That’s my credo.  When I was in my twenties, one of the local talk show hosts in Tulsa, where I grew up, signed off with “If you can’t do what you love, love what you do.�  Well, I was not doing what I love, so I tried to follow her advice to love what I do.  If I could find her now I’d be tempted to punch her in the nose, or at least tell her off.  It’s easy to love what you do if you are following the call of your heart.  Otherwise, it is impossible. 

            That, of course, was not the real reason I ignored my own dreams for so long.  There was a big long list of other-inflicted and self-inflicted wrong choices.  Yet, I consoled myself with her statement and tried to make the best of it, when I would have been better off in the long run had I rebelled.

  Many years later, I was living in Nashville and working as an on-air personality for WAMB radio, and loving it.  I wanted a sign-off.  I thought about her saying, and realized how much I disagreed with it.  Then I remembered a quote I once read from Vincent Van Gogh.  It was from a letter to a friend of his and went like this:

“People, let us give our soul to our work and let us work with our heart for our cause and love what we love.  How many people give their best efforts to something unworthy… instead of surrendering themselves frankly to the irresistible impulse of their hearts.�

            These two quotes spurred my thoughts toward the importance of picking your vocation based on what you love to do.   And, the thought that I wanted to do everything I do from a heart of love.  Of course there are little things we have to do that are not too thrilling, like cleaning the bathroom, or taking out the trash, but I’m talking about the big things.  If I’m spending a big portion of my time doing something, a job or a voluntary pursuit, and I cannot do it with a heart of love, if I begrudge it, then that’s a good indication that I shouldn’t be doing it.  Thus, my pledge to try to always operate from a position of love.  To try to concentrate on doing what I could do with a heart full of love.    And my sign-off became almost a turn-around to the Tulsa talk show host’s sign-off.  It was:

 
What you can do out of love is your gift to the world.

Do what you love, with love.   

 
(I am a writer and performer.  You can check out both with my audio book “Winds of Change�)

            I hate to admit it, but I just got scammed.  I got an authentic looking email from one of the secure online places where I do business asking me to reenter my credit card information because it was out of date.  I clicked on the link and a page came up for entry.  I can’t remember for sure now but I think it even ask me for my username and password.  Scary.  I put in my credit card information and then pressed enter.  Another screen came up asking me for bank account information.  That’s when I knew I had just been taken.  I knew that information was not needed.  Then I thought — they ask me for more personal information than just about my credit card, more than the business site did.  I got a horrible sinking feeling.  It was done, I had already pressed enter and there was no clear, or back, or any way out.   Then I checked out the from address and it contained the correct business’s web address along with a bunch of other stuff, but it didn’t look right.  If you had asked me beforehand if I would ever fall for such a thing as this I would have said “No way, I’m not that stupid.â€?  But, I’m sorry to say I just typed away without even thinking about it until it was too late.  I slipped.  I fell for it.
            I called my credit card company and changed my pin number through their automated system, but it was Thanksgiving day and I could not get anyone on the phone to cancel the card.  It was also late.  Today, Friday the 25^th of November, I checked out my credit card account activity online.  Sure enough, there was a fraudulent charge.  I felt like such an idiot.  
            I called and cancelled my card and because of the personal information I gave them, I also called the credit bureaus and flagged them for fraud watch.  Now, it’s going to be a hassle for me to do anything in the credit realm because I’ll have to keep proving I’m me.  But at least I can do that.  Let’s hope no one else can.  I’ve heard a lot about identity theft, but it never felt like a threat to me.  Now it does.
            In one of the emails from the valid secure web business that I read only after the fact (another laxity,)  they specifically say that they do not EVER do business that way.  Never will they ask for sensitive information from a link in an email.  They tell you to always type their address into the browser address line to get to their website, and then log in, in the normal way.  I’ve learned my lesson now.  I’m wise the hard way.
            One more thing.  After the fact, I went back to the email, re-clicked on the link to see the input form and remind myself just what information I had given them, and the link got a script error, which is a huge clue of foul play in itself.  If I clicked yes to run the script anyway, it went to a not-found address.  If I clicked no, it went to the valid business they were impersonating.

            These scammers grab the information and then destroy the path.  It’s a hit and run kind of thing.  I don’t have enough bad words to say about them.  I hope they get maggots up their nose or accidentally sit in a pool of acid.  A little strong, but hey, I might have been dumb but they are dishonest ___ ___ scum.
            Take care and don’t get scammed like I never thought I would, but did.
JoAnn Vickers,  a.k.a. JoAnn Wilburn November 25, 2005

http://www.joannvickers.com

      I’m JoAnn Vickers Wilburn, writer and performer.  In 2005, my first book was published as an audio book by Ladybug Press.  

           It is “Winds of Change� and is a dramatic journey of one woman’s personal growth and triumph through a difficult period of her life, told in interweaving story and song.   

            From the time that I started working until the mid nineties, I put aside my own personal dreams and did what I thought I was supposed to do according to other people’s expectations.  What a waste.  I finally claimed my life and for the last ten years have been following my heart.  It’s strange — I used to think that it was selfish to take care of your own needs.  Now, I know it is a responsibility, necessary before you can be happy and content enough to give to other people with love in your heart.  I talk about some of this in the book “Winds of Change.â€?  Although it is fiction, it is based on my first love relationship, and, with a couple of exceptions, follows fact.  

            This is my first blog, so please forgive any bloggin’ errors.   More later.  I will post either once or twice a week.  There is more about me at http://www.joannvickers.com
JoAnn Vickers a.k.a. JoAnn Wilburn