How did you finish that sentence in your mind? Quickly now, without over-thinking it, what’s the dream lurking behind all you do, maybe right at the surface, maybe hidden in the depths? Big dream or small, makes no difference, if matters to you, it’s important.

Two of my thirty-something friends set off today for a long-postponed adventure in Alaska.

Green Lakes July 2015

Green Lakes July 2015

My daughter Anna found her own studio space in Brooklyn and spent weeks this summer completing a demanding art commission.

My friend Denise Fainberg is publicizing her new book documenting her 500 mile walk on the Camino de Santiago in 2003 (Walking Through Sunflowers: Through Deepest France on the Road to Compostela). 

I’m taking two novels I’ve written to the Willamette Writers Conference to try to sell to a publisher. We’re all investing the most precious resource we have, the fleeting hours of our lives, some in solitude, all with persistence, engaged in finding out “what happens if…” Of course, nothing happens if we don’t apply effort and optimism. What are you putting off?

What if you fail? Failure is impossible, success lies in the IMG_0228trying. You only fail if you don’t try.

It’s never too early or too late to take the first step, and you’ll find each step builds momentum. The sooner you start, the better chance you have of arriving. (Okay, ask yourself now, “When will I…?” and “What’s the first step?”) Hiking in the Cascades is a vivid demonstration of that truth. Take one step and then another and you end up someplace beautiful, like Green Lakes. Watch for Essence Qigong classes coming up at my studio this fall. Meanwhile, take a step in this splendid summer. I’ll see you on the trail.