Just a week ago, December wished us adieu at midnight… between those glasses of wine and midnight kisses, another year slipped off into the night. Betwixt the twilight of a year that was to the dawn of all that is or will be, we stand bright, hopeful leaning into all that’s wonderful and right in this world.

Time and again, standing on the eve of a New Year, I never tire of watching hopeful hearts and iridescent dreams soar or crash on waves of absolute resolutions carved in stone, gradually eroding or cementing, as the year gradually crawls on. I say, “Aim for the stars, you may touch the sky.” Paint your dreams with the colours of the rainbow. There is no denying the magic in the air brought on by the New Year.

Long before we walked the earth, time knew no relevance of its passage. There were no minutes or days, no months of January or February to mark existence in whatever form it thrived. There were moments between midnight and dawn, catastrophes and miracles. Long before the advent of civilization, everything around was an amazing choice in a world of belief. Long before we were naïve, an innate wisdom cloaked us all. Before we became ‘sensible’, instincts guided and rooted us. Tolerance, patience kindness and love planted us in fertile soils of human empathy. The wiser we got, the more ignorant we became.

Why do we commit spiritual suicide in the name of progress? Why do we default on an obligation to live our best lives distracted by running around in circles? It’s time now to pay our debts. Let us commit to this new year of hope, where skies are blue, no matter how grey everything around us really is. Let the atmosphere saturated with the subtle odors of hope and joy, not lose its charm, to eventually fade into the mysterious distance of motionless paralysis, as the year progresses.

January is the new beginning, the start of a year of wishes and fulfillment. Let the month herald in all that’s bright and beautiful awaiting us in the New Year. In our perfect ways. In the ways we are beautiful. In all the ways we are human. We need to remember we are here. Standing on the threshold of a seemingly bright, buoyant year. So, let’s make it ours!

We live our lives vicariously on adventures of the brave. We mold our worlds on the ones we emulate. We seek joy even in hopeless misgivings and we learn to dance amid all the pain. We weather storms that set us adrift and we seek safe shores to gather our wits. None amongst us is totally free. Love – the emotion and Living – the experience, both have no boundaries, except the ones we create ourselves. This year, let just the expansive universe, in all its majestic glory and bounty, force you to love and live beyond reason, beyond scope. Let us forge paths beyond the pale of human resort. Let us work assiduously, let us spend our money, time and energy on a resolute course of human transactions, which would naturally result in having our ordinary lives unfailingly fulfilled.

Let 2023 mark the beginning of your spiritual journey. Let us learn to dance and play with each other while our shadows watch in glee. The games we notoriously play in the dark is often hidden from the human eye. Let integrity bear a shield. Let not lying and small wants, petty meanness, treacherously assault upon compassion, that often weighs heavy in our human hearts. As individuals, let’s not hold back or defile the charity, given in equal measure to one and all in a world full of need.

Being beggarly in dealing with others sinks us into pits of shame. Learn to kiss the aged-old hands of the weak and frail, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Seek their blessings, hear their words. In a world fake and false, let not your soul corrupt to that feast of love, and that heavy wine of kisses. None here that walk, even measured roads, have been promised eternities of joy nor eternities of pleasures.

Life is nothing but a continual cycle of pleasure and pain. Giving and taking. New Year is the glittering light to brighten the dream-lined pathway of the future. So, take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous year by just believing. Celebrate all that you want to see more of. There’s never a new year that doesn’t offer us a new season – a season of change and opportunities. So, grab yourself a great, big slice of happiness! Manifest your own kind of happy! Cheers to a New Year filled with hopes and dreams coming true for you!