Well, hello, my friends, and welcome to the live-inspired podcast with John O'Leary for this week's

Monday moments. We create them to help start your week on fire with a quick burst of inspiration.

Leo Buscoglia reminds us that too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile,

a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,

all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Well, as a little boy, I frequently needed that life turned around because I was frequently

attracting a great deal of unwanted attention. My skin had not yet fully healed after the fire.

My body was wrapped in bandages. My core temperature was

difficult to control. So my sisters constantly fanned me as I sat in a wheelchair. And as one of six

kids, when my family arrived, we made quite a boisterous entrance in any restaurant in any room.

I was reminded of those days, those entrances,

those stairs, when I heard about the experience

of Cynthia Tipton.

It's an experience she had at dinner

with her family at a restaurant here in St. Louis recently.

Her son, Nolan at the time, was 10 years old,

and he lives with high functioning autism. It can be difficult to control his

emotions and on this day a little teasing from his sister set him off. Nolan started screaming.

Cynthia quickly knelt beside him, stroked his back and began whispering in his ear, hoping to calm him before the other families at

dinner were interrupted. Well, it wasn't working. The screams intensified. A few more minutes into

soothing her son passed before the crying finally quieted. Nolan finally relaxed and the other

families finally turned back to their own tables.

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