2018 Transitional Beginnings

To be honest, I like to think of every day as a new beginning, whether it be the 1st January or any other day of the month, but this year feels different. New Year's really does have a transitional energy about it.

This New Year's Eve feels as if we are stepping through a door into a secret garden, where all is beautiful and filled with light. 2017 has been a trying time, particularly learning to live with hearing loss but I have also learnt some wonderful things about myself and the world I live in. Things that look set to make 2018 the most magical of years yet. 

Discovering deep gratitude and appreciation have been incredible gifts; grateful to awake in my lovely warm, little cottage with my beautiful man and my gorgeous dog. Appreciating the water in my taps and food in my cupboards, Grateful for the trees in the woods, the sea at the coast, the river ever flowing, grateful for friendships, for love. Grateful for my creativity and how I have let it steer me on this path. It is these lessons that I take through the opening door of 2018.

When I woke up deaf, it knocked me for six.  It may seem as if 'grateful' is an odd thing to be when things go wrong. To put it in simple terms, when you have 10 flowers and one dies, you understandably grieve for the loss of that flower but it makes one acutely aware of the 9 flowers that are left. 

For instance, yesterday, when I took Maisy for a walk with my hearing aids in, I could hear the birds singing. It was the most beautiful song that I have ever heard. I could feel my whole body smiling. A song I might never have heard, ever again. 

So, Happy New Year Year to you, I hope it brings you the kind of joy that gratitude has given me. That you are able to count all the wonderful blessings in your life. That you see the beauty in the small things that are actually huge. For me, having learnt how to count my blessings, I intend to keep counting.