I’m here in Malaysia at the moment, visiting family for Chinese New Year, aka The Lunar New Year.

Only a month ago, everyone around me was celebrating the turn of the New Year in the UK.

There’s a certain energy that surrounds these holidays, and it’s a real privilege to have the opportunity to ‘do it twice’. To be surrounded by people feeling optimistic, renewed, and channeling their energy towards feeding each other and sharing food, celebrating, and wishing each other good luck and prosperity over the next 12 months.

The qualities of these time periods that I feel most are freshness and gratitude.

And there is incredible value in feeling these things.

Freshness feels like a kind of openness to what is happening right now as well as toward the possibilities of the future. It’s an invitation to let go of things that are no longer serving me and to consider the directions I’d like to be channeling my energy in and how I’d like to be spending my time.

Gratitude feels like a kind of appreciation for what is happening right now as well as towards all that has happened in the past that has come together for this moment to be here. It’s an invitation to let go of wanting and wishing for more and to simply enjoy what life has already offered.

Together, these two qualities are like fresh air, easily enjoyed and easily let go of.

I think we would do well to invite these qualities into our lives as often as possible.

Where we resist change or refuse to accept where we find ourselves, we suffer.

With freshness and gratitude, we can be free from our fixed stories about life and discover the abundance of what is here.

A short phrase passed to me by my teachers encapsulates this:

Suddenly free from fixed mind.

Like sitting out in the sun with a fresh glass of water and taking a sip after a long day of work.

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh :)

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