The 5th of January I wrote and said things where going back to normal. How I lied! If anything Christmas time is the worst time for making you break habits you have tried to hard to maintain. The few days of not following routines are fatal to anything that requires a bit of effort on your part.

Now I know that the New Year is supposed to be when we introduce new changes to out lives, changes that we know or have been convinced we must make, to be happier. - eat less fat, drink less, have safe sex, exercise, clean up more, give all to your work/career etc, etc, etc. If you were already trying to do those things - the New Year has probably broken the routine and today is the day we are rumoured to feel the depression of the bitter taste of failure on our tongues - 'Most depressing' day of the year - the time when the realisation that those big plans require a massive investment of time and effort.

Now, let's face it - some things require too much effort and too much time and too much misery - the only reason we want to change is that we are being told by so called experts, we must do, to live longer, to get the girl/boy, to be successful and/or to be happier. Well, the other hand says, what use is it to live longer if it requires so much unhappiness? How can you be happy when your belly is grumbling constantly on some stupid diet? How can you be stress free when you as artist sort of person, has to spend your precious time sweating (yurk!) hours at the treadmill? I put it to you, that it is a matter of balance - with a slant to those things that make you content. I further argue that if you balance the physical with the mental with the emotional and the spiritual (yes I said it), you must be able to find contentment along the way.

You have to use your mind and your knowledge of you to balance those things that will give you satisfaction and make you content. Be honest with yourself. Yes, some things may be uncomfortable at the start, some things will feel daft but open your heart to experiences and mind to ideas from around you, let the energy of the universe like the love of those who care for you - touch you. For just as we are all different, we will all have different formulas to make us content. Just take the experts (many have vested interests) with a pinch of salt and work to the betterment of self.

I intend to try, join me in the journey if you want here on this blog. In any case, forget the blues and may you find the right balance.

[First published on my Talking2Myself blog on specified date]