Oh bright new year – full of dreams to be fulfilled…

Happy New Year to you and yours!

I love Christmas, always have…  always will!  But equally magical, once the last slightly stale mince-pie has been finished, is the anticipation of what the new year holds.

I ate too much this year, but don’t I always! and actually I quite like the moment when all the extravagant over-indulgence (during which I openly confess to feeling no guilt whatsoever!) reaches its natural peak, and I long to cleanse my whole system with cool water, salad and soup, and get moving again… the moment always arrives un-aided.

So this year I plan to treat my body better, lose a bit of weight, get a bit fitter… the usual stuff!

I can feel the surge of energy and determination, and it’s exhilerating.

Clarity

Yesterday I took a solitary walk – craving fresh air and a good view (after a magical champagne-fueled New Year’s Eve party, and the requisite lie-in). I was chasing the end of the daylight, and so I drove to a little hamlet nearby called Faurie and the Lizieux peak. I climbed as high as I could, catching glimpses of the sun and the pinkening sky.

pinkening sky

I was mainly on a forest path, the air was crisp, and I found myself reflecting on the year and my life right now. I realised how deeply happy I am – I have healthy happy children, a loving marriage full of passion and shared dreams; I love where we live; I have a job I enjoy and great friends, both close and far away… I was hoping to reach a point in my climb where I could see the whole panorama, bathed in the sunset I could glimpse between the trees.

A glimpse of sunlight through the trees

Finally I made the grown-up decision, as the path got icy, and the light began to  fade, to turn back… be happy with what I had, which was indeed magical… and not be greedy for ‘perfection’.  I strolled back, cheerfully following the paths, ready to see the car again, as the tree coverage made it feel even darker than it was. To my dismay, having thought I’d followed my tracks, I came out of the forest right round the other side of the hill. Thank goodness I had my phone on me and could locate my whereabouts with google-maps.  (I was completely dis-orientated, and really didn’t know if I was east of the car or west of it!)

oh so dark...

I had a half-hour walk in the dark… pretty chilly by now too, following the road back to the car! Reminded me that whilst I do often feel my life is blessed – I still have my fair share of obstacles to over-come!

I feel great things await us all in 2011…

Join me on my tidal wave of optimism, there’s plenty of room –

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won’t, you most assuredly won’t. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.
— Denis Waitley