Life's Most Important Lesson: My Change Nation Interview with Gerald Levin

Making peace with change becomes easier when you realize the impermanence of everything around you. That's the advice of former CEO of Time Warner, Gerald Levin, "I had it all with respect to the normal indices of success and happiness," remembers Levin. "And then, in an instant, with one phone call, it's all gone." His son, who had decided to become a teacher in a very tough part of New York City, had been murdered.
 
In response to this and other life-changing events, Levin made a dramatic career shift and now runs Moonview Sanctuary, a safe haven for people looking for inner peace. The most important thing we can do, he advises, is to understand that everything we're experiencing, even something we feel is a lifelong undertaking, is going to have an end point. "Wherever you are…it's going to transition into something else," he reiterates, so "enjoy the experience of the moment."
 
Equally important, says Levin, is not to go to bed at night with something unresolved or unsaid, assuming that there's always tomorrow. "Fortunately…I told my son every day how important he was," he adds.
 
Listen to my entire Change Nation interview with Gerald Levin.