Greetings All --

I'm excited to be addressing you in brand spanking new 2005! This marks the second year of newsletters for me as a life coach and I've loved the challenge of creating thought-provoking messages each month. Scroll down for January's thoughts followed by my upcoming calendar, which includes a 13-week course in The Artist's Way. It's not too late to register!

You're expecting to read something here about New Year's resolutions, aren't you? Well, how about we look at things a little bit differently this year. Instead of resolutions, how about we shake it up some.

Here's part one of your 2005 plan. List three things you want to do before you die. They can be practical, fun, ambitious, whatever. Do you have a plan in place for any of them? That's what I thought. Now pick at least one and write down where you want to be on it in five years. Then three years. Then one year. Then one month. What action can you take this week around that goal? This day? Now don't go crazy. Embrace the idea of baby steps if you haven't already. Maybe one of your items is an art tour of Europe. Figure out how much that will cost and then see how you can break it down. If you put aside $10 per week for five years, you'll have $2,600. Get it?

OK, now for part two. Introduce more meaning into your life. So many of us are going through the motions day after day. Stop! If you're already nurturing your spirituality, find a way to go deeper. If you're not taking time to connect to that part of yourself, please do so. Life is too short to just exist. Pick up the book on your shelf you bought to better yourself and then never opened. See what that new yoga class is all about. Take your kids to the park instead of parking them in front of a video. Light some candles to make a stay-at-home night feel special. Whatever does it for you. Commit to it. Make it a habit.

That brings me to part three of your 2005 plan. It involves giving. Where do you stand on this? If you tend to give so much of yourself that you've lost you, then vow to scale it back and reclaim you. You'll be surprised at how easily people adjust to your boundaries. And if they don't, you're better off knowing it now. If you're on the other side of this, if you feel you need to give more to others in your life, then promise to do that. Perhaps you want to volunteer. Or talk more frequently to an elderly relative. Or maybe it's a daily practice like giving people the benefit of the doubt instead of being skeptical or suspicious. Or deciding to give at least one random person a day some attention. (Isn't it delightful when a stranger says "Hello" to you? Be that person.) Give generously and cheerfully.

So there you have it. My proposed three-part plan for making 2005 juicy. And while you're at it, don't forget to tap into your greatness. It's there for the taking.