“Have you met Rick Kirschner?” my friend Adam asked me years ago. “He’s the most outspoken person I know—besides you—and a medical safety advocate. He’s an incredible facilitator, communicator, and life coach. He’s also super smart about money.”
Adam’s eyes looked brighter as he spoke about his colleague. “You need to know him,” Adam added. “Imma introduce you.
There’s something luminary about Rick Kirschner. Not just because he wrote a book, Dealing With People You Can’t Stand: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst, that sold millions of copies (and is coming out in a new edition, to be released this June).
Not just because he used to charge the big buckaroonies for one coaching session. (I’m talking over a grand a session, a price that his clients found was worth every penny, every single time).
And not just because he never met a problem he couldn’t solve.
Smart, funny, confident, Ricky also manages to be humble and self-effacing.
Me, I get stuck in sweating the small stuff.
Ricky, he zooms the camera out and looks at the bigger picture.
He’s also never afraid of having a hard conversation—about vaccines or circumcision or owning guns or Israel’s foreign policy—and he knows how to listen. He’s also not afraid of having friends and colleagues who think differently from him. He’s all about mutual respect, kindness, and being present.
2023 was a gallimaufry
As those of you who have been with me for awhile already know, this past has not been easy for me or my family.
I was diagnosed with ocular melanoma at the end of April and had an enucleation (when they remove your eyeball with a melon baller, minus the melon baller) at the end of July.
But before the surgery, I was hospitalized for six days and left “NPO” (Nothing Per Oral) for three, lying in a hospital bed literally wasting away. I experienced inordinate pain, due to a hemorrhage in my left eye which led to severely elevated eye pressure.
During that time, I felt my mother’s presence hovering very close to me.
My mama died twelve years ago. The grief was a heavy weight on my chest. I still carry it with me. I was happy to feel her spirit so close to me and I told her how much I loved her and missed her.
But I also begged her to be patient and not to take me back.
We all have an expiration date for our time on Earth.
I know that.
I just have so much I want to do, so many milestones I want to be present for with my children, so much time I want to spend with my family and friends, so many people I want to help, so many projects I want to complete, so much I want to give back, and so much art I want to make, before I’ll feel ready to leave.
Learning to live with monocular vision hasn’t been easy for me. Me not being available to my family hasn't been easy for them.
It’s all a work in progress. I’m a work in progress. And every day I wake up in the morning—which is something I no longer take for granted—is a day that I am grateful.
Thoughts on the new year from Dr. Rick Kirschner, N.D.
I can think of no one better than Ricky Kirschner to offer us all some wise advice for the year ahead.
Here’s what Ricky posted on December 31, 2023 on social media. Words of wisdom that he found on-line and sculpted in his own brilliant way.
Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for take-off.
~ ~ ~
Welcome to Flight 2024
Welcome to Flight 2024. We are preparing to take off into the New Year. Please make sure your Positive Attitude and Gratitude are secured and locked in the upright position.
All self-destruct devices: pity, anger, selfishness, pride, and resentment should be turned off at this time.
All negativity, hurt, and discouragement should be put away.
If you lose your Positive Attitude under pressure during this flight, reach up and pull down a prayer.
Prayers will automatically be activated by Faith.
Once your Faith is activated, you can assist other passengers who are of little faith.
There will be NO BAGGAGE allowed on this flight. God, our Captain, has cleared us for take-off.
Our destination: A Happy New Year filled with HOPE, JOY, FAITHFULNESS, TRUTH, LOVE, CLOSURE, and new BEGINNINGS!
~ ~ ~
Happy 2024 everyone.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading.
Love,
Jennifer
About the author: Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D. is an award-winning science journalist, book author, and plant lover. A contributing writer at The Epoch Times for two years, she has also worked for Jefferson Public Radio. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, Military History Quarterly, Ms Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, Smithsonian magazine, and dozens of other newspapers, magazines, and on-line sites. Support medical freedom and independent journalism by becoming a paid subscriber to Vibrant Life.
Love it. So sorry for what you’ve been through.
Sage and uplifting advice, much needed in this doom and gloom world.
I am sorry for all you've been through--I knew you had medical issues but not the nature of them. My mother--and father--have been visiting me as well, in my dreams, and in the presence of their spirit animals on my land. I feel their presence deeply. They are here to support and guide us. Prayers and peace...