Mike Staver is an internationally respected coach and speaker. His book Leadership Isn’t for Cowards was published in June 2012. He is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and was most recently chosen as one of the forty hottest business speakers in America by Meetings & Conventions magazine.
Annmarie B. Tait resides in Conshohocken, PA with her husband Joe Beck. Annmarie is published in several Chicken Soup for the Soul volumes, Reminisce magazine, Patchwork Path, and many other anthologies. She also enjoys cooking, crocheting, and singing Irish and American folk songs. E-mail Annmarie at [email protected].
Robert Tell’s poetry and other work have appeared in many periodicals. A full-length poetry book, Bard Memorial Hospital, as well as Tell’s novels, memoir, stories and poetry are widely available in both print and e-book editions. Information about Tell and his work can be found on his website bobtell.com.
Penelope Vazquez moved to Los Angeles in 2002 to become a professional dancer. She has toured with artists around the world. She lives a fulfilled life as a mother and wife. She enjoys teaching dance to kids and continues to fulfill her passion as a professional dancer by doing local gigs every now and then.
Beverly Walker lives in Tennessee and cares for her husband, who is battling cancer. She enjoys scrapbooking pictures of grandchildren and family memories, and has been published in many Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
Rebecca Waters taught in the field of early childhood education for nineteen years before becoming a professor of teacher education at Cincinnati Christian University. She is now a freelance writer, novelist, and speaker. E-mail her at [email protected] or visit her blog at rebeccaawaters.blogspot.com.
Sarah Winkler received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California, Davis. She loves to read, write, and travel. She is a self-professed coffee addict with a huge collection of books and never lacks imagination. E-mail at [email protected].
Susan Yanguas lives in Maryland and is a writer/editor for the federal government. She enjoys painting, reading, and working with animals. The first book in her mystery novel series will be published this year.
Dominique Young spends each day expressing herself artistically through dancing, baking, writing, photography, gardening or innkeeping. Her hopes for Morning Bird Homemade Baked Goods are for them to reach and nourish all who find and need them. E-mail her at [email protected].
Meet Our Authors
Jack Canfield is the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, which Time magazine has called “the publishing phenomenon of the decade.” Jack is also the co-author of many other bestselling books.
Jack is the CEO of the Canfield Training Group in Santa Barbara, California, and founder of the Foundation for Self-Esteem in Culver City, California. He has conducted intensive personal and professional development seminars on the principles of success for more than a million people in twenty-three countries, has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people at more than 1,000 corporations, universities, professional conferences and conventions, and has been seen by millions more on national television shows.
Jack has received many awards and honors, including three honorary doctorates and a Guinness World Records Certificate for having seven books from the Chicken Soup for the Soul series appearing on the New York Times bestseller list on May 24, 1998.
You can reach Jack at www.jackcanfield.com.
Mark Victor Hansen is the co-founder of Chicken Soup for the Soul, along with Jack Canfield. He is a sought-after keynote speaker, bestselling author, and marketing maven. Mark’s powerful messages of possibility, opportunity, and action have created powerful change in thousands of organizations and millions of individuals worldwide.
Mark is a prolific writer with many bestselling books in addition to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Mark has had a profound influence in the field of human potential through his library of audios, videos, and articles in the areas of big thinking, sales achievement, wealth building, publishing success, and personal and professional development. He is also the founder of the MEGA Seminar Series.
Mark has received numerous awards that honor his entrepreneurial spirit, philanthropic heart, and business acumen. He is a lifetime member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.
You can reach Mark at www.markvictorhansen.com.
Amy Newmark is Chicken Soup for the Soul’s publisher and editor-in-chief, after a thirty-year career as a writer, speaker, financial analyst, and business executive in the worlds of finance and telecommunications. Amy is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, where she majored in Portuguese, minored in French, and traveled extensively. She and her husband have four grown children.
After a long career writing books on telecommunications, voluminous financial reports, business plans, and corporate press releases, Chicken Soup for the Soul is a breath of fresh air for Amy. She has fallen in love with Chicken Soup for the Soul and its life-changing books, and really enjoys putting these books together for Chicken Soup for the Soul’s wonderful readers. She has co-authored more than five dozen Chicken Soup for the Soul books and has edited another three dozen.
You can reach Amy with any questions or comments through [email protected] and you can follow her on Twitter @amynewmark or @chickensoupsoul.
Thank You
What a fun project this was! We felt like we were throwing our own 20th anniversary party as we read the positive stories from our readers and put this unprecedented collection together.
This is a thank you that spans twenty years, as we are grateful to the various contributors whose stories, many of which are from the original Chicken Soup for the Soul, proved timeless enough to be cited as favorites by our readers. We are grateful to those thought leaders, whose stories have held up so well, and we also appreciate all the readers who sent in their new stories about how our old stories have changed their lives.
We owe a special thanks to our editor Barbara LoMonaco, who was the perfect person to read the submissions for this book as she has been with Chicken Soup for the Soul since almost the beginning. Our assistant publisher D’ette Corona is also an “old timer,” despite her youth, and she worked closely with Barbara to evaluate the stories and prepare the manuscript after we had made our final choices. Our editors Madeline Clapps and Kristiana Pastir worked hard to proofread and prepare the manuscript for our Creative Director and book producer, Brian Taylor at Pneuma Books, who did a masterful job putting together this manuscript that blends the old with the new.
~Amy Newmark
Improving Your Life Every Day
Real people sharing real stories — for twenty years. Now, Chicken Soup for the Soul has gone beyond the bookstore to become a world leader in life improvement. Through books, movies, DVDs, online resources and other partnerships, we bring hope, courage, inspiration and love to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Chicken Soup for the Soul’s writers and readers belong to a one-of-a-kind global community, sharing advice, support, guidance, comfort, and knowledge.
