Your vision will become clear only

when you look into your heart. Who

looks outside dreams; who looks

inside awakens.   —   Carl Jung

In September, last year I moved from California to New York... that is, from the sleepy Napa Valley town of Calistoga —by way of San Francisco — to Manhattan. In Calistoga you have to watch out for deer on the road, and for straying tourists, but then, it's a town of only 5,000 people. So it's a good thing I paused in San Francisco a bit before heading to New York, Brooklyn to be exact. Lucky for me, I live just down the street from Heath Ledger. Don’t miss him in Brokeback Mountain.

What I've found especially wonderful is that Manhattan is like a great big small town, and I'm playing here just like I would in a small town. My passion is art and design — just about everything visually beautiful and creative. This has led me to a career in acting and modeling. I used to work as an art director, and now I'm in front of the camera. Whether it is film, digital or paint, it's a life all about art.

I’ve been a cover and calendar model. In my first four months working in New York, I've had a speaking role on a TV pilot, modeled during fall fashion week, have been photographed as a “painter” (imagine that), “father of the bride,” and even as a "surfer dude" in the Atlantic. If any of these qualified for reality TV drama, the surfing gig does — there was snow on the sidewalk and the street gutters were frozen 500 feet from the water's edge. You get the picture — it was cold. The client and photographer Tim Knox were wonderful to work with, so the day shoot turned out to be fun in spite of its icy edge.

We all have the "opportunity" to experience difficulties in our lives and looking back, the last four years have been more than a challenge for me. There were times when I didn't think I'd get through them. I'd cross off the days on the calendar just to get to the next month. Now, here I am thriving from it all … stronger, wiser and grateful for all those times I was pushed into my heart so that I could see and live the dreams I found there.

I wish you a great start to 2006, with adventures, the experience of life's abundance and your own greatness, laughter and higher levels of health and fitness.

Love life, live your dreams,
Rick

© 2006 Richard Dinihanian