It’s 2010. My blog is one year old! One year of seeking balance and consistent good health in the midst of a busy career and home life.

During this first year, I did, in fact, make a mental shift: instead of always feeling overwhelmed, I sometimes appreciate the ongoing challenge of juggling my performing/travelling life with staying current with my neighbors, local comrades and household affairs.

It turns out, finding balance is a puzzle I can continue to work on—I don’t have to solve it all today, or even in one year.

So for this fresh New Year, I aim to keep doing what I can, and worry less about the stuff I can’t get to. It’s true, when I hit the To Do list, or practice, or prepare for a tour, or arrive at a venue, I am often caught up in the business of what needs to be done. Of course, there’s often not quite enough time to do it all. So by the time the stage has been set, I’m striking it… so to speak.

It’s good to work and to prepare. It’s good to be conscientious and sensitive to fine details. But at the end of the day, it’s the doing that is the really good business of life.

Like the frog who prepares his jump—he’s learned to make these hops, and he calculates where he’s going next—I value preparation and consistent small steps toward bigger goals. But once the plans have been laid as best they can under the circumstances, it’s time to leap. And maybe to ENJOY the journey *and* the destination for a while, before moving on.

My next leap is across the ocean to Thailand, where I will reunite with dear friends from my childhood and where I will pick up my music studies with the inimitable Jiraporn Lekpong.

I don’t know where this Thai music tangent will lead. I don’t know how my Irish music will go over with the gang in Suphanburi. But this morning my friend Lloyd reassured me I’m going to do great. He reminded me that “the outcome doesn’t matter… it’s taking the action, and doing it” that is the real heart of it.

Kra-dod! Leap, Khun Non!