All systems work together in a circular, vibrantly beating model that keeps you everything flowing.

As our system allows for circulation to flow, we live with a brilliant energy.

When our system is hopelessly clogged we face certain death.

The connection here?

When we choose to sit in a space of joy and possibilities we allow ourselves to circle freely. We are able to get from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego learning along way. We pick ourselves up when we falter. We laugh at interesting characters and roadblocks along way.

When we live in a space of fear and doubt, our system begins to slowly get clogged. We shut down. We face certain death.

In my not-so-distant path, I was doing exactly that. It was a bit over two years ago and what seems like an eternity ago that I forgot what it felt like to flow. I had turned from creativity, I had snuffed out spark. I had disallowed beauty of life to shine within me or through me. I was dying a slow, miserable, lonely death.

I saw systems and procedures as a necessary enemy. I saw myself as a hapless victim of horrific circumstances.

I was not looking at barn, I was seeing hole where I believed barn had fallen.

Like our circulatory system, procedures we follow bring flow back into our lives. As I grew from slow death to possible passion to vibrant passion to embracing entire system from nuts and bolts to complexities beyond my human understanding and everything in between, I was able to see (or in some cases accept that I could not see for moment) all world was offering to me.

I was seeing skyscraper (or museum, cathedral, home or bridge). I was seeing not only roads crisscrossing Bakersfield, I was seeing Alaska, North America, Central America, and South America and Tierra del Fuego.

At heart of experience was my soul. My essence. The beat of my internal drum.

Where are you today? Are you facing certain death? Are you reaching towards flow? Are you living firmly in flow? Are you somewhere in between?

Decide that today is your new beginning. Declare it your fresh start.

Know that from this point onward, you will grow even when you stumble and fall. You will continue to go higher and wider, flow through systems and procedures, gain strength and find power in weakness.

It seems fitting to conclude our connections, our discovery of circles, with a quote from same hero of mine who opened this article: Albert Einstein. Yes, he is a scientist. Yes, he is a philosopher. Neither are mutually exclusive. They both are spectacular alone and together.

Just as you are spectacular in your specialness. In your niche and niches. In your own personal paradoxes.

Take his words and apply them to systematic flow of your life. Allow them to filter through and apply themselves as you begin your new journey today. Directly in words of my Scientific Philosopher Hero: "The ideas that have lighted my way and, time after time, have given me new courage to face life cheerfully have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth."

It was a year where we lost touch with some, and yet found others.

It was a year where something good happened to us at least once. But for some reason we didn't quite believe it was really happening to "us," so we let it fade.

And it was a year where we went with flow. Didn't makes waves. Sat back to see where we would end up. Kept hoping for a better tomorrow. Tried to stay out of trouble. Got out of wrong side of bed way too often. Cried over spilled milk. Complained about cost of tea in China. And we kept hoping something good would appear on television, but never did anything about it, and kept watching it anyway.

While 2001 is certainly one of those years we would love to pretend never took place or just forget, we know we can never do that. Nor should we really want that to actually happen.

So when that ball begins to drop at 11:59pm in New York City on New Years Eve, take that minute to just sit and feel it. Think about year that was and year ahead. So much is uncertain. The only things we know are what have already taken place.

So don't be afraid to have ideas and dreams of a better tomorrow. Create some sort of image or monument of your own to live up to. And if you ever lose your way or that inspiration, take out this chapter on 2001. It'll be easy to find. It has that red, white and blue ribbon as it's bookmark.

Now….. Let's Roll!