 
Delivered fresh on January 5th, 2015
Greetings!
"Life rarely turns out the way that it should" is an illusion, yet, a familiar attitude that we are conditioned to accept (while at the same time, we resist). "Life doesn't turn out the way that it shouldn't - either" however, is a notion that we rarely entertain. Where is it written that we are all promised "happily ever after"? Where is it promised that we won't have some really crappy days? Each one of us will have our good days and all of us will have days when we wish that we were somebody else. We will win sometimes and, just like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, guaranteed, there will be those times when everything seems to be coming apart at the seams. And -- there exists in each one of our moments, the opportunity to breathe deeply while we appreciate the fact that we are alive and that we can choose to really live by making the most out of where we are RIGHT NOW. Life promises to us nothing, but the opportunity to live in the here and now, and the privilege to embrace whatever hand we've been dealt in the moment as - My life. Dana DANA DELIVERED! User's Guide: 1) Open up your Dana Delivered! email. 2) Choose an article from the menu on the left hand side or just start from the beginning and read all the way through. 3) If you are reading an article and want to finish, Click on "Read More..." and you will be taken to our website. You can finish reading and while there, have a look around. Note: Dana's Dailies changes, well, daily so come back often. 4) Click on any of the words highlighted in red and you will be taken right to our site, DanaRoc.com. In INSPIRING PEOPLE: Dana talks with Survivor of Sex Slavery, Filmmaker, Author, Actress, Advoate, Brook Bello. Brook's story is one of survvival and pure courage. Read Dana's EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Brook and discover that the willingness to survive and the courage to hope can lead to an amazing life. Take a minute to read DANA'S WEEKLY INSIGHT and make sure that you listen to the AUDIO VERSION as well. There may be someone who needs you to pass that along. Check out DANA'S DAILIES for no other reason than to hopefully smile. And come back and visit the blog all week at www.danaroc.com/dailies. The special article FROM DANA'S GUESTS: this week is Tara Bracco in a more in depth The 100 Years Project response. Check out AUGUSTE ROC'S MY TWO CENTS (For Whatever It Is Worth). There is something in it for YOU! While it may be "Two Cents" but you'll find it's worth a whole lot more. Feel free to email your comments to Auguste at auguste@danaroc.com. This week's THE GOOD LIFE : BOOKS selection is An Affair with a House by Bunny Williams. Make sure that you have a hot cup of something and some tasty snacks when you sit down with this book. It is wonderful! Something useful in THE GOOD LIFE : WEB SITES is GlobalGiving.com this week. Check it out! And there's more so sit back, grab a cup of coffee, relax and enjoy. As always, thanks for reading! Stay cool. Be hungry. Never look back. Always reach back. Fear not. Believe always, Dana Oh, No She Didn't
"Like water off a duck's back", is arguably for the birds. I, quite frankly, have not yet mastered that elusive ability to endure by shrugging my shoulders and walking off into the sunset when something happens that I don't like. I wish I could. Instead, I spend a lot of time thinking and re-thinking, tracing and re-tracing my steps, asking myself the questions that I hope will provide the answers that will help me to get over myself - and move on. I admire those ducks with their dry backs and thick skin. I envy their ability to repel. But I, I am of the absorbent type. I soak up my experiences thoroughly, especially the ones that "I would really rather not". I get tremendous value out of mulling things over and over again, trying to get to the other side of my discomfort, disappointment and pride, trusting that therein lies, for better or for worse, the opportunity to define myself and fine tune the melody of who it is I want to be. Her attitude landed in my reality like an uninvited guest at a party that was already off to a lukewarm start -- and now I was going to have to deal. "I didn't come here tonight to have my time wasted"! I stood before the group, poised and nervous in front of the mic, on the absolute coldest Monday night of the year and I struggled to absorb her frosty response. "This is not what I thought I was coming for..." Now, all I wanted to do was to go home to a hot bath and a couple of warm hugs. As she turned to sit down, I dutifully, if not sadistically, asked her to remain standing so that I could "hear more". "I'm thinking about leaving. I came for some answers and so far all you have been doing is asking us the questions. " Draped in her over-sized aqua blue sweater and matching pants, I watched her as she indignantly returned to her seat. I searched the other faces in the crowd, hoping for the slightest hint of sympathy, clear that I had better find my game face if I wanted to save face and make it out of this thing alive. I anxiously drew in a tentative breath and, in an effort to keep things moving right along, I invited her to "consider joining the conversation that I was having with the group". That's when she decided to put her coat on and leave, which is when I decided that dry feathers might indeed trump my thin skin. Don't you just wish sometimes that there was such a thing as a magic button that would allow us to stop the tape, rewind, erase and re-record; a button that would "white out" what we don't want to remain? Imagine. It is said that one of the strongest desires of human beings is the desire to be admired - more than to be loved even, and there I stood before this group wanting to click my heels three times in the