Happy New Year!  Welcome to my brand new website!  I am so excited about this site, and I’m so happy for you to be here with me to share this journey.  It is fitting that my new website is launching with the New Year.  For some, January 1 is simply the first day of another month, which happens to be the next year.  But for most of us, I think, the New Year is not simply a literal “new year”.  This time of year has so many symbolic meanings for us; most of which hover somewhere above the themes of rebirth, renewal, and actualization.

So while it may just look like clever marketing to have my website launch on January 4, 2010, to be perfectly honest, we didn’t really set out to consciously have a New Website/New Year Symbolic Moment.  But now that I think about it, it actually does make perfect sense!   I’m on the threshold of some very exciting things, and with the vast, clean slate of this unwritten new year lying before me, the sense of our collective desire to turn our dreams into reality is brought into full relief.

My website will be like a giant, fabulous portal into my world!  For people who just want a few sound bites about me and are looking for a general picture, they will find those things immediately.  But having already connected with many of you through Facebook and YouTube, I know that you, like me, are interested not only in the general sound bites, but also in getting the full picture of an artist’s professional life, as well as a little juicy, behind-the-scenes action!

With my infamous vlogs on YouTube, and with this Newsletter, you’ll get all the funny, absurd, passionate, fascinating, random, and inspiring backstage and onstage stories and anecdotes that you could possibly hope for!  And speaking of YouTube, please also visit my Channel there at www.youtube.com/divoboy.  In addition to my vlogs, you’ll find many more “Bonus Features” on YouTube, all conveniently arranged in a there’s-a-little-something-for-everyone format.

I strongly encourage you to rate my videos and to subscribe to my YouTube Channel!  The more ratings, views, and subscribers I get on YouTube, the more my videos get bumped to the front of the YouTube line, as it were.  So, as one of my favorite YouTube personalities, Michael Buckley (aka “What The Buck”), says, “Rate it, even if you hate it!”.

And of course, and I’m sure this goes without saying, please Friend me on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Jones/721366134

Many of you are already part of my fabulous Facebook community of Friends, and you continue to inspire me, humble me, and make me laugh uncontrollably on a daily basis.  Thank you!

So as you ponder the issues of rebirth, renewal, and actualization in your own life, I encourage you not to fall into the suffocating trap of The New Year’s Resolution.  Because when we hear that ubiquitous, pop culture label, the first thing we start to subconsciously tell ourselves is how likely it is that we will give up.

So let’s forget the labels, and try to remember that just by having the courage to hold the intention to move forward in your life – whether that means taking on a new job, venturing off to a new country, or just putting one foot in front of the other today – you already have the most important tool to get going, and to stay going.  As Maya Angelou says, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.

Thank you for joining me in a courageous and thrilling journey!