There are three D's in bringing something new into being in our life: Dream it, Define it, and Do something about it. A woman once went to a counselor and said, "I'd really like to go to college and get a degree, but I'm 57 years old." The counselor replied, "In four years you'll be 61, whether you go to school or not— so why not go to school?" Many of us have an unfulfilled dream. Perhaps we haven't defined it clearly enough. What steps would it take to bring our dream into fulfillment? What would it cost? Are we willing and able to pay the price? Do we really have anything to lose by trying? Once we define our dream and clarify the process it will take to complete it, then the third phase becomes very clear. We need to act— what can we do right now to bring our dream into manifestation? Don't leave out the last step. We experience analysis paralysis when we don't act on our dream. Avoid the rush, act now on your dream and joy will be yours. 

U.G. Krishnamurti once said, "Touch the point of life where no one yet has been, and you will find me there." Each one of us is at the point of life where no one else has been. As we begin to realize, accept and express our own uniqueness— each of us is unlike anyone else— then we begin to leave behind all sense of conformity and competition. We are here to demonstrate our unique creativity in this world. We don't have to imitate anyone else. Rabbi Susya, a Hasidic spiritual teacher, once was asked, "Why aren't you like your father?" The Rabbi replied, "I am. My father never imitated anyone and neither do I." Let's stop being second-hand persons in this life— let's let all of our individuality manifest powerfully and freely in this world. 

We can't do everything; we can't be everything. We have to choose who we want to be and what we want to do in this life. That means that there are a great many things we won't be able to be and do. To define our purpose in life means that we have to specialize. They say that since about the 15 th century, it has been impossible to know everything in terms of human information because there is just too much for any one human being to know and too much to be and too much to do; so we need to make choices based on our values and on how we have defined our purpose in this life. We can always ask ourselves these three basic questions: Where do we want to be five years from now? If we continue as we are right now, will we make it? If we do make it, will we feel happy and fulfilled? Our life becomes very simple and straightforward once we clarify our purpose and decide on the way in which we will achieve it. 

At this time of year we oftentimes feel a kind of resentment at the cold days and nights. We begin to develop a grudge against waking up to a cold morning and going to work in the cold outdoors. But resisting or fighting against the winter doesn't make us feel any better. Perhaps, instead, we should just relax and enjoy the cold. A friend of mine was walking through Central Park in New York on a cold January day. My friend was really cringing from the cold wind, when he suddenly saw someone walking along as if it were a bright and warm spring day. My friend said that he suddenly felt renewed inside: he threw his head back, dropped his arms and began walking upright and calm. He said, "And I've been walking that way ever since." 

Since the holidays are over, we ask ourselves—What's next? Between now and spring, what can we look forward to? The holidays provide an exterior prop for our emotions. We can share our joy, gladness and excitement in a natural way because it is the season for it. But now we may have to look within ourselves and discover a reason to feel the joyous energy we felt a few weeks ago. That joy has not disappeared; it's still there; we may just have to refocus or reframe it. Perhaps relaxing after all the stress and pressure of December is also a kind of happiness; not needing to hurry or rush our way through things— this, itself, if we let it, may be a new kind of breakthrough for us. Things don't always have to be going on for us to be happy. Perhaps in rest and recollection we discover an even greater joy. Why not give this time a chance to reveal its meaning and its happiness to us? Let's let January be a time of inner realization and fulfillment. 

Each of us is at the point between our past and our future. Too often we spend our precious time rehearsing the past— if only we had done it differently. Yet each of us can allow ourselves to let go of the past and enter the doorway of the future. We can look backward or look forward— we can't stand still. The present exists as a point in time for us to choose which way we will go. When we choose to go forward into the future with a conscious plan of action, already the past begins to recede into a dim memory. The future holds the promise of greater fulfillment—the past only the finality of what has already happened. Helen Keller said that happiness is an open door. But we do have to shift our gaze from the door that has already closed. What dreams each of us could bring into realization if we but gathered all of our energy and boldly marched into our future!