Huff Away.

If you haven't heard of Arianna Huffington you are clearly not with it in the world we call the blogosphere.
The Huffington Post is an interesting blog...check it out if you haven't already.

But the story du jour is her new and 11th book 'On Becoming Fearless'. We were lucky to have Arianna do a quick stopover on her way to the Colbert Report yesterday afternoon. We being the place I work at we.

I have to admit when I first saw her (she walked right past me and I tried to smile but couldn't get over how much makeup she was wearing) I was quick to judge. And then when she started to talk in her super thick accent (Greek) I was not prepared to be impressed. But I was wrong. She's a smart cookie with plenty zeal and even though she quotes many French poets and authors, and shows off about her Cambridge education and all the fabulous things she did at 23...she deserves muchos kudos for being a smart, passionate and very intelligent woman. And she gave it to Colbert last night on his show. Put him in right in his place, smugness and everything. Colbert can be so annoying sometimes, detracting from his interviews just to have the last word or laugh and prove his superiority. Yawn.

I didn't get a free copy of the book, and even though it sounds mildly generic (loving mother imparting knowledge and secrets to becoming fearless to teenage daughters coupled with political fire) Arianna's delivery of the core elements of her book was compelling and often humourous.

In short:
-There's an annoying roommate in your head. Evict him/her. For Arianna, the roommate is Colbert. Go figure. I'm trying to keep this short people.
-Use common sense and some good old fashioned tools to combat your fears. Have a theme song that calms you, get plenty sleep (she had a lot to say about sleep depravation being a weakening agent) and employ a fearlessness 'tribe'-peeps that will be on your side unconditionally.
-Have a hero, an icon, a role model for fearlessness. Someone guts and glory. Preferably your mother.
-My favorite: We all have so many things we want to do in life. The best way of 'checking off' this to-do list is to accept that certain things just wont get done. Learning German, mastering ballet or becoming a painter, whatever it is just forget about it...focus on one passion and pursue it with all your heart. Omit the clutter in your head and create some space to focus on the good stuff.

Anyway gotta dash, Musharraf is appearing on my beloved Daily Show. I just can't believe it! Pervez and Jon heart to heart? In the seat of heat and everything! Oh boy, this will be interesting.