This past week I crossed the United States, fortunate enough to have been asked to appear on a number of TV news shows commenting on the new movie Eat Pray Love - prior to its release. The core message I was asked to discuss was attached to my new book (Inspiration Deficit Disorder): you don’t have to travel the world to find peace, meaning or hope.

So, over the last few days I boarded planes in Chicago, Tampa, Washington DC, Phoenix, LA and Tucson and in the passing airport TVs, newsstand headlines, and waiting passengers I could feel a heaviness in the hearts of people that seemed inescapable. So many despairing feelings people are flooded by: poor economy, unemployment, healthcare, political division, ecological crisis and even many of the celebrities who promised to always keep a smile on our faces seem to be falling down drunk, in rage or sheer materialism. Is this the end of times the ancient ones spoke of?

No. I don’t think so. I see something else.

It’s a privilege to have a public voice, as small as mine is, but it certainly doesn’t pay the bills (yet). I do what I do because I love what I do and despite the despair I also feel about getting my family’s bills paid each month and the huge loans and mortgage that follow me like a shadow, I live with hope and a strong heart for the future of my family and our world. I have had and sometimes still have challenge in my life, but I also see something else. I see hope.

Maybe my sense of hope does come from my very fortunate experience of travel. Maybe for me there are some messages I didn’t learn at home that did change my life. My current interviews and my new book is all about finding hope, inner strength and an end to stress in everyday settings – and it is true, you can find health and happiness right where you are. But what the news shows didn’t ask me last week is what did I learn when I traveled?

Here are some of the things I’d like to remember with you:

Most of the world has little to eat, and no social welfare programs to even attempt to help.

Most of the world does not have easy access to clean water.

Much of the world has very poor or no healthcare at all.

Much of the world lives under the kind of political or cultural strife that actually leads to civil war, political prisoners, discrimination that results in severe loss of opportunity and even life, and a lack of religious freedom.

Most of the world makes less money, gets sick more, and dies younger than most people in America today.

No matter how bad it gets, someone else has it worse.

There are happy people EVERYWHERE. Love happens everywhere. Laughter is universal. Anyone can make a difference. Helping others, helps us.

In the “developed” Western world, we have so much more than we realize. We may have jobs we hate, but we have jobs. We may have mortgages that are crushing us, but we have homes that far exceed our basic need for shelter. We have high gas prices, but we have cars and buses and an amazing road system. We have high divorce rates, but we have been loved, we find love and we find it again.

If you are reading this then you have a lot to be thankful for in your life and I want to ask you to be a part of feeding hope and opportunity in the world. When people point out everything that is wrong, look for what is right. When people point out how something was done wrong, look for what we can learn. When someone hurts your feelings, forgive and look for the lesson.

There may be strife in the world today, but there is also hope, good people, positive change, and a whole lot to be grateful for. This month, choose hope.