For more than a decade, I’ve been interviewing people about what inspires them to change their lives, reach out to help others, and take an active role in positively changing the world. Many of the folks I’ve written about in magazines including Reader’s Digest, O, The Oprah Magazine, Woman’s Day, Parents, AARP: The Magazine and other publications use the same word to describe what keeps them moving, one step at a time: faith.

The people I’ve talked to about changing their career, overcoming depression or a physical illness, or starting a nonprofit that changes thousands of live all tell me faith is what keeps them going. Sometimes religion is involved, but more often not; usually there’s a belief in a higher power but not always God. Over the years, I’ve become fascinated with the question: What is faith, how do people find it, and how does it change their lives? Recently, I’ve been questioning my own faith— or lack of— which led to the creation of this blog.

My Faith Project puts one of life’s biggest questions up for discussion: When you take away religious fanaticism and politics, what is faith?

It’s a charged questions to be sure and will, hopefully, make for interesting discussions. Here’s my definition: Faith is the powerful ingredient that makes people feel stronger than they are and do more than they ever thought possible. It eases depression, keeps elderly people feeling young and helps kids grow up confident. Faith is what makes us keep looking for love, creating babies, and adopting causes. In our increasingly unstable, downright scary world, faith—even more than happiness or money— is the master key to unlock a meaningful life.

For more about why I started My Faith Project, see: A Manifesto for Faith and Opening Up About Losing Faith.

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