hopes of ending up in that hot bath. What is it that I had failed to provide? How is it that I could have addressed her concerns? These are the questions that, way after the fact, I continue to try and dissect in an effort to get to the other side of my discomfort, disappointment and pride, trusting that therein lies, for better or for worse, the opportunity to define myself and fine tune the melody of who it is that I ultimately want to be. Dwelling in your own difficult inquiries, identifying what those inquiries are and then wrestling to discover the answers to your own questions, is worth much more to you then somebody else's Seven Secrets to Success. There are no assembly line solutions for winning in life. There is not a mass produced repackaged good idea out there somewhere that will help you achieve instant satisfaction. I don't have a magic formula or any fancy answers that will lead anybody down the road toward guarantees. But, what I do have is the discovery that - When I am willing to confront myself head on, to challenge my conventional wisdom by identifying and then asking myself some real questions; when I am willing to accept a new message from an unexpected messenger, then I am bound to discover another version of my very best self. And you? Have you been waiting for someone else to serve you up the answers before you've asked yourself the questions that only you can ask? Have you grappled and wrestled and struggled to identify what those questions even are; those questions that are uniquely and profoundly your own? Has an undistinguished, petty refusal to be open minded and generous, kept you from receiving what someone else might have to give? In my perfect world I would have all of the answers and no one would ever question me or why and what I choose to do. I would never be off my game. I would always be in control and everyone would always think that I'm GREAT... Could I have been better prepared on that cold and wintry Monday night? Could I have - should I have rehearsed over and over again my reason for being worthy of standing before a group of people who took the time out to listen to what I had to say, out of a sincere commitment to living a life that really matters? I am newly confronted -- head on. The ability to shrug it off, shake it off, dust yourself off, no doubt has value when the object of the game is to survive. But beyond mere survival is the opportunity to thrive. The willingness to suck it up and soak it up when something happens that you don't like, is the access to the kind of profound insight into your own particular way of being, and that access is the beginning of real freedom, intangible power, the opportunity to truly grow and the ability to effectively and melodiously - move on. Dana Have a great week!
  Survivor of Sex Slavery, Filmmaker, Author, Actress, Advocate, Brook Bello
There have been many occasions where I have had the opportunity to be inspired about the human spirit and about our ability , as human beings, to endure. I can count on one hand the number of times that I have been rendered speechless and in awe of someone after experiencing their raw heroism. Brook Bello is such a person. Her story is extraordinary. DR: How did you become trapped in the world of human sex trafficking? And, I am particularly interested as a mom of a teenage girl. I think it?s an important issue and one that is deeply emotional, in a particular way for mothers. BB: I was raped when I was eleven years old. When you are eleven you are really still a baby. I was obviously still a virgin. I probably looked like I was seven years. I was little and petite. Being violated at eleven drastically changed my life. Look at the statistics of girls who are pushed and sold into sex slavery. There is usually an economic challenge at home or there is brokenness in the parent or the child. I grew up in a home that was violent. My mother was very horribly treated by stepfathers and such. She was hit and beaten up. Seeing that and then losing my virginity through rape - I had never seen a penis before. I didn?t even know what sperm was. I was just this creative kid; this sweet little girl and I did not understand any of that. It shattered my world. It shattered everything. DR: Was it somebody that you trusted? BB: It was and statistically it usually is. Unfortunately. DR: So then what happened? BB: Then when we ran away from home and we got taken. We got taken. DR: Who is ?we?? BB: I ran away with my best friend. We were pretty much snatched. Some people took us out to dinner. We were runaways and we thought they were really nice. They seemed really cool. We were innocent and trusting. DR: You were eleven? BB: No. I was raped when I was eleven. We ran away when I was fifteen and a half. DR: And who were these people that took you again? What happened? BB: There were several things that happened and it?s too long to go into the whole story... There was couple that said that they were brother and sister. We realized later that they were not. We were homeless. We had been homeless for a bit. They saw us and they took us out to eat and took us for a drive. They were really nice and we were trusting. They seemed really cool. Then they asked us if we wanted to go back to their place and get cleaned up. They told us they had extra clothes that we could take. Once we got there, their faces changed. It reminded me of the film The Devil?s Advocate where seemingly nice people were running a game on us. We really didn?t have a sense of discernment at our age. Their faces really changed. We went from having nice full bellies and nice happy faces, to them slamming us against the walls and pulling out knives, stripping us of our clothes, beating me up, putting me over the balcony, putting me in a bathtub. Later on, maybe seven hours later, in the