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[tom <tom AT honeychrome.com>]

I'll second the 'getting it down in writing' part of figuring out  
what you want.  I'm almost through a PDC while also reading Jacke's  
Edible Forest Gardening as we evolve our development plans for our  
place and the importance of goals articulation has really been driven  
home.  Not only is it important to get things in writing, but go a  
step further and phrase it in the present tense in an active voice.   
Don't write out a list of "this is what I want."  Write out a first  
person description of your life as you want it.  Sounds goofy, but  
the perspective shift can be critical.  It was fascinating (and  
crucial) when my wife and I recently wrote out our 'goals'  
independently then sat down to read each others' statements.  On the  
whole our goals were very much the same, though the prioritization  
was different- it helped us both understand each other better and  
align our goals more effectively.