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!

Release, resolutions and resolve

I love this time of year.

Befitting the season, it's when those things that must - leaves, hard times, things that create misery - fall away, allowing a quiet snowfall of life to cover us, giving way to a touch of demi-dormancy so we can reflect on what worked and what did not over the past twelve months.

Sort of like emotional and mental assessment and house cleaning, which in turn opens up all sorts of room to prepare for what we know is ahead; tuning up a welcoming attitude for everything in store that's unexpected. Limiting expectations is the best way I know to keep maintain that attitude of gratitude for everything life hands us.

I have big goals, but keep the expectation low of knowing exactly how something should happen - or how it will look in the end. I set and keep goals - it's fun for me - but sometimes the way an accomplished goal appears is not exactly what I had in mind when I started.

Greeting unplanned events and experiences with open arms - especially those that initially feel so painful - is probably the most challenging.

Especially when, so often, the occurrences that feel the worst can actually turn out to be the best, most positive turn of events - or set up a situation that creates a much better outcome than anything we could have perceived in our unrecognized ignorance at the time we got zapped!

I think awareness and action are the best tools to deal with life.

When I've just let life happen without taking any responsibility for initiating what I want or what I want/need to do, I've run into some unexpected and rocky walls because I wasn't paying attention.

Not paying attention to how poorly someone treats us can result in being unnecessarily hurt; not paying attention to those we cherish or relationships we treasure can cause us to lose them - and never see it coming because our focus was somewhere else.

I try to keep an ear and eye out for both sides so I can take action either way.

Walking on eggs around someone, never knowing what will set him or her off - is no way to live. People - even disagreeable people - are free to be who they are, but for me? Without anger or rancor after trying to deal with the situation, I need to extract myself from the situation in order to protect myself from what I perceive to be an unsafe environment. Fortunately, these are almost non-existent in my life these days.

On the flip side, to maintain valued friendships and relationships, they need to be stoked and stroked with affection and attention with relish and often - something I find incredibly fun. I believe the more love there is, the more love there is!

So it's time to take stock of everything going on in and around me - so I can see where I need to bring my game up, and where I need to streamline or alter what I'm doing to make it all work. Make my life feel like I spend more energy moving forward rather than treading water or being swept away by circumstances I could have influenced - actually changed - if I had been paying attention and taking action.

Every day life issues like work, health and my new vegetarian lifestyle are part of this equation.

I guess my goal in life is more than just to learn everything - it's also to be the best me, the best person I can be. Which to me means being true to myself and my values, being as kind as possible to others (honesty without brutality is kinder than patronizing someone), as well as taking the best care of myself, those I love and those for whom I am responsible.

So I guess my resolution this year, simply put, would be: to pay attention and take action on what I can.

There's something called a "broken window policy" and it helps keep us on track to where we want to go. It's used in neighborhoods where problems have previously festered. After an area is cleaned and fixed up? Every single broken window is tended to - mended and fixed - immediately upon its discovery, preventing more of them from popping up along with the onslaught of attending problems.

I'll put signs around the house - PAY ATTENTION! ACTION! - to remind me of my resolution. They'll also help me make sure to immediately mend every emotional or experiential broken window that appears along the way.

Gearing up: a challenging year's ahead

My life is (finally) moving in the direction of "balance" - between personal and professional. It feels incredible.

Workaholism has been such a big part of my life - because I love what I do so much, and I think because my creative work is such a safe haven for me.

But over the past year I've pushed myself to find other ways to share that love among other healthy activities and people.

And I know it takes effort to maintain that harmonic flow.

Passion flows in both directions when there's balance - the passion for work flows into the passion for one's personal life (and back again).

It's in the awareness. I'm always talking to my coachees about awareness - doing things awarely is a great way to empower ourselves. Buddhists say that whatever we do awarely generally leaves us free from regret.

Having four pets helps a lot - three Pomeranians and an Allie Cat remind me there's much more to life than work 24/7, as much as I adore my work. A session of frolicking, playing fetch, taking a walk, snuggling and napping wrapped in my arms is a perfect play date for them, just as it is with kids.

Spending many hours of quality time with friends over the holidays has been incredibly reinforcing to my new balancing act.

At this point, work-wise, I've committed myself to writing six feature scripts next year (including my first animated feature), producing and directing an actor's reading for the feature I wrote with executive producer Chris Koruga, The Herbalist (Got Chi?), at a Seattle theater next month; I've limited my coaching practice to 10 people; singing and other projects are in the works, but as the old saying goes, I'll have to take it one day at a time - taking care of myself and my relationships with equal zeal and zest!

What is sacred to you?

I had the most interesting thing happen in one of my coaching sessions recently.

It rocked my world.

As we wrapped up our meeting, my writing/performing coachee told me he considered our sessions and our work "sacred." That he considered my "wisdom," my willingness to share it so openly, and our collaboration sacred.

More, he considers my home studio a sacred place because he has derived so much knowledge and so much good here.

"This is a sacred place to me," he added thoughtfully.

I instantly realized that my relationship with most people who come through that door is sacred. That's not enough. Every relationship I have chosen to be in should be sacred. If it's not, why not?

I thought - when we consider ourselves, our time, our love, our art, our minds and souls, health, relationships, work, homes, children, pets; acts of learning, of sharing, of enlightening and empowering as well as becoming enlightened or empowered "sacred," they become intrinsically more valuable and appreciated.

Perhaps even considering our possessions sacred might limit those we collect and purchase, appreciating more those we do choose to bring home or use or give away.

When we understand the sacred, we remain aware of life instead of letting it pass us by; we are clearly conscious of what we are doing, where we are going, what we want, what we want to do and how we want to live.

I just realized that if we who have weight issues would consider food sacred, our relationship with what we eat would change significantly; if we considered our bodies sacred, our relationship with how we treat it and what we feed it would change as well -- all for the good.

I'm not suggesting that every relationship in the world should be sacred, but that when we choose to have a relationship, its sacredness should become sacrosanct.

The opposite of making our lives, love, work and relationships sacred is to neglect them, and/or take them and our lives for granted.

I guess I don't want to live that way.

I'm up for experiencing more things as sacred.

Yes, the words of my protégé were a genuine and awe-inspiring awakening.

Thank you, Earl.

The student has once again become the teacher. Namaste.