middle of the night, I was on the street, being threatened to be killed... DR: Working? BB: Working. There was a woman who came into our life and promised to be sweet and nice and wonderful. We ended up living in a brothel and one thing led to another. The first couple times we were thrown into it, pushed into it. Beaten up and drugged. By the time the third time came around it was sort of ?that?s who we were?. That is who I was. I didn?t really know how to leave at that point. DR: How long had it been at that point? BB: At that point it had probably been a good three years. It was a way of life. I was a hardcore drug addict. To back track just a bit, if you study anyone who studies the brain, the brain doesn?t fully develop until you are twenty-four. Anytime, from birth to twenty-four, your brain is growing and evolving and while it is evolving, your identity is forming. It takes longer, often, when working with adults, to bring change and to impact the subconscious on a profound level. If I am being silly, I have a vernacular for that. No one taught me. It?s part of my environment. It?s the same with brokenness and ?no identity? and thinking that you are below everything. I was a really creative kid and a really sensitive. And I had been raped. I was already broken. I didn?t know what love looked like and to someone who needed love and for someone to pretend to be love when I didn?t know what love looked like, you can just get drawn into that. It shatters who you are. Then Stockholm Syndrome sets in, which is associated with rape victims and children that are taken because you are formed by that, you want to go back to it. DR: Yes. I?ve heard of that. Tell me Brook, do you remember how you felt? Did you live life afraid? Did you have hopes of being rescued? What was your life like in that respect? BB: At that point I wanted to...
 The 100 Years Project Featured Guest: Tara Bracco
Name: Tara Bracco Age: 35 years old Where are you from: Long Island, New York Where do you live: Midtown Manhattan Occupation: I am the Founder of Poetic People Power and Co-founder of The Project Solution. With the Poetic People Power I work with artists combining art and activism to share stories as a demonstration of how art and politics influence our community. With The Project Solution we are building a group of local donors here in New York City to fund projects overseas - projects like water projects in Africa. Right now we are supporting a bathrooms facilities project at a school in India. 100 Years from now what do you want to be remembered for: I would be happy if in 100 years from now the work that I am doing is no longer needed. More important to me, than being remembered is feeling like the people that I am working with have...
 But I Get Up Again
"We've even hired a coach to focus on preventing fumbles and turnovers." I was reading an article about a pro football team forecasting their upcoming season. The head coach was emphasizing the need for his team to do a better job at keeping possession of the ball in order to have a successful year, and to ensure that he had brought a specialist in to teach his players - How to avoid fumbling and turning over the ball. In the game of football there are eleven players on defense that are aggressively looking to dislodge the ball from the offensive player's hands by any means necessary. Despite the number of serious and nasty challenges out on the football field, coaches coach their players to: Hang on to the football! Don't fumble the football! Whatever you do, don't fumble! Let's be honest though. In football as well as in the GAME of life, there will be times when you will "drop the ball". There will be times that you make mistakes and there will be times when you will - FAIL. When the focus is on "not dropping the ball" then the result will be a compromised performance. The objective to "keep moving the ball forward" as opposed to "don't fumble the ball!" will allow for the opportunity to rebound and the possibility of getting back on your feet and back in the GAME. How many coaches will likely be overheard today, admonishing their players to 'NOT FUMBLE" when encouraging them to focus on the "FIGHT FOR THE GOAL" would be so much more effective. Keep focusing on "advancing the ball down the field" because, if you can focus on the objective that is designed to have you win your GAME, then, fumble or not; whether you fall flat on your face or sail right on through, you will get up off of the ground and you will - dust yourself off. That's my two cents (for whatever it's worth), Auguste Roc
 100 Years From Now... Danny
Name: Danny Chavis Age: 20 years old Where are you from: Korea Where do you live: Downtown. Greenwich Village, New York City Occupation: Student at Parsons School of Design 100 Years from now what do you want to be remembered for: I want to be remembered for having a very aesthetic life.  GlobalGiving.com
Why I am recommending GlobalGiving.com: This organization is about supporting people who have a commitment to give. Global Giving allows for donors to give directly and to track how their donation is making a difference.
 An Affair with a House
Why I am recommending this book: Whether you have found your dream house or still dreaming, this book is a story in words and photographs of a dream, becoming reality. Bunny Williams generously shares her journey of finding and transforming the house and the home of her dreams! A great book for a rainy afternoon... Click here to purchase this book. Amazon.com: Click here to purchase this book.
 
Everybody's life makes a difference somehow. Nobody exists without consequence. Whether that consequence is positive or negative is a matter of whether or not you are willing to take responsibility for being alive.
 
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