Happy New Year!

Yes, Happy New Year! In contrast to Merry Christmas I can actually say Happy New Year and mean it. December was a rough month for me. I can best descibe the experience as emotional inflammation; a condition similar to an inflammation of a physical injury. When the unhealed body part is put under stress it becomes inflamed and the body responds to the trauma by sending "support" to the area. Well, when there are unhealed emotional wounds the experience of "stress triggers" can create the same reaction in the body, just on an emotional level. But also on a physical level, as my energy level dropped severly due to the stress end emotional roller coaster I was on. One desciption of what happened would be that I basked in my own pity party for a great part of the month, until I eventually was faced with Christmas sabotage/failure and I finally snapped out of it....almost. But my love for the holidays and its purpose of joy, peace and harmony in celebration with loved ones took over. Despite my feelings of loss and disconnection I got out of my own way and stepped up for my three wonderful boys. On Chrismas Eve, while most people were celebrating the holidays I finally managed to bake my children's favourite buns. I played Chrismas music (for the first time in 2008), decorated the house and wrapped presents. When I finally went to sleep I knew that once again I had managed to connect with the magic of Christmas and I was ready to greet my boys and celebrate the season and all that we are blessed with; love, family, health (definitely not a given), friends, abundance and so much more. On Christmas Day we had our traditional rice porrige with the almond hidden in it. Again, Erik was the lucky winner and got the marzipan pig. The upside for the rest of us is that Erik does not like marzipan too much, so he was happy to share. We were blessed to spend Christmas with our friends, and we truly felt the warmth of family. And what a gift that was!!! On boxing day we left for Fernie, where we spent the remainder of our holidays together. We skied every day and had a great time. Perry, Teresa, Scarlet, Gered and Kathy all came for a few days and it was a treat to have them all there. We spent New Years Eve quietly, but did toast the turn of the year with ginger ale, a perfectly legal drink for the three young men in my company. After the beginning of 2009 was toasted and I had some quiet time I sat down and contemplated; the year past and the one ahead. What an exciting time of my life! I had a busy 2008 and I accomplished alot...at least in my own book. I renovated my old house, moved (myself), travelled to Europe with the boys, did the Camino de Santiago, renovated Fernie and got started in my coaching career. Not bad for one year's work. And still I often think I don't do enough?!! What's with that constant self defeating attitude of never doing enough? Because in addition to these things I am a singe mother with three active boys. I do know the truth, and yet this game goes on in my mind. And I don't play it for fun. It usually plays with me and I am slowly learning to stop engaging in it. Easier said than done, but I do remind myself that I am living my values of making things happen while being able to stay home with my boys and being available to them. 2008 was a year of completion and transition. I knew I had to "complete" the work on the old house for it to be ready for sale or lease, whichever came first or was the best offer, and I had the same feelings about Fernie. I did the physical renos, but even more intersting, I did the emotional renos as well. While I walked the Camino I tore out some old belief patterns that no longer supported me and replaced them with new ones that do. On both the outer and the inner arenas of my life I did some major overhaul. In conclusion I can honestly say it was an intense and hard year. But the hard times are always the richest times and 2008 will go down in my history book as a very rich year! I am so grateful for all the blessing that have come my way and I am ready to move forward and upward.

Some wise words for the old and the new year:

“One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
-Sigmund Freud

Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.
~Swedish Proverb

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright
no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
TAKE TIME TO LIVE.....To all my friends and loved ones,
I WISH YOU ENOUGH!
-Unknown

HAPPY NEW YEAR!