A tiny egg on our windowsill. It looks so precarious and fragile. Where did it come from? Taken in Venice, CA April 8, 2005.

Within the last few years, I made a commitment to myself to live in alignment as much as possible, meaning that my thoughts, actions, desires, goals, choices, decisions, and relationships exist and are reflective of my standards, values and priorities, which must AT ALL COSTS be based on honesty (whew!) As is myusual modus operandi, I learned this the hard way, but what an extraordinary and valuable lesson to learn. What this means to me is that I wake up every single day with my priorities stapled to my forehead, so to speak. (Have I written this before? I am feeling a bit of deja vu.) I wake up with this awareness, and I go to sleep with it, and I carry it with me wherever I go.

This does not necessarily make life easier day to day, as it sometimes means making extra effort when you’d rather be lazy and it means making decisions that perhaps, given your first choice, you’d rather not make. But I have found that while some of the small details might not always be 100% "perfect", when I step back and look at the big picture that is my life, I see a bright, wide open space with no hidden selves and no worries of having to put on any kind of act for one person or another. I look at where I am, who I choose to surround myself with, what I choose to do with my time, energy and passion, and I feel a warm energy channeling through me – the energy of being authentic and real and honest with myself and the world.

I have become so committed to this ideal of alignment and determined to stand by my standards, values and priorities that I have even mustered up the courage to make decisions that, on the surface, seem terribly sad and hopeless. But for me they are neither of these things, they are simply what I must do in order to live fully within the realm of my deepest-felt priorities. I am not sure I have ever felt this before – this loving acceptance of things as they are, including my own flaws, weaknesses and past mistakes. I feel strong and resolute, and ready to climb the mountain before me.