New Year

The New Year allows us to mentally draw a line under the past and make a new beginning.

The fact that 2009 begins with the most serious economic crisis for decades enables us to be bolder – to think the formerly unthinkable, to focus more on discovering what really matters to us instead of just following the consumer spending bandwagon.

The things that are most important to us are usually intangible. It is not becoming wealthier, although that is always attractive, but becoming happier, more loving and more loved. It is about stopping to listen when somebody wants to talk, instead of talking about ourselves all the time. It is about trying to become more aware of the intangible parts of life – developing our awareness and sensitivity and learning to be truly still. In the stillness much is revealed and the physical body benefits from the relaxation it produces. Blood pressure and heart-rate reduce and stabilise and the reality of our spiritual faculty, our higher self, becomes part of our consciousness.