I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom goes on as fruit.
-Dawna Markova
First, I want to again wish you all a Happy New Year! In the future, bemused historians will look back on the affluent parts of the early-21st-century world and wonder why Cold River did not appear on Oprah in 2005 ;-) Rising stars of 2006: Books ; You read it here first : The ever-swelling flood of entertainment gadgets continues to dazzle us, with new models of iPods, Xboxes, and cellphones that do everything but pull up your socks. They're all around us, yet there's an even bigger flood of a simpler and older device -- the book. About 195,000 new titles were published in 2004, including 25,184 fiction books, and this year will surely prove to be as fecund. Though most of those books are dreck, there also was and will be this year a deep and wide supply of great or at least worthwhile books, so many that no one could read them all Taking Risks - Deep River: Rising Tide Czech out 52 Figments :: A Creative Exercise for 2006
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Meanwhile, the dragons are just getting bigger and bigger...
The Dragons in the Room: Barriers to Change in Organizations
Change is hard and it's not something easily done. It is harder after 21 years of marriage: Taking A Leaf from Feisty Scribe:The story is about a little boy who wakes up to find a small dragon on his bed. He pets and plays with the dragon until his mother insists there is no such thing, and from then on the dragon is ignored until it becomes as large as the house, and ends up running down the street with the house on its back. Finally the family acknowledges the dragon really exists, and it quickly shrinks back to kitten size. In case the message was too subtle, the final words from the little boy are "I guess it just wanted to be noticed".
I will continue to work on being happy. How to be positive
I will believe that I can do whatever I put my mind to. I will not get trapped in this swirling cycle of doubt and fear. I will look at everything as something good. I will search for the good in every situation.
I will act more confident. I will believe I am special. I will believe I deserve what I have and what is coming to me. I will decide that I am a fabulous person, because I am a fabulous person.
I will take care of myself. I will do nice things for myself to make myself happy. I have to do this. I have lost too much in the past because I haven't done these things.
• We laughed our asses off while making stories about dragons in Mitteleuropean Vrbov ;-P There's No Such Thing as a Dragon ; [Facing the Dragon; Facing the Double Dragon ]
• · Every year at this time, everyone and anyone who has a vested interest in selling stocks comes out and talks about how great a year its going to be in the stockmarket. Of course its all nonsense and bullshit. NO ONE knows what the market is going to do. Mark Cuban knows ;-) My Investment advice for 2006 ; Roland's Sunday Smart Trends #91 ; 100 greatest gadgets of the past 50 years
• · · Coming Attractions from All Over: Year-end #2: Music ; Year-end #3: some of the most interesting (if not best) posts
• · · · The saddest end of all ; NewScientist.com's top 10 news stories of 2005 ; More about science
• · · · · A home show, whether it's us or any direct sales company, quite honestly, gives an avenue of socialization," Brandau says. "It's a busy society; people don't have time to see each other." Sentimental Parties AtHome; Reading is important. Parents, families, teachers, and librarians work to help our kids learn to read and make wonderful discoveries through books. In the time it takes to consume a cup of our favorite beverage, we can transform a child's life ... just by reading together. The Reading Tub ;
• · · · · · You read it here first ; Famous names, faraway places -- a sampling of new books for 2006 Words to live by ; Not long ago, Manon Martin was an accountant in Seattle, balancing books and analyzing financial data Moving from Accounting to Dance -- and Paris