Happy New Year, 2007!

And welcome to my blog!

In honor of the new year, I decided to add something juicy to my website. Yes, dear reader, because of this blog you get to read my thoughts on life and life coaching! Hooray! Haha!

So what's up for me this morning, perhaps not surprisingly, is the year just passed and the year to come. Today we all stand on a tiny precipice between the two, looking back at how far we've come since last we stood here, and how far we might have to go in the coming days, weeks, months.

Where were you last year at this time?
What's happened since?
On your "life progress-ometer," how're ya feelin'?

Last year at this time, I was probably hitting the "submit" button on www.expedia.com to confirm flight plans for a 9+ week trip to Thailand and Cambodia that I took in February and March. It all happened pretty fast...2005 had been a tough year emotionally but a great year financially, and I needed to get a way for a while, forget my troubles for a while, focus on someone else for a while. So, like any normal person, I decided to go to the other side of the planet! For an incredible six weeks, I volunteered at the Wildlife Friends of Thailand (via the Global Volunteer Network) and then my partner, Robert, flew over and we traveled all through Thailand and into Cambodia for the next 3+ weeks. When we got back to the U.S., the puzzle pieces of my 'til-then-elusive vocation magically, finally fell into place. Life coaching found me, I found it, and the ride since has been expansive, engaging, beyond surprising, and so much more than I could have imagined.

You might be thinking, "Oh yeah, right! It's all well and good for her, but I could never do anything like that!" Well, that's just not true. Because I know there's also a little voice, hiding behind that one, whispering, "Although, wow, can you imagine? Wouldn't it be amazing to do something crazy?!"

And although all that might sound crazy, I am now living proof that sometimes radical action is just what the doctor ordered. And it's possible...just like any dream in life. All it takes is: an individual + the courage & willingness to choose differently + action toward the choice. It's deceptively simple and can lead to life just opening right up, creating space for whatever wants to come next. For me, it was life coaching. Who knew? (Well, lots of my friends, but I was the last to see it.) What is it for you? What's dying to be created in your life? What's the choice that's hovering out there, just beyond your reach, that's calling to you, begging you to push through your fears and embrace it?

It's a perfect, perfect time of year to sit down with a stiff drink or a strong coffee and do an inventory of life, to ask ourselves the tough questions. In his amazing little book, A Year to Live, Stephen Levine asks, "If you only had a year to live, what would you do?" He continues, "When we ask ourselves this question, myriad possiblities arise...The question reminds us of how much we have forgotten. A part of us begins to panic at the thought that it hasn't had quite enough time to leave something valid behind. There have been so few moments when life was all it was cracked up to be. So much that might have been different had the heart not been obstructed by fear. As we begin to see where we have been absent from life, increasing possibilities audition for our approval. The heart suggests that we become more present, that we sharpen our focus."

What would this year be like if you became more present? If you sharpened your focus? If your heart was unobstructed by fear?

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to grab my journal, get that cuppa java, and start exploring all of these questions for myself. I hope you do, too, and that 2007 is a fantastic, breakout, exciting, blow-your-own-mind year for you!