Editorial January 2005 : A Year of Possibility By Hilary Williamson 'This is the day / you grow another year wiser. This is the day / you forget what you know to be impossible.' (from Janet S. Wong's Prayer for the Lunar New Year, in Days to Celebrate) As the New Year turns, a fresh year of possibility stretches ahead of us all. Some people plan major changes, some make resolutions to manage life a little differently, while others simply wonder what's in store for them. Many seek inspiration in books. Here are a few to help guide you in wending your way through your 2005 calendar ... Victoria Moran's Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit, is all about exploiting possibility, 'rejuvenating yourself with action'. Moran advises that 'Life is either a thrilling adventure, or else it is aging', and encourages us to keep living the adventure. Quotations often inspire us to action, and Senator Elizabeth Dole shares 500 of her favorites in Hearts Touched with Fire. She includes this one from legendary Western writer Louis L'Amour (who lived the life he wrote about) - 'The best of all things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.' If you don't lack inspiration, but just have too much on your daily plate, then open up the classic (revised from the original 1990 edition), Meditations for Women who Do Too Much by Anne Wilson Schaef. This small volume offers perspective and space to 'women workaholics, busyaholics, rushaholics, and careaholics'. It includes this apt quote (from Lauren Bacall) for those who worry too much about what's ahead - 'You can't start worrying about what's going to happen. You get spastic enough worrying about what's happening now.' For those who need to manage not only their own possibilities, but those of others, where better to seek guidance than from a renowned management guru? The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker & Joseph A. Maciariello offers 366 excerpts of pithy wisdom and insights on how get 'the Right Things Done', beginning with 'Know thy time.' He also advises that 'Objectives are not fate; they are direction', to be used to mobilize resources and energy - advice as pertinent to personal life as to business. In the doldrums this New Year? Humor is the best medicine - does yourself with daily laughs by dipping into Bill Cosby's cautionary comedic monologue on how all our sins of ingestion and digestion (like those recent holiday indulgences) eventually come back to haunt us - I Am What I Ate ... and I'm frightened!!!: And Other Digressions from the Doctor of Comedy. When Cosby's hilarious anecdotes on rationalization strike too close to home, switch to the funny thing is ..., Ellen Degeneres' wry, outside the box, perspective on all the things we take much too seriously in our lives. It's a witty pick-me-up at any time of year. Want to know what your horoscope predicts for 2005? Susan Miller of astrologyzone.com offers The Year Ahead 2005: Your Ultimate Astrology Planner, accessible both to knowledgeable astrology fans and newcomers to the subject. And if you're raring to get moving with the New Year's possibilities, capture your creativity, and make things happen, jot down ideas for 'great beginnings' in Ron Rubin & Stuart Avery Gold's Zentrepeneur's Idea Log & Workbook. Their advice - 'If it's not broken ... break it! Dent the universe'. So, seize the moment, forget the impossible, and go ahead and dent the universe! All of us at BookLoons wish you and yours a happy, healthy and successful 2005, a new year of possibility. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons.