The last day of the year, welcome to it! 

2007 has been a wild, flaming hot ride.  From moving from Mexico to Colorado at the end of '06, to the house burning down to romance and starting businesses, this year has had it all.  I blogged about it extensively (in a month by month breakdown) over at gwenbell.com.  You're welcome to read all about it there.  It's been a full year.

This photo was taken today and I think it captures the essence of what a lot of my life is about.  Plunging, encouraging others to make leaps even they didn't know they were capable of, and doing the same by exemplifying fearlessness in my own life.  Everyday, without hesitation. 

To that end, my final post of the year is My Year in Cities, 2007.  I covered a lot of ground this year, both here and abroad.  Next year holds great promise as we look at expanding the yoga studio, offering an even richer experience for our listeners at Zen is Stupid and I return to Boulder in two short days...this time with a clear picture of where I'm heading and a mission, however flexible, for what I know I can acheive.  With the help of friends and family, 2007 has been an incredible, heart-opening year. 

My motto for 2008? 

Don't hesitate!

to join Twitter.  And support Susan Reynolds on her journey with cancer.  Susan is a well known blogger and is now famous in the Twitterverse. 

From the TechCrunch coverage:

"The benefits of Twitter may still be subject to heated debate amongst TechCrunch commenter’s, but very few would doubt that Twitter has created new relationships and taken social networking to new (and perhaps different) levels.

A cause that’s hot on Twitter today is Frozen Pea Friday, a Breast Cancer Awareness and fundraising day in support of well regarded blogger Susan Reynolds."

Susan was diagnosed this month and goes into surgery today.  My heart goes out to her and her family as they work through this difficult time.

It’s like this.  When we were kids playing in a sandbox we’d use sifters to sift through the sand, sometimes revealing treasures like, oh, I don’t know, insects and broken toys, plastic hair clips, that sort of thing.  Some days leave me feeling that way.  Box in hand- sifting through the desire, the tender feelings, the foreignness of the whole thing.

This thing about “I am so complex” is a front.  We’re not, as people, all that complicated.  We are gushy stuff, sacs, valves, holes and all that shit that makes us feel queasy to think of.  And somewhere in all this gushy stuff is a heart and a mind and a capacity to love beyond our imagination.  It’s not a valve, that love.  We can call it prana, life-force.  The thread that connects all of us, that links our stories and selves to everyone/every other living thing in this Universe.

I don’t pay lip service to these concepts.  Because I know them.  Can we open ourselves up to infinite love?  Can we feel the texture and see the colors of it?  Can we let it seep into and out of every single act, thought and dream we have?  Can I do all these things? 

That is the impossible request my life asks of me.  Open and open and open and open to grace.  See the world and universe as places of abundance.  And open when it hurts.  Open when there's joy.  Know that the two are the opposite sides of the same coin.  There is nothing to fear. 

Today is as good a day to die as any.

And today is as good a day to love as any.

I conducted dozens of interviews this year with Buddhist teachers all over the country (from Genpo Roshi to Sharon Salzberg), recorded more than 40 episodes of Zen is Stupid and did all sorts of fun Dharma work.  So when I got a request for an interview from a student named Lucas Sutter I was like, "rock on!"  He asked some tough questions and the interview covers women, Buddhism, sexuality, that sort of thing.  You can find it here.  Thought my friends in the Zaadz community would dig it.  I only posted one half and if you find it intriguing, I'll put the rest up.  If you find it dull, well...しょがない, ne.

Well, how nice of you to drop by!  Wish I had some green tea to offer you.

Lots of good stuff happening in my world these days and I just wanted to give you an update. In the seven months since the fire, I've done a lot of work on myself.  Much of it has been done in the community of friends I've found in Chapel Hill, NC (and distance--with Colorado friends) and a lot has been done solo. 

My website has experienced a huge surge of growth since I launched it in July.  I'm proud of how much it's grown and how I have managed to clear up my focus a lot over recent months.  I just launched a redesign with Paul's help.  Our design firm continues to grow despite the fact (or perhaps because!) he's in Berlin.

I'm moving back to Boulder the first week of January, 2008.  This thrills me so much.  A lot of opportunities have come out of the woodwork and I'll be doing a lot of entrepreneurial work alongside TechStars.  More news on that soon. 

Zen is Stupid has a growing cadre of haters & lovers.  Really. People either love the show (coming up on its year anniversary already) or they can't stand it.  I dig that about it.  It's fresh, fresh mouthed and definitely not for sticks in mud.  You can subscribe in iTunes and get the updates weekly every Monday.

At Zaadz, the Yoga A-Pod continues to be the largest and fastest growing yoga pod.  If you haven't yet already, please cruise on over and introduce yourself!

2008 promises to be a year of planting new seeds, settling down for a while (although for those that have been following my travels, not to worry, I'll go abroad several times next year!) and launching a new company.  Thank you to everyone that has been so incredibly supportive this year--through the fire and all--I am so thankful.

Blessings for a beautiful holiday and beginning of the year.

new york from way up

"The kind of spirituality I value is one in which you get great joy out of contributing to life, not just sitting & meditating, although meditation is certainly valuable.  But from the meditation, from the resulting consciousness, I would like to see people in action creating the world that they want to live in."

-Practical Spirituality, Marshall Rosenberg

Zaadzsters--If you're in or around the RDU area of NC, please come out to see Sharon speak and lead a class on the 14th & 15th of September!  Pass this on to friends in the area.

From Yoga Garden, a new, quick (6.5 minute) visual guide to doing zazen.  The first half is serious, the nuts & bolts.  The second half is funny, what's REALLY going on in all those stern-faced monks' minds.

This blog is expanding and moving to a magical new home at Gwen Bell Dot Com.  I've created a Met(t)a Project page there and my blog will reside there until I'm at least 90, I hope.  This move does several wonderful things.

1.  It creates a home for all your Gwen Bell needs.  The address won't change.
2.  It makes it possible for all my friends to interact with me, even those not on Zaadz.
3.  It allows me to tweak my blog to my heart's content and as a coder-designer by trade, this is crucial.

The one not-so-wonderful thing it does is it means you're getting re-directed to that new home.  I am sorry for any inconvenience this causes you.  Please remember to update your RSS feeds to the new one.

I've been blogging at Zaadz since May 2006 and I've long wanted to make this transition to simplify my increasingly complex online persona, if you will.  Thankfully, we live in a digital world and I'm never more than an email or twitter away.  My photos, if you're wanting those, will reside at Flickr forevermore.  (Which in internet land means until the Killer App emerges.)

In the near future, expect some cool things at gwenbell.com including:

*More fabulous interviews, including one with David Cohen, founder of TechStars (up now!)& with Timothy Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week
*Ongoing news from the road
*Updates about Startup Weekend!
*Tips on How to Be Remarkable
*Attention Economy, Girl & Tech, Micro-branding and more...

I'm reporting LIVE from the lobby/bar at W Hotel in Chicago Illinois (hence, the pic).  My cosmo is on its way.  I'll be blogging throughout the entire BlogHer conference.  If you want to keep up with me and all the things going on at the conference, please cruise over to gwenbell.com/blog and take a look.  I'm blogging it over there because it's an open network where anyone can comment on my blog, which makes it fun fun for everyone!  Please join us!