But in the weeks after I learned that the breast cancer I have been in treatment for over the past year had spread to my bones — breaking my spine and becoming incurable and most likely fatal — finding the perfect living-room couch has begun to feel like the most important thing I’ve ever done.

Growing up, I had the words “lives remaining: 0” written on the wall of my room. If life were a video game, that’s how it’d indicate this is the only chance left.

I just thought right away that I wanted to work. ... This is a good job. It's been a good job. Work is the most effective drug there can possibly be. ... I'm on the periphery of a lot of despair, of course. ... You'd have to be stupid not to be. I have my moments when I'm not too thrilled about this whole deal. But at the same time, the songs have never come like this, so I'd have to feel more gratitude than anything else. I'm probably in the intensest creative period of my life.

And so it’s true; I think what I said on that post is that every day since my mom died, there hasn’t been a day that I haven’t thought about my own death. That’s true. And I don’t think about it in a morbid way, but I think of it in a way that I’m aware of not taking my life for granted and not taking your life for granted, or any of our lives for granted.

Vulnerability. Mutual admiration. Wide open communication. Yeah. Those are my big three.

The first version of my How to Live book was 1300 pages. It took a couple of years to write and it was 1300 pages, and then it took a couple of years to edit it down to 115 pages. Most of my writing process is editing.

"How to Live" feels like such a masterpiece for me that if I did nothing else with my whole life, but write that one book, it still feels like it would have been a life well lived.

In one month, two of my old prejudices were reversed. Two things that I was prejudiced against. I am now prejudiced towards, in favor of.

When I was 19, my boss in the circus – I worked in the circus for 10 years. I was, like, a ringleader, MC of a circus – and my boss at the circus really cared about me and she said, "I read this book called 'Awaken the Giant Within' by Tony Robbins.

When I decided to sell my company, I already had enough. I live simply. I don’t own a house, a car, or even a TV. The less I own, the happier I am. The lack of stuff gives me the priceless freedom to live anywhere anytime. So I didn’t need or even want the money from the sale of the company. I just wanted to make sure I had enough for a simple comfortable life. The rest should go to music education, since that’s what made such a difference in my life.