Happy New Year, my loyal subscribers as well as my newcomers!

What is at the top of your list? No, I'm not talking about your New Year's resolution or shopping list. I am talking about your all-time to-do list. You know, the virtual list of things you would like to accomplish in your lifetime, of what you'd want to be and how you'd want to be. So what is at the top? Take a look, and let me know if it is love.

Put love at the top of your list. No, make it the first item on your list. It is never too late to move or add love in the #1 spot. Make it your priority to be more loving, to show more love to your fellow mankind, animals, the environment. In other words, to all of God's creations; never leave one out!

Being a loving person does not mean you have to fall madly in love with everyone, heavens forbid. We all know that not everyone is loveable, quite on the contrary to say the least. What does being a loving person actually mean?

A loving person is an understanding person who treats everyone with equality. A loving person will embrace the sickly, the poor, and the not-so pretty like a sibling. They will lend a helping hand to those in the need and will not expect any monetary or material benefits in return. Instead, they will only ask for the good feeling that only helping others can bring.

A loving person seeks spiritual gifts, not people's spotlight. A loving person embraces others around them and do not care of what others think of them. They fear not of any rumors said of them, for when they know they are good, they would have nothing to worry about. Only the guilty worry about what others whisper behind their backs. Why should the loving worry? What would they have to worry about?

A loving person is filled with compassion for others. They understand what others need and will not question the actions of the good. The loving will honor and respect others even when they could not understand them.

Above all, the loving love honestly. They do not express their love falsely; they do not use love to get what they want. They love with real love. If they do not love someone, they would still be kind and nice to them, and they do not hate anyone.

Why do you love someone? If someone could not promise you riches, would you still love them? Would you just love someone just because they promise you such and such?

Why do you love God? Do you love God because He is your Heavenly Father or do you love Him because He promises everlasting life? Would you still love Him if He does not promise riches? Again, the loving do not use love; they do not "love" to get what they want.

The loving love for the sake of love, not for rewards. They simply love love. They love because they love the lovely feeling and the virtue of loving others. They love because they are glad to be alive, they love because they have the privilege to love, and they love because God made us so we can love.

If love is not #1 on your list, put it there. 2008 is a great time to start loving!

My already well-received book, Embrace Ultra-Ability! Wisdom, Insight & Motivation from the Blind Who Sees Far and Wide, will be officially released late this month! What does that mean to you? Well, it means you can grab the discount while it lasts! Save $2 when you pre-order it before its release date. Get an autographed copy at http://www.shirleycheng.com

Below I'm featuring another great review I've received for this book...and this time, from Kirkus Discoveries, another well-respected reviewer!

Motivational speaker and poet Cheng offers a heartfelt guide to building the foundations for a good life. Cheng has had her share of miseries: A crippling case of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which was not only excruciatingly painful but kept her from school and almost sent her into foster care, was followed by the loss of her vision at the age of 17. So if she chooses to live in happiness, then her tools to achieve that state certainly have fashioned one shining example.

Cheng is a forceful believer in God Almighty: "God is everything. He is all virtues…He is infinite, total, and all-encompassing." Well, perhaps not all the time-"He is absent during your every fall"-and she is not the first to appreciate that "He works under mysterious plans." But readers need not be believers to find the everyday wisdom in her life purposes: to be a good person with good intentions and to enjoy life to its last sensuous, joyous morsel. Her advice is to live moment to moment, guided by a foundation of values and virtues.

Writing with verve and conviction, and ever cutting to the chase, she covers the ingredients of the foundation: faith (in God, perhaps, or maybe simply the allegiance to a cause), finding gratitude (or at least an education) in all things, discovering your core value (hers is goodness), loving life and yourself and others, and having hope that things will go right. Who's to argue with that? As you wend your way to being good, Cheng is adamant about putting your needs first (only when you have cared for yourself can you fruitfully care for others) and being yourself, finding what is important to you, learning to say no, giving yourself a break, kicking back and taking risks. Then she provides working examples of how to handle the negativities that enter life-deaths, physical ailments-moving beyond simply tendering good words.

Cheng could easily have become sad and bad, but good and happy is her path. These lifeways were her ticket to the high road.
—Kirkus Discoveries

Until we meet again in February, spend your time now as a lover....and why not give that frog a kiss?

Have a splendiferous 2008!

Shirley Cheng, www.ShirleyCheng.com