Today is New Year in the Chinese system, it will mark the beginning of the one year in 12 presided over by a mythical creature – the dragon.

To the western mind, the dragon was always something to be feared, the fear of dragons living at the edge of the world, “there be dragons”.   Though the medieval knight, as a hero, would seek to fight the dragon as an honour.  This was as a moral victory, often set in a spiritual journey to spiritual perfection.  The myth was that of the knight slaying a dragon to save a maiden.  In psychology we would often use phrases such as “facing your dragons” as clients come to terms with their fears and phobias.  St George, the patron saint of England, was the quintessential hero and dragon slayer.

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Our collective psyche is filled with the idea that one thing follows another; when someone dies and then a baby is born, we see it as an ending and a beginning. We say things like, “when one door closes, another one opens”. The magical idea of endings and beginnings is with us throughout life. In the past, I feel that we were better at marking these rites of passage as we moved from one stage to another in life.

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Following the darkness of winter, that has its depth at the winter solstice and the longest night, comes the lightening, as the days draw out. This sense of the light coming to dispel the darkness has been ever present in the psychological cycle of the year. The festivals of Solstice (Yuletide), originally the three days around midwinter’s day, December 21st, was gradually superseded by Christmas or “Christmastide”. In some parts of the pagan world, the festival of “Yule” lasted for twelve days which became the twelve days of “Christmastide”.

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The winter solstice, December 21, is the longest night and the shortest day of the year. After that, the days begin to draw out again, the nights get shorter and the world becomes lighter all around.

I often see the parallels between nature and our experience of life. The idea that, in life, we have a spring, when we are developing our self as a person, a summer, when, hopefully, we blossom into luscious fruitfulness, autumn, when we review and enjoy the fruits of our labours, and a winter, when it all goes to sleep and there are endings, hopefully not too stormy.

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Yesterday evening, my sister-in-law arrived collecting bits for children living on the streets. By kids, I mean teenagers, many still at school, and by bits, I mean food, basic cosmetics and the necessary to survive a night in the cold. Then on the TV comes X Factor.

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It has been amazing to be a part of the Movember project. If you haven’t realised it, there are hundreds of thousands of men out there growing face hair to raise awareness of male-related cancer, primarily prostate cancer. I have had a face full of fuzz for a month and, if I am honest, it is driving me bonkers; I could scratch my face off.

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It is hard to imagine why anyone would decide to end up in the situation where they would take their own life, and create the ultimate full stop in their life script. In my experience it mainly happens when the pain exceeds resources for coping with the pain.

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Winter is not my favourite time of year. I don’t suffer from SAD, beyond the general feelings that we all get from the drop in sunlight, and the reduction in Serotonin production, common to us all. I just do not like feeling cold. Tee shirt, shorts and a pair of sandals and I’m fine. Rie likes the cold dark nights, log fires and soft sofas which all lead to a preparation for Christmas and “chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” I find the idea of Christmas lunch on a warm beach very attractive.

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Every morning, when I wake, I log in to the consciousness cloud. This is my way of connecting with the positive consciousness of the universe. I have my logging on affirmation. When I wake, I close my eyes again and relax, then I boot up the system. I say, in my head or Rie would really think I had lost the plot, “Morning Universe. I am logging on, my username is Happiness, my password is Gratitude.” Then I go to the folder named, “I am so happy and grateful now that…” to access my affirmation file which I then play…

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