I visited my family in Seville (South of Spain) for a week at the beginning of December. As usual, it was great to see them and spend time with my parents, my brother and my dog.

My dog, Lolo, is now getting to 10 years old and has a few health problems; being next to him for a few days made me get closer to the idea of loosing a loved one. Realizing that I may not see him again brings tears to my eyes every time.

While on the one hand I feel for him and wished, in an ideal world, that he never died (and lived in full health), on the other hand realizing that all life passes motivated me to choose to live my life even more fully. There are plenty of things that we've never faced or taken up on because of fear. You know what, "This, and that, and that... and then you die!" You've got nothing to loose.

I've expanded on this in the Monthly Thought. I wish that this newsletter makes you find your own spark and that you choose to say a big YES to your life in 2009.

Browsing around the Internet I found a web site which presents a project I immediately loved: it's called the Earth Hour 2009.

Earth Hour is an initiative aimed to reach one billion people turning the lights off for an hour on Saturday 28 March 2009, as an effort to show that it is possible to take coordinated action on global warming.

This project started in 2007, with 2.2 million people turning their lights off in Australia for an hour. The movement keeps on expanding, and I personally find it quite interesting in many levels. I think I'm in.

Read the full news at earthhour.org.

As I told you briefly in the "What I've been up to" section at the top of this newsletter, seeing that my dog Lolo is getting older and is not as healthy as he was made look closer at the idea of losing a loved one, and death in general. This got me thinking about the fact that life is now, but life also passes. What we do in between birth and death is our creation.

Take some time just now to think about the things that you did not do, the experiences you missed, because you stopped yourself. Fear is the general stopper. There may be other apparent reasons, but if you look closely most of the times the bottom feeling is fear. Procrastinating doing a task may be a hidden form of fear - fear of the new scenario that would come after whatever has to be done is done.

Susan Jeffer's book "Feel the fear and do it anyway" explains fear very clearly. Whatever fear we have (to loose a job, to break or start a relationship, to not have approval) comes down to fear of not being able to handle whatever it is we dread. She poses an enlightening question: "If you knew you could handle anything that came your way, what would you possibly have to fear?" Think of all the opportunities you would have taken in your life had you known you could handle whatever came.

The great author Robert Anton Wilson stated that "Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves", referring to the two parts of ourselves - the thinker, who simply thinks, and the prover, who looks around for proof that what we think is true, and invariably finds it. Who would you be if you chose to think of yourself from now on as kind, loving, courageous, successful, generous, beautiful...?

One night in Seville, as I lied on the floor next to Lolo, I felt his legs shaking because of the pain. I looked into his eyes, and I could see he had left behind his youth. He didn't rebel against it, he accepted he was not well and closer to his death. Tears came to my eyes at the sole thought of loosing him.

And while I experienced a deep sadness as I had never felt before, I also felt raising from that sadness a strong feeling of saying YES to the whole of my life, to all experiences equally, beyond my labeling them as "good" or "bad". YES to all that has been, and all that is, and all that is to come. YES, because what we have now is what we will ever have, and then we die. YES with love and passion and beauty and smiles and laughs and colours and music. YES, because that's what we are here for.

Here's is my proposal to you, my three-bottom-line statements, to make our lives as wonderfully amazing as we think them in 2009:

1. Say YES to your life!

2. You can handle anything!

3. Laugh a little about it all!

Wishing you a wonderful final days of 2008 and a pleasantly surprising 2009, with all my love.

"This, and that, and that... and then you die!" Nothing is actually such a big fuss as we make it be. Through ups and downs and whatever life throws at you, remember to laugh a little about it all.

Literally! Laughing takes away anxiety and worry and makes you feel good. So my recommendation for this month, and just to balance it all a bit, is comedy.

No doubt you have your own preference for humour. Bringing you here three videos of stand-up comedians who make me laugh. Have a good one!

-Russell Peters on Indians and Chinese doing business

-Eddie Izzard on evil animals

-With some music: Bill Bailey on foreign ambulance sirens

I believe that being grateful for something is one of the most powerful tools to feel better immediately. Here are the two thanking bits of the month:

Thankful for... our breath. This is our life-giver, yet so often we take it for granted and we don't pay attention to it. The week I've spent in the South of Spain, in a village outside Seville with fresh air at all times, has once again showed me the power of our breath. We can alter our state, bring in more energy and feel better overall just by breathing consciously. So many gifts in something we do constantly.

Thankful for... the time off. For those of us with an office job, this time of the year offers us opportunities for time off, perhaps because we have taken holidays, or simply because our work place is closed for a few days due to the festivities. In the next two to three weeks I'll enjoy a couple of days off every week - and that time for whichever I decide to do is priceless. Wishing plenty of time off for you too!

What are you thankful for? Send me an email trough the Contact Me form and let me know!

Care to send me your thoughts about this issue's topics? Email me and let me know!

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please pass it along to your friends, family and colleagues, or send them to the Dare To Play It Big sign up page. I thank you in advance.

Stay well,

Cristina