keep the first day. That is where every story hides, and where every daily practice begins.

Mine was an office at Penn State University. I was an undergraduate who wanted a career in global health and had no idea how to build one. I had been a MHIRT scholar and a McNair scholar, and still the road would not show itself. I loved research. I loved advocacy. I wanted to be a scientist and a lawyer and a voice for women who were never handed the right to health at birth. I wanted it all.

Someone said: go and see Professor Collins Airhihenbuwa.

So I went. I asked my questions. I left still unsure, but willing to take his class in the spring. Sometimes that is all a beginning asks of us. Not certainty. Willingness.

What a Great Mentor Actually Gives You

Fast forward more than twenty years. I am still that girl. Now a woman, a mother, a professor, with a career in global health many only dream of. And here is what I know about mentorship: a great mentor does not hand you a map. He hands you permission.

Interested in malaria today? Study it. HIV tomorrow? Study it. Family systems, mothers and babies, the health of whole communities in West Africa and South Africa? Study it. Under his guidance I was never told to shrink. I was given permission to fly. I was given permission to soar.

That is why I know who I am without a single accolade. You do not have to call me professor. The training, the gift, the light I received under his guidance did that work, and no title can add to it or take it away. I keep the light. It is mine now to carry.

Four Lessons for the Art of Living

Today he turns seventy, and these are the lessons I keep, the daily practice he taught without ever calling it one:

The secret of life is to not be afraid. History rewards the lions who learn to tell their own story, not only the hunters. Know who you are and which gate you enter a house by. And beware: the mouth that smiles can also bite.

He has told us so many things that let us call this life a life.

Seventy trips around the sun. My own father did not live to make that many, so I do not take a single one of yours for granted, Professor. Thank you for seeing me when I barely saw myself. For believing in me when I barely believed in myself. You are loved. You are blessed. Happy birthday.

Your Daily Practice Starts With One Day

Everyone deserves one person who gives them permission to soar. Until you find yours, start with one day. Keep One Day is my free daily practice for anyone learning to hold the storm and the star at once, to begin again, and to keep going.

Keep this.