[caption id="attachment_462" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The stars at night ..."]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0095.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-462" title="DSC_0095" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0095-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a>[/caption]

<em>"There's no better place than Texas to start over."</em>
<strong>-- JOHN CONNELLY</strong>

When I came to Texas, I had been retired for more than two years, albeit somewhat involuntarily. But my career had lacked real meaning for years before that. I had been doing something I loved -- writing a regular column -- until 2001, but that had been taken away from me and I had been doing something since then that was really just work.

But ever since I arrived here in the Hill Country, things have been changing for me. Not only have I been losing weight and getting into shape, I have been undergoing an awakening of my spirit that I could never have predicted.

Now I am no longer retired.

Now I expect that for the remainder of my life, whether it be 10, 20 or 40 years or more, I will be doing work that comes directly from the heart and can truly make a difference in the world.

I have been writing ferociously for a week, and for the last five days I have been podcasting as well. The podcasts are a way I can reach people who may respond more to a spoken message than to a written one, and starting tomorrow I'm going to be doing two different kinds of podcasts a day.

The first will be a short one, one geared toward use in other media. This type will be one minute long, titled "A Minute with Mike," and the idea will be that even a minute can make a big difference.

The second will be the ones I've been doing so far, generally about five minutes in length. We'll be calling them "Carpe Diem," although I was seriously considering "Cave Canem" as well. Nobody knows Latin anymore.

They'll all be found on my <a title="One Voice podcasts" href="http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com" target="_self">One Voice</a> podcast site at Liberated Syndication. I hope you'll check them out and enjoy them.

And even though they started here in Texas, where I started over, I promise they will continue after I return home to California.