Happy Holidays!

Now that I've gotten my email squared away again on AOL, I can go back to sending newsletters. I've missed writing but have gathered a few thoughts to share with you this holiday season!

1. Keep your spirits high. Stay as far away from all the negative news as you can and revel in the joys that this time of year provides - get togethers with friends and family, beautiful decorations to see (remember you don't have to own them to enjoy them), foods made for celebrating, time off.

2. Help those around you if you can afford the time and money. Frequent the little shops and restaurants who need your business to survive (one of my favorite little health food stores closed recently and the newspaper reported that if each customer had spent only $15 more dollars there a week, they would have survived!), donate to the local food bank if you can. help a neighbor shovel out their driveway (a big
thank you to my former student Chris who plowed me out of over a foot of snow this past Saturday even though he had been up all night and was swamped with work! Great to see you again!!)

3. Shop and help kickstart our economy. If you have the money - and not everyone does to be sure - spend some and help keep people's jobs. I heard this on CBS Sunday morning. Don't let the news make you think that things are worse than they are. Part of the downfall of the economy is the rumor factor. If you can afford to spend (not run up credit card charges), do so and do your part to get things going.

4. Send a greeting card to someone who isn't expecting one. My former sister-in-law who is in the military gave this address to send to a soldier recuperating. Find an organization in your country that might benefit from something as simple as a greeting card. Here's the address she gave:
A recovering American soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001

5. Decide to make 2009 your best year ever despite the news, despite resolutions that tend to fail, despite anything that has happened in your past. We human are capable of so much more than we often realize. Often all it takes to create the lives we want for ourselves is to just decide. I've made that decision for 2009 and have made the commitment to share what I've been lucky enough to learn these past months and years with others so that they to can create happy, healthy, and prosperous lives for themselves and those they care about.

Happy Holdays!