Happy (Lunar/Chinese) New Year!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! It's the year of the tiger!

Coincidentally, Valentine's Day and the Lunar New Year fall on February 14 this year.

I'm a monkey - check out your annual zodiac animal and personality here!

If you were born in a year of the tiger, you will have much good fortune in 2010!

Among the traditions of preparing for the new year is a thorough house cleaning - especially windows, so all that good fortune makes its way into your home!

It's January 1! Go big or go home

I received just the jolt of inspiration I needed to pursue all I want to do and accomplish in 2010 last Sunday.

It hit me watching the Indianapolis Colts lose a winnable game and the chance at a perfect record because their coach pulled quarterback Peyton Manning and other starters at half time when they led the Jets, replacing them with 2nd stringers.

Manning has not slowed down at all - the coach just wanted to give him a couple more hours' rest before the last regular game of the season next week. After all, they're already in the playoffs, aren't they?

And he wanted to protect them from the possibility of injury in the rough and tumble game. Play it safe.

Problem is, we can all be injured simply walking across the street or slipping in the shower. Tripping on the stairs; most injuries occur in the home. The number of athletes injured off the court, field or diamond are legion.

Manning said he wanted to go the distance to see if he could win that perfect - winning every game in the regular season - record. Manning said his team did, too.

I'm not talking about taking ridiculous chances or being foolhardy - which simply wasn't the case. After all, they were playing the Jets. It was a winnable game within ordinary playing boundaries for the starters.

Champions are champions. They courageously prepare and play when ever they can; they push forward despite what might appear to be insurmountable obstacles. Champions are not rewarded by pulling them out of the game; champions are rewarded by putting them in a position that tests every fiber of their being to see how far they can take themselves.

That's what makes a champion - they don't have the limits the rest of us do, they make that extra effort; they take that extra chance; they leave the average performer in the dust because that's what they've trained their minds, their talents and skills to do.

Mind you, I'm aware that Peyton Manning is not the best athlete in football. But he and his teammates are champions. They have a championship mentality and drive. They prepare themselves to use their strengths for their greatest good and limit the exposure of their weaknesses.

Pulling a healthy champion from a championship performance or winning game is not usually personally experienced as something done in their best interest or the best interest of the team.

In fact, it can play on the minds of some - intellectually understanding why the coach made the decision and being an obedient, respectful player for him/her, but viscerally confused and unhappy that a winnable game - and record - was lost.

It's one thing to lose when we've put our very best work forward, another to lose because the coach decided it was OK to throw the game.

Now we'll never know if the Colts - Manning and his starter teammates - could have put an undefeated regular season notch in their long list of record-breaking achievements.

In my life, I want to know.

I want to know if I can do it.

I don't want to be pulled from the game for fear I might get hurt because I am fit. I've prepared and trained, I'm in terrific shape and have been playing a winning game fearlessly and effortlessly, accommodating my strengths and weaknesses, doing my homework for each team's unique challenges. Most especially I don't want to be pulled if I'm playing the Jets.

I want to go big or go home.

I want to stay in the game and give it my all - 110% - to challenge myself, the other team and final score be damned, to see if I can pull it off. See if I can push myself to overcome those insurmountable obstacles to do everything I wish in the best way possible before the game ends.
I'm not pulling myself on the sidelines to "play it safe" or let a challenging opportunity pass, knowing I'm prepared, ready, willing and able to do my best to the very end!

Lesson well learned, Colts coach, just in time for the new year - and the rest of my life.

Happy New Year, Dearest Reader!

May 2010 be your championship year!

The year is ending ...

and I don't know about you, but on so many levels I'm happy to see its backside!

For me it's been a year of massive learning, growth, clarifying direction, solidifying substantial plans for the future and becoming a Friar!

A couple disappointments along the way were pretty intense, but coming out the other side - good things happened from the gear shifting that resulted.

