And welcome to January 2017!

This is a little check in with anyone out there who is tuned into the "A warm bowl of soup and other cozy comforts for the soul..." 2017 calendar and moon gazing as we speak. There is something so anchoring I find in focusing on the moon at the end of the day. No matter how the day may have gone, to see something so luminous, so magical just before coming in to end of day chores and bed can really help me exhale. There is a whisper of special, a moment of peace - fleeting for sure, but still there. This is what the joy of life is for me - these honest, fleeting moments of wonder. Not holding onto them too tightly, just noticing them, letting them come and then setting them free. The more I catch these moments of time, the more moments of time I see to catch. For someone like me who can sometimes despair at the sadness of things - it is this that can lift me from my slumps. To expect everything, to need for perfection is to just cause yourself more moans, more misery, more unhappiness. To see the moon though - set in the sky of sometimes the brightest stars, the most haunting clouds or the darkest of blacks - for just a few minutes a night? Now that really can give January a whole new edge.

I urge you this month to not pressure yourself to change. I urge you more to just take some minutes in a day to notice, notice those little moments of magic that jump out to you - notice and let them go. There are so many more just around the corner.