Very best wishes for 2011

Not all of you are Christian, but to those who are, Happy Christmas. To everyone regardless of religion, may you enjoy your winter break and enjoy (from the 21st Dec) the ever longer days for the next six months. 21st Dec, for me, is always a celebration and I find myself becoming excited, knowing that the short days will soon be starting to lengthen - the light is returning.

You may be wondering about my choice of photo. I've been looking through all my photos, partly as a retrospective, reflective exercise, contemplating what has been in the last decade and thinking about what will come in 2011. So much has happened to me since 2000 - I remember the start of the new millennium, wondering what would come. I would never in a million years have guessed all that has happened and all that I've done, but the biggest changes have come on the inside.

One of the most important things that I have learned over the last few years, is that it doesn't matter if you love me, or how much, or for how long. What matters is that I love you. Being loved is wonderful, don't get me wrong - my world revolves around love, in one form or another. The thing is, what makes me really happy, is genuinely loving other people. Faults and all. So I say again to you, this time in my own words - I love you, idiot. Idiot, because we can all be idiots sometimes and we can get so upset about the silly little things totally losing sight of the things that matter. Idiot, because we so regularly question if, or how much, or for how long someone else might love us. Love is love. It remains if you hold it gently in your heart and accept its comings and goings like the seasons and years.

I wish you all love in your hearts for 2011 (and longer!). May you find it easier and easier to truly love others and to accept love into your lives, in all the forms that it takes.

xx