Walking with Barack...

That’s the power of hope – to imagine, and then work for, what had seemed impossible before.
- U.S. Senator Barak Obama campaigning in Iowa, 12/27/2007

Welcome to the dessert.

Again.

It's the place between Christmas and New Year's Day. It's the space between what has been and what will be.

Welcome to the dessert.

Does it feel familiar? It should. The place is littered with the landmarks of your life for the last 12 months.

Where did you go? What did you do? How did you live?

Welcome to the dessert.

The journey is unavoidable. The questions are everywhere as media force feed reflection of our pop culture and in doing so, ourselves as well. We read, we listen, we watch endless rehashes of the year's major happenings.

Who won? Who lost? What came into fashion? What fell out of style? We get endless lists of the best and the worst of everything that happened in 2007.

Each story, each list, each song, marks a moment in our personal lives. Where were you when blah, blah happened? What where you doing when this song came out, that commercial played and this game happened?

We hear the winds of this year past on every radio station. We watch the sights on every newscast. We relive the moments in every magazine. And we are exposed to them every, single day -- all day and night -- between Christmas and New Year's.

The stories give shape and form to what has been. We give shape and form to what will be.

Think about where you have been this year. What brought you great joy? What gave you great happiness? What brought you great love?

Hold onto those feelings. Hold onto those times. Make your own list of the best by writing them down. Use them as guides to even better times ahead.

Use them to help you decide what you really want your life to be in the coming year.

Barack Obama, the man from Chicago by way of Hawaii, sent a message from the presidential campaign trail in Iowa recently.

No matter what you are feeling, no matter what you are doing, no matter how "unrealistic" you think your dream may be, Mr. Obama encourages you to believe. Believe you can do more. Believe you can be more. Believe you can achieve more.

"That’s the power of hope – to imagine, and then work for, what had seemed impossible before," he says.

Welcome to the dessert.

Again.

Now go do the impossible.