Reflecting, researching and resolving have put the approach of January 1, 2010, in good working order because of something I've learned to put between "awareness" and "action" in my life: intention.

Every night before I fall asleep, into the netherworld of dreams, I declare my intentions for the next day. When I awaken, I do the same, generally remembering exactly what I declared my intentions to be the eight hours before, when I left the planet for inner worlds unknown.

Keeping my heart and mind open, I strive to maintain an awareness of what's transpiring around and inside me - what's really going on, not what I wish were happening! This helps me see what I must do to make the difference in my life that I desire. I then declare my intention to do or get what I wish or need - resolving to take the action necessary to help it materialize.

If it seems complicated, it's not. And it takes only a couple seconds morning and night, but it keeps my subconscious on the right track as I move through my day - and dreams, I think.

So there you are - my way of greeting the new year.

I'm looking forward to it; feeling as if I'm hitting the floor running. No need for a "fresh" start January 1, my mojo is already running in fifth gear.

May you have the most wonderful, fulfilling and rewarding new year ever.

May all your dreams come to fruition; may every wish come true and may you embrace every day with the welcoming wonder of a child eager to behold every new experience and feeling that will greet her!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you your greatest success, love and happiness in 2008 (and forever more!).

After spending years honing my skills and craft, preparing for the opportunities that are manifesting now, I'm putting it all on the line. Jumping off the precious precipice of life, excited to see who or what catches me!

As my long-time best friend, British novelist/lyricist/poet John Beresford puts it, "Fortune favours the brave."

Be brave. Be yourself. Be all you can be. Be happy.

To quote me: "The way we deal with fear defines who we are."

To quote k. d. lang: "Don't die with music inside you."

You go, girl/guy!

A life of changes, wonderment and gratitude

I don't know about you, but my past several years have been fraught with changes, wonderment and gratitude.

Changes in every aspect of my life except my home and writing.

Wonderment at the horrific, dysfunctional and callous state of our federal government with its heartless president and vice-president calling the shots - shots that have killed 4,000 loyal American soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen -wounding 35,000 more only to have too many of them return to detestable health care conditions - for which many have to copay.

For myself, the wonderment of all I have learned last year and over my lifetime. I live to learn!

Gratitude for all I have learned, where all the hard work I have done has landed me today, with the future looking especially bright - good health, cozy home, a terrific Christmas season filled with all that is special -including a beautiful Christmas tree - and genuine personal gifts that aren't purchased.

Then there's the Barnes and Noble gift card I received that had accidentally been used - several times - by my thoughtful BN giftcard-giving friends.

I definitely felt punk'ed when I went to the cash register with half an armload of books and was told the expensive gift card had only $2.13 left on it. Fortunately, I had another credit card with me, so the clerk wasn't really peeved as I paid her off.

We were both in shock, however, as was the friend who went shopping with me! It is only to laugh, however, since the *mortified* gift giver explained it was confused with the "real" gift card and has since replaced it with approximately 1,897 apologies.

"Oh, well," she said at the end. "Look at the bright side. Now you have something to write about in your blog.."

Indeed.

Meanwhile, I leave 2007 with no regrets or wishing I had done it any other way.

I certainly could not have done it alone, however!

So more thanks are due to my good friends, family, co-workers, my wacky Heinz commercial cohorts (I just received an award for it), pets, coachees, booty camp coach and our booty camp rock star, my vocal coach, baby Brockarmadingdong, my writer's group, my movieScope magazine editor Eric, my magazine column and blog readers, and a better than I could have imagined business partner.

This leaves me a full week to distill my resolutions and goals for 2008 - which will be few but compelling, including more ways to have fun away from work!

Have the Merriest of Christmases, if you celebrate it, or the most rewarding holiday season if you don't.

My wish for you: that you enjoy your finest, happiest, full of love and joy year ever in 2008 (and all that follow), rife with all the great things you wish for manifesting and mushrooming before your eyes! You deserve it!