When I was a student at UCLA, I worked part time as a mortician. It made me think about what is important in life, and this set me on a different course completely. Every day of life is precious, and what is precious is the time that we spend "in the moment", forgetting self and being completely connected to another person, or what we are seeing, or what we are doing or making.

Much later in life, I worked for several years in an assisted living facility, in which 175 old people, about 80 years old. These experiences also gave me much to think about.