| 2/5/2009 9:25:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Dr. Bill Path (right), president, Northeast Community College (NECC), Norfolk, and Pam Miller (left), regional coordinator, NECC, South Sioux City, pause during their discussion of Dr. Path’s newly published book, “Moments of Forever.” (Photo by Jolene Stevens)
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NECC's Path author of new motivational book
Jolene Stevens
Reporter
Dr. Bill Path is what one might say the wearer of many hats. The president of Northeast Community College, Norfolk, Path is a well-recognized motivational speaker and is, most recently, garnering attention as the author of a new book.
The book, "Moments of Forever", published by iUniverse in December 2008, is what Path said he considers "a road map" to helping individuals achieve what they desire in their lives.
"Achieving what you desire in your own life," Path said, "comes from focusing on defining humanity's goals and aspirations. If we can do this, we can ascertain our own goals and aspirations.
"What I hope, more than anything else, is for the reader of this book to come away feeling empowered and that he or she is important," Path said. "So many of us have the idea that we're not important or of any significance, that our voices, our votes don't matter. I want to reinforce in the most elegant way I can, that each one of us as an individual is of vital importance to humanity as a whole."
Path added the book, aimed for a general audience with six "higher callings for humanity" included, is designed to help readers ask their own questions and to find their own answers. It is written, he said, in a non-judgemental manner drawing no conclusions.
"I see myself more as facilitator than I do as an expert on human existence," Path said. "My entire career has been one about helping people find their way in life. My purpose in "Moments of Forever" is not to give the readers the answers, but rather to lead them and direct them in the right direction.
"I can't change a person's life," Path said. "If a reader is going to change his or her life, it's going to be up to them. That's where the change actually comes from. Some readers may take the book seriously. Others may give it just a quick read and not apply it to their lives. It's entirely up to the reader."
Explaining that he began his journey upwards in higher education as a counselor and psychology instructor, Path recalls the challenge he put before his students: to make the most of themselves and to be the best they possibly could.
"I think that while I was motivating these students, the person I was really motivating was myself," Path said reflecting on the ideas and concepts he shared with those in his classroom. "Since then, I've also considered how fortunate I've been to have the many good people I've had throughout life who have befriended me along the way."
Path credits these experiences with helping him to formulate his own "positive attitude on humanity" and eventually to come up with his message to encourage others to acquire a similar positive attitude about themselves and their own lives. "My own experiences and observations," Path said, "at some point, coalesced and I literally woke up one morning with the idea for the book solidly in my mind.
What followed, Path said, was the initial flurry of "sketching out" the book's first chapter within a day's time with ideas originating for subsequent chapters. "Once the thought came over me," Path said, "it was like I couldn't stop writing. The book was in me and had to be finished."
That, Path said, was in September 2002. It eventually, he said, took an additional three years of writing and editing to bring it to the stage he felt it ready to seek out a publisher. Then came yet another delay. Path said it was not until just slightly over a year ago that an event prompted him to finally proceed with his book.
The event, Path said, was the death of his younger sister, Penny, following a five-year illness. "That event stimulated me more than anything," he said, "to go ahead with the book. I had this unfinished project, in the computer, basically on a shelf collecting dust, and Penny had never gotten to see it.
"I realized life is too short. If you've got something to share with humanity, you have an obligation to share it," Path said. "Her passing really urged me to find a publisher."
Path said his intention with his book, to suggest how individuals can positively direct their own life and to be aware of how their lives can influence others is to do so in a "simple, understandable way." He offers as an example one of the book's messages the Path said he also frequently uses during his motivational presentations.
"Think back to when you were six years old. What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an astronaut but I'm not an astronaut today," Path said. "When you're young, you have tremendous aspirations in life. Then something happens along the way, and we lose confidence. We no longer believe in our capabilities.
"If there were some way, some strange twist of time and fate that allowed you to create a situation drawing you back to when you were six, think about how that six-year old you would see you today," Path suggested. "What would that child be thinking of the person you are today and the decisions that you had to make in order to become the person you now are?"
"Would that child be disappointed with the person you've become today, the rationale you've followed in pursuing your course in life?" Path asked. "Or would he or she consider you've made good choices? This is just one way to get ourselves outside our own thinking, to focus on decisions and that our lives are a series of choices."
(Additional information on "Moments of Forever" is available at Path's website momentsofforever.com.)
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