"I think it's your responsibility to live as humans in a group, in the sense that everybody's your brethren … that relationship we have with humans, the four-legged, the trees, the earth … you can live all by yourself and have a happy life — but are you really happy? Are you really in peace?"

Hassan Ikhzaan Saleem was born in the Maldives, a tropical island nation southeast of India. Raised in a family that encouraged reading western classic literature, Ikhzaan fell in love with the American West and the idea of working with horses.

Hassan attended United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico, and lived with a family that owned a ranch. There, he learned to ride horses, but also how to train them in the Vaquero style, with a focus on patience and an absence of strict deadlines.

While working with horses, Hassan recognized that our days can be filled with challenges and frustrations, but each new day presents the opportunity to begin again.

Your prompts for the day:

• How do you tend to move through daily transitions? How has that impacted your relationships?

• Think of a relationship that took, or is currently taking some time to develop. This could be with a classmate, a coworker, a neighbor, an in-law. What is the process teaching you about yourself?

You can hear more of Hassan's story at APeaceOfMyMind.org.