other Options." Some of these quotes will comfort, guide and tweak our conscience while others may even provoke us. However, all will cause us to think and feel. I look forward to your other volumes, which will continue the fine tradition you have so bravely begun. As for myself, I choose life--life as it was meant to be, life in all its glory, joys, sadness, grief, pain, success, failure, triumph and bliss. Thank you, also, for the privilege of sharing these few words with your readers. You've lit a lamp, which in time will lighten the hearts of many.

John Harricharan
(Atlanta, Georgia)