Living a life of harmony

In 1993, an American Indian elder addressed a gathering at the United Nations in New York.

Now a successful Salt Lake businessman and community leader has dedicated his life to expanding the message of this gathering — that Utahns and people all over the world begin a more simple, respectful and harmonious way of living.

Five years ago, Steve Paul was a successful business owner and longtime Salt Lake psychotherapist. Today he is coming out of a years-long, self-imposed retreat. He has written a book called "Hollow Bones" and hopes it will trigger consideration for readers on the level of the profound personal and historic experiences on which it is based.

"I didn't start out to write a book," Paul said recently from his Salt Lake home. "The book found me."

For people who feel overwhelmed by world circumstances, Paul believes the fiction novel, available in local independent bookstores, offers hope. "The book provides a way to model for the next generation or even our own," Paul said. "It is about possibility in the face of change."

Change is something with which Paul and his wife, Jackie Pratt, are quite familiar.

Back in the late 1980s, Paul and Pratt operated a small bookstore called the Golden Braid from a storefront on 300 South. In 1995, they expanded the business and moved into a bigger complex on 500 East.

Paul and Pratt took great love and care with their business, which included an expanded Golden Braid bookstore, the Oasis Cafe and an art gallery. They decorated the space with artwork, sculpture and bits of culture from around the world. Some of items were for sale; many came from the couple's own collection. The business provides a new age-flavored haven for many in Salt Lake City.

"We felt really good about the physical facility but soon were overwhelmed with the volume and demands of the business," Paul says today.

Managing 55 employees was exhausting. "It was incredibly stressful," Paul said. "And it was constant."

There were factors the couple hadn't considered. Astonishing theft, for one thing, from silverware to statues.

Back in 1996, just before Christmas, someone stole a 3-foot Buddha from the rear entrance to the business. A 5-foot-tall cactus in a heavy clay pot also went missing, as did a Chinese Ming dynasty table.

Meanwhile, Paul was maintaining his private practice above the restaurant and bookstore. But he was always on call. If a cook didn't show up, Paul went down between clients to help out in the kitchen. "We were lost in the chaos," Paul said. One year on a buying trip to India, Jackie Pratt and Steve Paul looked at each other and said, "We're done."

It took a year and a half to sell the facility.