2021

The New Year is on the way, and also the last full moon of the year appears on December 29/30th depending on where you are in the world. We all like a fresh start and I think everyone is looking forward to 2021 seeing how 2020 was whooper of a year, to say the least. But a new beginning we will have, and this is an ideal opportunity to reflect on our aspirations for the year ahead. With a new solar cycle having been kicked off since the winter solstice, we are now ready and eager to welcome 2021 with open arms. I have kept an old article that was printed in Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1990s, a piece written by Tom Crabtree and I find it always uplifting and appropriate as we approach the new year with great expectations and excitement. Here are the best bits that I selected for you, and I hope you find them as helpful as I did.

• Learn to care for others, and the best way to do this is to care for yourself.
• Care about your body. Get fit, join a gym, swim three times a week, go for a walk regularly. Get your metabolism moving; have a sign in your kitchen saying “Cream cakes do not exist”.
• Change your attitude. Don’t wait for suggestions to make your own. Don’t wait for others to give you permission, give yourself permission. Follow your star. Keep on going to where you want to go and get very bristly with those who say that you have no right to your opinion.
• Trust your own judgement. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, then it is a duck! Plenty of people will try to tell you that its a hen/ a ham sandwich. They’ll tell you that its wonderful but you know it isn’t. They’ll tell you that it works but you know it doesn’t. Trust your own eyes/ears/feelings.
• Stop making excuses. Don’t spend your life apologising, explaining. Do it. You have as much right to walk this Earth as anybody else, you have as much right to your beliefs as anybody else has to theirs.
• Set a target. Have specific smaller goals you’d like to achieve, plus one big one. I can’t tell you what these should be, but I just want you to be able to say “that I did it!” And be specific don’t say I wish to be happy, say before the summer I wish to visit St. Ives and to visit the Tate Gallery. And eat at a 5* restaurant; these are just some ideas – make your own list.
• Eschew worry. It is always better to do something than to worry. That’s the simple rule, apply it.
• Accept change. Turbulence may be on the cards, but life is movement. Move forward with the current of your own soul. Do not live in a safe zone, with no hope, no change, no fun.
• Do something slightly crazy once a month. Crazy moments are good for the soul. So challenge yourself to shake yourself up every now and then.
• Remember: words = 2, deeds = 10. It doesn’t count if you just sit there thinking about it. You’ll never be this age again, this day will never come again. So go ahead and do it, while you have the chance!

Happy New Year,

Blessings, Edel.