Today, I woke up to phone calls from friends and family wishing me happy birthday. And for some reason the first thing that entered my mind was the topic for this month's article. So much has happened since last month's article, Great Things Cannot Happen Without Change. Many of you even wrote to me to share your stories on the much-needed changes that may or may not be happening in your lives. Most of you expressed your fear of change, the unknown, and not knowing what to do. I must tell you that you're not alone. Everyone goes through this process in life, time and time again; it's really about striving to grow and be better than you used to be. This notion never ends as long as you're breathing. You are, after all, perfection in progress.

My dearest friends, on my birthday.

Care Bear was there too!

The more you practice embracing the process of change, though it doesn't get easier, you will, however, get better at it - and be able to consistently improve the quality of your life to a new and higher level of self-respect and fulfillment. At this moment, even I, myself, am going through this process, again. Whether I like it or not, I have to be honest with myself about what isn't working and why. If I choose to ignore the truth of the matter because it seems easier to do so, I may be turning down a truly valuable lesson that could have been the stepping stone to take me to a better place. Understand that the right thing to do is almost never the easiest thing to do. Sometimes life has a better plan for you than your own - so to serve a much greater purpose. Even when you try to take the easy way out, life never fails to pinch your nerves with its own sense of humor to try and get you back on track.

Everybody say cheese...

All smiles.

Let me share some examples of incidents that happened for me this month as a way to describe some of life's (not-so-funny) sense of humor: My much needed cell phone broke in half; my Palm Pilot's writing pad started to wear out; my living and working space both need to be relocated; my very important email address decided to stop working for reasons my web guy is still trying to figure out; and the list really does go on and on - believe me. Almost everything seems to not work smoothly or fit nicely as they would normally. Although fear was the first thing to enter my mind, I made sure it was also the first thing to leave. Fear freezes the mind, erases possibilities and clouds opportunities; and it makes most matters we're fearful about seem disproportionately greater than our ability to deal with them. Remember - fear exists in your life only when you choose to just exist, however, fear cannot exist when you choose to live your life!

My mantourage!

It's all about the teeth.

There's a big difference between living and just existing. Existing is instinctual; it is involuntary, reactive self-preservation, with the primary goal of just getting from one day to the next, without regard to quality. Living, on the other hand, is the exercise of certain learned attitudes, skills, and abilities that you have acquired to add substance to the quality of every moment of your life. Let's face it, no matter how much you know or how smart you are - as silly as this may sound - if you haven't learned how to speak Chinese, you can't expect to know just how to speak it. Just as it is in life - in order to succeed at the game of life, nobody ever taught you the rules, let alone how to play the game. Since we do not get formal training from society, we've been relying on the role models in our lives. Even so, it goes back to trial and error that they got it right, but it's a safe bet that training and preparation had nothing to do with it. Simply put, this means not only that you may lack certain crucial information, but the information you do have may be wrong. So when making changes in your life, you must be careful about where and from whom you accept input. Not so that you can substitute their thinking for your own, but so you can add to your personal knowledge.

At the Bavaria Party on the downtown streets of Vancouver.

Shake that money-maker!

Whatever your case may be, ultimately, you're the one who makes the final call on how your life should be. You can look at your life like pieces of a puzzle that doesn't come with a photo of the picture you have to construct. You and I know that nobody can provide us with a true picture of how our own life is suppose to look like. Therefore, we must learn to assemble the puzzle together as we earn our pieces. This is simply divine because you can strategize to obtain the puzzle pieces you choose to include in your life, and watch the mystery picture of your life unfold as you put the pieces together. It doesn't just stop here; the puzzle pieces you earn keep adding to form and create a bigger and more complete picture as your life journey continues. So enjoy every moment of your journey and remember - whatever you do, do it with all your heart.

Too many Mojitos.

At the Black Eyed Peas concert.

With my dear friend Nat at her 10 acre Bonsai plantation.

At the Michael Buble concert.

Check out the Hibiscus in my hair.

Spending quality time with Nat.