I love to visit friends who travel a lot.

They always have such interesting items in their homes.

Treasures from all over the world.

About ten years ago I was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease. You probably didn’t know this because I don’t talk about it much, and the reason I don’t talk about it is because, as with most illnesses, there is a psychological aspect that doesn’t benefit from dwelling. The more you advertise any illness to other people, the more opportunities they have to say, “oh, that’s terrible,” and the more inclined you are to respond with, “actually, yes, it is terrible,” and then next thing you know you start to get brainwashed with the thing you keep saying and hearing over and over, and then one morning you wake up wondering why you feel so terrible all the time. It is especially important to avoid negative self-talk with diseases like Ménière’s, because there is no cure, so the best you can do is just suck it up, live the best life you can, and try not to wallow.

I’ve been lucky in that my Ménière’s episodes have been few and far between; even though I have a constant low-level tinnitus and minor ear fullness, I’ve learned to ignore both, and the big flare-ups usually only happen a few times a year, and never last more than a day or two. However, I’ve recently been experiencing a flare-up that has gone on for longer than a week, and it seems to be getting worse, so I’m headed to the doctor even though I know he’s likely to tell me, “you have Ménière’s and you know that already, so get over it and wait it out.” I’m hoping that maybe it’s a bacterial infection that just happens to be in my affected ear, and maybe antibiotics can sort it out. You never know. We’ll see what the ENT says.

So to make up for what has been erratic posting over the past week or so, and will probably continue to be erratic posting over the next few days, here are a few links I found interesting. No theme here other than my personal interest— enjoy.

• Bored at work? Got a couple of lighters? Try this.
• This man got shot in the head, but then sneezed out the bullet like it was nothing. He’s expected to make a full recovery.
• No matter how much you think your life sucks, it really, really doesn’t.
• Memo for Lars Ulrich: embracing potential fans works a lot better in the long run than calling them dirty criminals and trying to prosecute them. Just saying.
• It was brought to my attention last week that there are still a handful of people on earth who are not familiar with Maru. When you fall in love with him, be sure to check out his other videos.

It’s heartbreaking when pets don’t feel well. Luckily he’s all better now.

Antalya is one of those cities that gets even more beautiful in the winter.

They’re not in short supply this time of year.

You just pick them up off the ground… no need to buy any.

At the beginning of each year, Chris Brogan does a post in his blog where he chooses three words as theme words, things to remember and keep in mind as guidance throughout the year. These are not goals or resolutions, they are simply the answers to this question: “At the end of this year, if I look back and describe the past twelve months of my life in three words, what would I want those three words to be?” Then you can reverse-engineer your goals from that, working out exactly what you need to do to have your life this year resemble the words you chose.

I like this idea, and even though I’m a few days late, I’m jumping on the bandwagon. It took me a lot less time than I expected to come up with three words I wanted to lock down; perhaps this is because I’m quite diligent about keeping up my goal list year-round, and so I already had a pretty clear idea of where I want to head.

• Hunger. No, I don’t mean anything about weight loss or any other kind of self-punishment via food deprivation. I’m not even talking about food at all. What I mean by “hunger” is a hunger for the things I want in life. Because of my experiences, I’ve seen time and time again how the person who gets the prize is almost always the person who wanted it the most. Naturally there are exceptions here and there, but almost all of the ridiculous and even “impossible” goals I’ve seen reached were accomplished by people who got the job done simply because they were so ravenous for it that they were willing to do whatever it took, no matter what, long after everyone else had given up or lost steam. I used to be that person, but, at the risk of sounding like I’m making excuses, one loses the hunger a bit when one is on the Turkish Riviera, enjoying the beaches and the mountains and drinking tea on the balcony. Not that I regret having a few years of unadulterated recreation, mind you, but I think I’m at a point in my life where it no longer has to be an either/or situation. I think I’m capable now of mindfulness and gratitude for the present moment while chasing after my goals like someone possessed.
• Action. All the desire in the world means nothing if you’re not able to get yourself off the sofa. Clearly this word goes hand-in-hand with hunger— if you want something badly enough, action is the obvious next step, and hopefully it would happen pretty automatically if it really were hunger-driven. I think it’s important to note it separately, however, because the kind of action I’m talking about is the kind where you specifically move in the direction of your goals. Most people fill their days with all manner of activities and convince themselves of how busy they are and how much they’re getting done, but a shocking amount of what we do with our time amounts to nothing more than filler. If you don’t believe me, spend a day writing down every single thing you do, without changing your regular habits, and at the end of the day count up how many of those things were actions that made a direct impact on your major life goals. I’m not judging; I’m certainly guilty of “keeping busy” too. But now I’m ready to stop being so busy and start taking real action instead.
• Adventure. A couple of months ago I read a blog post somewhere that said, “start saying yes to adventure. Whether it’s a trip to the corner market or a trip to Outer Mongolia, stop hesitating long enough to talk yourself out of it and just start saying yes when you want to.” Now, you might think I’m the last person who needs this advice, and to a great extent it’s true that I’ve lived my life according to whim— after all, this is why I’m talking to you from the Mediterranean coast and not from a stuffy cubicle in Western Suburbia. But I think it’s almost because of the huge amount of travel and adventure I’ve had that I’ve allowed thoughts of “I deserve to do nothing for a while” to creep in. Routine is such an easy rut to get into, and its gravity field is ridiculously strong. There will always be a million reasons to say no to things you want to do, but why do that when it’s just as easy to say yes? For me, It’s time to embrace the power of yes again.

So there they are, my three words for 2011. If you have three of your own you’d like to share, I’d love to hear them.

For a long time I’ve been interested in the idea of product subscriptions, but have always run into one of two problems: either shipping to Turkey has been exorbitant, or the product has not been interesting to me in the least. When I discovered Bonbon Balm‘s monthly lip balm subscription, I jumped at it, because for only £5 a month, you can have a new lip balm every month, with free shipping anywhere in Europe. Royal Mail includes Turkey in their definition of “Europe,” so I got lucky there.

I’ve had two balms so far, Mitchum Mint and Tangerine, and both are just wonderful. I love the soft, non-waxy texture, and all the ingredients are natural. I could go on and on about Bonbon’s commitment to using organic, fair trade ingredients wherever possible, and I know that’s a priority, but really I’m just in love with the way the balms smell and feel. If you live anywhere in Europe, this is definitely a worthwhile use of £5 a month. Link

[Note: this is a completely independent review— I am not affiliated with Bonbon Balm in any way, nor was I given any compensation or consideration for this review. I just like the product, that's all.]

Milking the holidays for all they’re worth!

Even in these dark days, a new year brings light. Here’s to a great 2011 for all of us.