What is health? In 1948, The World Health Organization defined it as “ a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being . . .” Pardon me for being old fashion, but this seems to be the simplest and purest definition. Have you ever noticed that when even one of these is out of sync, with the others, your life seems to turn upside down?
Moving to Los Angeles has matured me in an inexplicable way. The last few years have solidified my beliefs on life, the way I want to live it and what it means to have health. It goes something like this, “If you do not have your health, you have nothing.” In my opinion, having your health is truly encompassing all of life’s beautiful pleasures.
The day I met Stephen J. Cannell will forever be one of the most pivotal moments in my adult life. He truly embodied what it means to have “health” and for the 69 years that he lived his life, he showed the world what an extraordinary man he was physically, mentally and socially.
I remember standing in the back of the room during the meeting he was in and thanking God for allowing me to be a fly on the wall. Here I am an assistant listening to the most prolific television writer and producer speak of his beautiful wife of over 40 years and his amazing children. To hear a man be so thankful for the simple pleasure in life with such magnitude warmed my heart. Socially he was the most humble man in entertainment I have ever met.
Mr. Cannell embodied what it is to be mentally healthy, he grew up fighting the effects of undiagnosed dyslexia until his mid-thirties, and later co-created “The Rockford Files”, “21 Jump Street”, and “The A-Team”, just to name a few. He was known for being the “master of good old-fashion television” and “the vitamins and minerals that audiences needed”. To accomplish all of this would have physically exhausted most, and many would have stopped, but he went on to write 15 bestselling novels to be exact.
I was lucky to have met such a brilliant and successful man that showed the world being humble never hurt anyone, family is the bread and butter to life, and what it means to have a passion and regardless of the bumps in the road that is all they are . . . bumps. No is not an option, but hard work and dedication are. This to me is what it means to be healthy, because without all of this you have nothing.
May you Rest in Peace Stephen Cannell you enriched and touched the lives of so many people.
*** Stephen Cannell’s 16th novel will be available October 12th
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October 6, 2010Natasha Bedingfield Brings a Pocket Full of Sunshine at
