Dancing into a New Year.....

The New Year was right on schedule, at 00:00:01 AM on 1/1/09, allowing millions of party goers all over the world to celebrate its arrival. I was at a similar celebration with my family and friends. There was a lot of wining, dining and dancing. So we all danced into 2009, wished everybody the best for the next 365 days and got lots of wishes and blessings in return. Well, I really couldn't hear much, with the DJ belting out pulsating Indian/Punjabi music at almost triple figure decibels. All I could make out was people mouthing words at me and I assume these were good wishes. Between all this, I did manage to squeeze in a Tennis-dance lesson from my dance guru!

So let me go back to the New Year Eve party....... I couldn't see much as it was dark, couldn't hear a thing people were trying to shout in my ear because of the deafening music, couldn't think straight because of alcohol........ and I still had a great time! Because I was surrounded by people who mean the most to me. So it didn't matter if I couldn't hear, think or see. All that mattered was that I was in a cocoon, a comfort zone made up of family and close friends. Maybe this is a symbolic way to begin a new year. A fresh start, a new enthusiasm and a positive outlook, closing your senses to everything else around you.

For the last time, some of us ran over the past year in our minds, boxing & sealing it in a mental attic. For the optimist, the New Year day brings with it the promise & potential of attaining new horizons, a fresh beginning...... For the pessimist, it's just another day.

We are a few days into 2009 now. Hopefully the enthusiasm for the new year can last for a long time, and the resolutions even longer. Some of my resolutions are already a little fuzzy, but I'm seriously going to try to stick with a few.

So in 2009......

"May we all be blessed to have the judgment to stay on the "Right side of Life" & the courage to take more than just a window-dressing stand for our convictions. May we all be blessed with the wisdom to find virtues in others, before their faults & to peek in at our faults, before we extol our virtues."

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