Gear Up for the New Year

Dear 123Greetings Subscriber,

Hope you all made it through the transition of the New Year okay. Hope your hangovers were minor. There were some transitions here at our end too. First off, our newsletter is slowly changing. What do you think of the new look? There’s more headed your way and I’m expecting all of your emails! That’s how I look at the New Year break – it’s a stop for you to energize and get back on your feet before cold, cruel reality sets in.

Of course the perfect way to recharge yourself is to not think of anything and lay in bed. It’s a time for you to say screw everything else and stay in bed for the whole day. It’ll be even better if you had your significant O with ya. Last year on Cuddle Up Day, my partners in bed were Jimmy, Jenny, Billy and there was another whose name I forgot. I really had a nice day and got completely recharged.

Oh, I forgot to introduce Jimmy, Jenny, Billy and other one. These are the names of my niece Rachel’s stuffed animals. Jimmy and Jenny are teddy bears, Billy is a big toy cat that looks like Garfield and there was one big dog made of what feels like just sponge. Rachel names all her stuffed playmates.

When I was still living at my sister’s place, Rachel’s toys were found in almost every room of their house. I found a couple of them in the room where I decided to catch a little siesta. I cuddled up with them while taking the nap and my niece was kind enough to share her toys with me. You know, the toys made me nostalgic. It brought me back to childhood. By the way, you were thinking something else about my “bed-partners”, weren’t you? Huh?

Have a last cuddle before you get back to work this Cuddle Up Day and you’ll be totally recharged. Some “alone time” can be really nice. The point is that you recharge! Trust me, your co-workers will appreciate it! Nobody likes a grumpy colleague who’s about to go postal in the New Year!

The other day, Adrian and I were down at the pub and we started talking about, well you guessed it! BEER! We were competing against each other on beer trivia and IQs. Then all of a sudden, he said, “Did you know that carnations were used to flavor beer?”

Say what?! The dude’s got to be kidding me. Flowers and beer just don’t match! PERIOD. But apparently in the dark ages people used to drink carnations with wine to control the raging fevers of the plague. They were also used for treating poisons. I would never have imagined that in a million years! As it happens, carnations are the birth flower for January.

Now of course, we all know that carnations are what you give to mothers on Mother’s Day. Red for someone who’s mom is still there and white if their mother has died. What? Don’t tell me you didn’t know that! Ok, my mom makes it painfully clear — that’s how I know. I’m not a flower freak. I just happen to know, alright?

And if you hadn’t read my last email, you should! It’s about the holiday classic fruitcake. Which reminds me, when I was still a teenager we suspected that the same fruitcake traveled through the whole of Pasadena and back to our place. I mean that’s just a gross thought. I bet nobody really wanted the fruitcake so they kept giving it to someone they didn’t really like as a gift throughout the month of December!

Well, one of those fruitcakes ended up at our house. While we’re cleaning up the clutter in the kitchen, we found it. It was as stale as petrified stone. I mean it was so stale that it was really rock hard and dry. We kept tossing it around the kitchen and lost focus on cleaning. We went outside in our back yard to play Frisbee with it.

One of my neighbors, John, was not very good with catching. I tossed it way to the other side of the field towards him. Poor John missed the catch and it hit him right in the chest. He went down immediately. I mean I thought, “That’s it, I’m going to end up in juvenile detention!” He was out for about half a second or so. We were all shocked. Then he just took a deep breath and said, “Dude, I won’t be able to breastfeed anymore!” And we all started laughing. He improved his reflexes after that – and still never lost his humor.

Them fruitcakes can be really dangerous! So don’t get attached to them, just take a deep breath and just toss that fruitcake before you hurt someone!

Two years ago, Steve decided that he wanted to build his own plane. We’re talking about Steve here — the guy who’s afraid of flying! Him building his own plane?! It’s just a really bizarre concept. But we didn’t judge him. Maybe it’s a therapeutic thing to do. Like one of those fear therapies that people go for.

He stuck to his goal. He saved up the money slowly and built the darn plane. And it actually took off! There’s nothing like seeing your dream actually take off I tell ya! In the moment of temporary insanity, Steve went on the test flight with a flight instructor! He forgot about all his fears. Then he came back down and remembered them, and never set foot in the plane again.

We’re still trying to encourage him to get back on the plane and take ownership of his dream. But I guess that’s the next level for him to get to when he’s ready. This New Year, even you can focus on making your dreams come true.

My favorite Zen quote for making things happen is: “Move and the way will open.” Remember, your dream can be as small as walking every morning. It doesn’t have to be like Steve’s. But if you’re setting out to making a big dream come true, take small steps and have goal posts. Once you achieve your smaller goals you’re a step closer to your big dream.