There comes a time when you stop and ask yourself: Is this all there is? You have the good job, the nice house, two cars in the garage and, of course, your family. But even with all of your good fortune, you can’t help but wonder if there is something missing.

When it happens to me, I have only to read another’s quest for answers to give me inspiration.

I recently read three books, which inspired me in different ways. One was a book of everyday miracles, another was a quest to find enlightenment, and the third was a book of encouragement.

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A Cup of Comfort for Inspiration edited by Colleen Sell

This book is a compilation of real-life stories of inspiration, of which I have selected two to share:

“Over the Hill,” by Marcia E. Brown is about a 40-year old mother of teenage children, divorced and out of the job market for 18 years. Her miracle began when she got lost downtown, parked on the “right” street and saw a shabby old building with a sign “Temp Services.” Without any real skills, only the ability to write good letters, the interviewer realized her worth and found her a job.

“Close Encounters of the Best Kind,” by sherry MaBelle Arrieta is about an old woman, who had most of her money stolen, but was willing to give what she had left to an old man who needed a bus ride.

The stories are short, but they lighten your mood and give you hope that miracles do happen every day.

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Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert is 34 years old and no longer wants to be married. She’s taken pills for her depression, prayed on the bathroom floor, but she’s unhappy and wants out. While going through a nasty divorce, she falls in love with David, but becomes too dependent so he leaves her. Distraught, she decides to quit her job, sell her house, put everything in storage, settle her divorce and find herself.

She begins her journey by contacting a Guru in New York, telling him that she wants to have a lasting experience with God. She doesn’t want to be a monk; she just wants to devote her life to God and learn how to live and enjoy its delights. She decides to spend four months in three different countries.

Her quest for enlightenment begins in Italy, where she spends four months learning Italian and gaining twenty-three pounds. She still loves David, but decides to get over him and move on. She makes many friends and finds that she doesn’t need pills to be happy.

After touring most of the big cities in Italy, she goes to India to find out who she really is and arrives the day before New Year’s. She decides to spend her time in Ashram, where dust and poverty are outside the small town, but inside are beautiful temples, irrigated gardens, flowerbeds and beautiful trees. One temple is for the general public and the other is for the residents who seek enlightenment.

Yoga in transkrit translates as “union” of mind and body, and Gurus are the guides to enlightenment. Her days begin at 3:00 a.m. and end at 9:00 p.m. Five hours a day are spent in selfless service (called Seva) by everyone; her Seva is scrubbing the temple floors. The rest of the time is spent praying and meditating. At first, meditation is difficult (for her, it’s not praying to God, it’s listening), especially the chanting of the Gurugita, which is 182 verses. She meets several interesting people — one is man from Texas, who calls her “Groceries” because she eats so much. He had been in Ashram ten years ago and prayed for an open heart. “Be careful what you pray for,” he says. “I had open heart surgery shortly after my prayer.”

Toward the end of her 6-week stay in Ashram, even the arduous chanting of the Gurugita has become important to her. She decides to forego touring the rest of India and remain another two months in Ashram. She learns to control her destructive thoughts and to live by the Rule of Transcendence: You will not advance even one inch closer to divinity as long as you cling to even one last seductive thread of blame.

By the end of her stay in Ashram, she has forgiven her ex-husband, David, and herself; she has found enlightenment. She finds a word to describe herself — Antevasin - one who lives at the border. She is “betwixt and between — a student on the evershifting border near the wonderful, scary forest of the new.”

Her last stop is Indonesia. She arrives in Bali hoping to find balance and after two and a half weeks, she finds it. She spends her mornings in meditation, afternoons with her Guru and evenings spent reading and walking through the gardens. She learns that “happiness is not luck, but the consequences of personal effort.” While in Bali, she falls in love. She finally realizes that after all she’s been through, she wasn’t rescued by a prince; she was the administrator of her own rescue.

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Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1979 with a degree in Journalism. As a student, he enrolled in every class that Professor Morrie Schwartz taught, including his Tuesday class on the Meaning of Life. After graduation, Mitch loss contact with Professor Schwartz after he graduated and went on to become a sportswriter. He moved from New York City to Florida and then to Detroit where he worked as a successful columnist for the Detroit Free Press.

Mitch lived a fast-paced life, buying everything he wanted — house on a hill, cars, and stocks, whatever money could buy. He courted his girlfriend, Janine for seven years before they got married. Over the years, he would receive mail from Brandeis University, but thought it was junk mail and threw it away. One night, he heard Ted Koppel on Nightline say, “Who is Morrie Schwartz?” and he stopped to listen. He went on to talk about a Boston Globe Reporter who wrote a long feature story on Morris entitled, “A Professor’s Final Course: His Own Death.” He had been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gherig’s disease) in the summer of 1994 and taught his last college course in the fall of 1994. He was given only two years to live and he wanted to be the human textbook. Morrie said “Study me in my slow and patient demise. Watch what happens to me. Learn with me.”

Mitch hadn’t seen Morrie Schwartz, who he referred to as “Coach,” since he graduated, and was greatly saddened to hear of his disease; he called him and asked to visit. That visit turned into weekly visits every Tuesday when they would discuss the meaning of life. He told Mitch, “Donate yourself to something that gives you purpose and meaning.”

Every week, Mitch watched as Morrie’s body weakened, but his mind remained alive. They discussed family, death, the fear of aging, regrets, the world, emotion, money, how loves goes on, marriage and our culture. His discussions with Mitch were profound in so many ways. Toward the end, Mitch’s wife visited and sang a song for him, “The Very Thought of You,” and I cried.

Ted Koppel did three interviews with Morrie and Mitch visited Morrie every Tuesday until his death on November 4, 1995.