Happy New Year!

I'm back from the monastery, where I wrote a few blog posts that I'll be posting in a series throughout January.  

It felt a bit strange to spend most of December in a Buddhist monastery and then go through ConsumerFest (formally known as the birth of Jesus). All the advertisements and presents seemed a little bit surreal - I just couldn't get into the spirit of it.  Although, I did enjoy giving my three year old nephew his present - a teeny red recliner seat, so cute. (OK...I can do ConsumerFest as good as the next person!) 

I got a gastro virus three days after Christmas, which meant that I spent a whole night throwing up - but lost all those extra Christmas kilos.  I think whoever invented the saying 'every cloud has a silver lining' had been in exactly this situation. 

Before I sign off for 2009, here's a poem by the late Indian yoga master Swami Kripalu. I thought this was a lovely poem for the beginning of a new year. 

My beloved child, break your heart no longer.
Each time you judge yourself, you break your own heart.
You stop feeding on the love, which is the wellspring of your vitality.
The time has come. Your time. To live. To celebrate,
and to see the goodness that you are…
Do not fight the dark. Just turn on the light.
Let go, and breathe into the goodness that you are.

Happy New Year!