Chicken Soup for the Soul stories have been translated into more than 40 languages and can be found in more than one hundred countries. Every day, millions of people experience a Chicken Soup for the Soul story in a book, magazine, newspaper or online. As we share our life experiences through these stories, we offer hope, comfort and inspiration to one another. The stories travel from person to person, and from country to country, helping to improve lives everywhere.
Share with Us
We all have had Chicken Soup for the Soul moments in our lives. If you would like to share your story or poem with millions of people around the world, go to chickensoup.com and click on “Submit Your Story.” You may be able to help another reader, and become a published author at the same time. Some of our past contributors have launched writing and speaking careers from the publication of their stories in our books!
Our submission volume has been increasing
steadily — the quality and quantity of your submissions has been fabulous. We only accept story submissions via our website. They are no longer accepted via mail or fax.
To contact us regarding other matters, please send us an e-mail through [email protected], or fax or write us at:
Chicken Soup for the Soul
P.O. Box 700
Cos Cob, CT 06807-0700
Fax: 203-861-7194
One more note from your friends at Chicken Soup for the Soul: Occasionally, we receive an unsolicited book manuscript from one of our readers, and we would like to respectfully inform you that we do not accept unsolicited manuscripts and we must discard the ones that appear.
How to Find the Books Mentioned in This Volume
We hope you enjoyed these stories. To read more, here is a list of all the books mentioned in this volume, along with their print and e-book ISBNs. Happy reading!
A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610357
e-book ISBN: 9781453285596
Chicken Soup for the Cancer Survivor’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610395
e-book ISBN: 9781453285916
Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610203
e-book ISBN: 9781453282120
Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610876
e-book ISBN: 9781453285411
Chicken Soup for the Girl’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610319
e-book ISBN: 9781453282236
Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623611019
e-book ISBN: 9781453282267
Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610289
e-book ISBN: 9781453282335
Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610456
e-book ISBN: 9781453285978
Chicken Soup for the Mother & Daughter Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623611095
e-book ISBN: 9781453282076
Chicken Soup for the New Mom’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610586
e-book ISBN: 9781453281901
Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610968
e-book ISBN: 9781453282366
Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610210
e-book ISBN: 9781453285220
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Print ISBN: 9781611599138
e-book ISBN: 9781453282380
Chicken Soup for the Soul: A Tribute to Moms
e-book ISBN: 9781453285022
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Count Your Blessings
Print ISBN: 9781935096429
e-book ISBN: 9781611591385
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family Caregivers
Print ISBN: 9781935096832
e-book ISBN: 9781611592023
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness
Print ISBN: 9781935096771
e-book ISBN: 9781611591965
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Food and Love
Print ISBN: 9781935096788
e-book ISBN: 9781611591989
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hope & Healing for Your Breast Cancer Journey
Print ISBN: 9781935096948
e-book ISBN: 9781611592115
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for the Young at Heart
Print ISBN: 9781935096719
e-book ISBN: 9781611591934
Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Resolution
Print ISBN: 9781935096283
e-book ISBN: 9781611591460
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Say Hello to a Better Body!
Print ISBN: 9781935096894
e-book ISBN: 9781611592122
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Shaping the New You
Print ISBN: 9781935096573
e-book ISBN: 9781611591620
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Dad
Print ISBN: 9781935096467
e-book ISBN: 9781611591415
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom
Print ISBN: 9781935096450
e-book ISBN: 9781611591408
Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Positive
Print ISBN: 9781611599039
e-book ISBN: 9781611592184
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive
Print ISBN: 9781935096566
e-book ISBN: 9781611591316
Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned from the Dog
Print ISBN: 9781935096382
e-book ISBN: 9781611591477
Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623611071
e-book ISBN: 9781453281949
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610463
e-book ISBN: 9781453281918
Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610838
e-book ISBN: 9781453282359
Chicken Soup for the Veteran’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623611033
e-book ISBN: 9781453286005
Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul
Print ISBN: 9781623610432
e-book ISBN: 9781453282113
Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul
e-book ISBN: 9781453285831
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Reader’s Choice 20th Anniversary Edition
The Chicken Soup for the Soul Stories that Changed Your Lives
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Amy Newmark
Published by Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC www.chickensoup.com Copyright © 2013 by Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
CSS, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and its Logo and Marks are trademarks of Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the many publishers and individuals who granted Chicken Soup for the Soul permission to reprint the cited material.
Front cover photo courtesy of GettyImages.com/nicolas hansen, E+.
Book covers on interior pages 5, 14, 19, 31, 37, 80, 85, 102, 126, 146, 168, 174, 224, 231, and 286 designed and produced by Brian Taylor.
Cover and Interior Design & Layout by Brian Taylor, Pneuma Books, LLC.
Distributed to the booktrade by Simon & Schuster. SAN: 200-2442
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data
(Prepared by The Donohue Group)
Chicken soup for the soul : reader’s choice 20th anniversary edition : the Chicken Soup for the Soul stories that changed your lives / [compiled by] Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, [and] Amy Newmark. -- 20th anniversary ed.
p. ; cm.
ISBN: 978-1-61159-912-1
1. Spiritual life--Literary collections. 2. Spiritual life--Anecdotes. 3. Anecdotes. I. Canfield, Jack, 1944- II. Hansen, Mark Victor. III. Newmark, Amy. IV. Title: Reader’s choice 20th anniversary edition
BL624 .A122 2013
158/.12
2013937400
ISBN-13: 978-1-6115-9224-5 (eBook)
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Reader's Choice 20th Anniversary Edition Page 27