11 days to go...

And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
— President Abraham Lincoln

The bearded man was right. And I cannot imagine how I could face myself at the end of a life that was not well lived. How sad it would be to think of all the opportunities that weren’t used.

To be sure, a good many things in my life are not in my control, or so it seems to me. But I know that my life is in my control, because it’s my attitude and my choices that count.

That’s how my three arenas of success have become important to me. The inner arena of being true to myself, the arena of growing to develop my potential, and the arena of caring and sharing.

At this time of day, I feel drawn to my inner arena, to the solutions that lie within.

And as I write this, I listen to one of my favorite singers, Anggun, singing about this in her song Look Into Yourself. She says it so well…

Look Into Yourself

Tired of letting go all that i've tried to have

I'm tired of wasting time looking up to the wrong stars

I do believe in life and that everything is written

But life is not a book with pages wide-opened

Don't search too far, my mother says

Sometimes all that you need is only a step away

Look into yourself

The one and only

Look into yourself

If you want to find the key

Look into yourself

Release your heart free

Look into yourself

And be the master of your destiny

Don't be afraid of wanting changes in your life

Don't be afraid to go to wherever you decide

Believe in yourself and believe in what you can do

And no one can deny the will that lies in you

Try to pay more attention

And live your life with good intentions

Look into yourself

The one and only

Look into yourself

If you want to find the key

A look into yourself

Release your heart free

Look into yourself

And be the master of your destiny

Look into yourself

Cause there's a rainbow

Look into yourself

There is so much more that you need to know

Cause in yourself

There's serenity

It's all in yourself

You are the master of your destiny

For every doubt you face

In every step you take

For choices that you make

Dreams aren't made to be erased

Just look into yourself..

Look into yourself

The master of your destiny..

It's in yourself

The master of your destiny

It's in yourself..

Photograph: The Charm of Autumn, by Tran Huu Dung (shown in Hanoi’s Hilton Hotel by Mai Gallery).