In looking forward to the direction for Changemaker, I will mention what directions we’ve taken since Nov. 2004.

(1) Changemaker was created to share the recovery story of my sobriety which started Nov. 24, 1976. Changemaker: Healing Mind, Body, and Soul was the title for the blog for several years. Then I changed it to Changemaker: Reinventing Yourself.

(2) Some of the mind games I’ve played with myself (one friend of mine called these inner voices “the committee”) are over the words of recovery (which many don’t identify with because they are already perfect), healing (see above reason), spirituality (how this differs from religion), reinventing yourself (well, I believe that God and I are co-creators in my recovery/spiritual journey), self-help (I have a lot of trouble with this because I rarely read about God’s amazing grace in the process, personal development (appears to me to be same as self-help), and, finally, my personal favorite—transformation (how can you transform yourself?).

(3) One of the directions I took with the blog a few years ago was to develop my thinking about having a high energy life. I was inspired by this quotation from The Berkeley Holistic Health Center:

“The concept of energy and the flow of that energy in the human body is the core of the current explosion in healing. The healing principle is to “balance” the energy in the body by using relaxation to counter the body’s reaction to stress.”

(4) Another of my influences was to try to direct the message of the blog to a broader audience. My goal throughout has been to reach anyone struggling and feeling overwhelmed to know that he/she is God’s creation so if he/she reaches out for help to God that He is immediately available. God is a gentleman and won’t enter a life until He is invited.

(5) As the main blog got larger, I took 5 of the main topics in Changemaker and put each topic on a separate blog. The other five blogs are about: Personality traits (The Changemaker Test—answersbyemail.com); Help for starting peer groups—changemakergroups.com); Books in our recommended Changemaker books—cmlibraryonline.com); Healing and spirituality topics—healingforyouonline.com); and High Energy diet, fitness, emotional, and mental techniques for using your energy positively—highenergygoals.com).

(6) So for the New Year of 2009, I am focusing on my favorite topic—using spiritual practices to transform oneself, reduce stress, increase relaxation, keep watch over the rambling mind, and attend to my body’s physical demands by including exercise.