Christmas Day with my parents, sister Erin and niece Hannah!

New Year's Greetings!

I hope this finds your New Year off to a magnificent start. My holidays were made extra special by my parents being in Nashville for their first ever Tennessee Christmas. As we enjoyed festive meals and long conversations, we were mindful of the many ways our family was blessed in 2007.

I also have to admit that it is a relief to be done with the holidays and on to a fresh year. I love picking up the new insert pages to my Franklin planner, the clean, blank pages beckoning with possibilities. As the poet Rainer Maria Rilke reminds us: 

"Let us welcome the New Year - full of things that have never been."

2008 is here! I pray it will unfold for each one of us with beauty and grace.

"The Music Of LIfe"   Available at all the locations listed here!!

Davis Kidd Booksellers

Borders Bookstores

All Nashville area locations:

West End, Brentwood and Coolsprings 

on West End Avenue                                                                                   

White Bridge Road, across from Target                                                       Schermerhorn Symphony Center

in Green Hills                                                                                             132 Third Ave. South in Franklin

The Shoppe for Simple Pleasures                   The Garden Path

810 NW Broad St. in Murfreesboro                                                               117-B 3rd. Ave North in Franklin 

Tennessee Memories                                     Harmony Home

Bandywood Plaza                                                                                        236 2nd Ave. South in Franklin 

The Produce Place                                         American Artisan

on Murphy Road                                                                                          Stanford Square, 4231 Harding Rd.

The Music of Life:
Reflections on an Unfolding Life

I had barely taken down Christmas decorations after the first of the year, when it was time to travel to Mississippi to lead a women's retreat on "Living an Unfolding Life."  It was a delight to share the new, flowing approach to life I've explored over the past year with a unique group of women, all consciously engaged in their own process of life.

In the company of these remarkable women, I was reminded of the inherent, human desire to experience a joyful life. The day included music, reflection, art and inspiring stories I've shared with audiences and in my writing, for many years - deepened by the path I have traveled as a cancer survivor. We drew pictures of what our unsolvable problems felt like, and pictures of the way we would like our authentic lives to be.

Over the course of the day, women from all walks of life, ages spanning 18 to 80, basked in the collective wisdom of each other's dreams and stories. A common thread woven throughout was that no one's story is free of pain. But the cumulative tapestry of these stories was poignantly beautiful, and as the day progressed, I had a sense of expansiveness, like a rose bud beginning to open, as we reaffirmed that nurturing our dreams and having faith in possibilities, allows us to love our unfolding lives.

Setting goals for self improvement is such a natural exercise at the beginning of a new year. Sometimes, though, in our efforts to manifest positive change in our lives, we forget to acknowledge the deep wells of gifting and wisdom we already possess. As I summarized the themes of the retreat experience, I remembered the words a dear friend once spoke to me years ago, as I struggled to make sense of what seemed like my life's shortcomings:
 
"You already are the person you want to be."