Everyone now and then we get opportunities to step into something bigger than ourselves and bigger than the life we had once lived. This post is about one of those moments for me. I invite you to be alert for yours.

Through a dear friend, Diana Sterling, I met the wonderful Frederick Marx, one of the directors of the acclaimed documentary “Hoop Dreams” and an important voice for the Mankind Project. Through conversations with Frederick, I learned about his new film, tentatively entitled “The Road to Zanskar.”  His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama said that  Zanskar, the last remaining Tibetan Buddhist society with a continuous untainted lineage dating back 1,000s of years, was vital to the survival of Tibetan Buddhism. This movie is the story of two monks he has instructed to help Zanskar’s culture, language, and religion survive by leading a group of children across high mountain passes to a school where they can learn their native ways.

The movie will be out next year, narrated by Richard Gere. You can watch the trailer here (choose the “watch in high quality” option). You can donate money to help Frederick complete this film and get it out to audiences by going here.

Aside from this moving film, the other story for me is how I came to be involved. All my life I have donated time and money to causes that were important to me and charities that were worthwhile. While I am doing well in my business these days, more importantly I wanted to feel like my contributions were making more of a difference. As such, I chose to make a significant contribution to this film in order to help its get made. It meant a lot to me to know my offering would make its way into the world this way. My gift was more up front and personal. Where would you like to make a new kind of difference?

Secondly, I have been researching, writing, teaching and coaching about narratives for ten years. While I have felt proud of what I have accomplished in my work, I wanted to move farther out on my own learning edge to see how I might apply my expertise in a new domain. I was able to use what I know about transformative stories  to support Frederick’s development of the film. It was such a joy to take that risk and help shape something so tangible.

We are all on the road to our own Zanskar, seeking to preserve and nurture that which is important to us and best about us. We live in a time when we need your courage and imagination. Where can you step into a new and richer story of your life?