No behavior can be changed before it's acknowledged. And no addiction is beyond the reach of Love.

I am grateful for what I call well-spent moments: Making a tuna fish sandwich with the works. Taking at least a half hour to eat it outside. Ironing my vintage tea towels while watching old black-and-white film noir movies and sipping one martini with extra olives - a quirky combination, but it works.

Some holiday traditions are sacred. In our house one such tradition is the annual Christmas classic cinema celebration.

Real life isn't always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.

This I can report from the front lines: life never calms down long enough for us to wait until tomorrow to start living the lives we deserve.

I wish I'd known from the beginning that I was born a strong woman. What a difference it would have made! I wish I'd known that I was born a courageous woman; I've spent so much of my life cowering. How many conversations would I not only have started but finished if I had known I possessed a warrior's heart? I wish I'd known that I'd be born to take on the world; I wouldn't have run from it for so long, but run to it with open arms.

Start moving, a step at a time, step after step. The positive momentum will take you from there.