Yesterday, I wound up my working year, well kind of. I’ll still chip away at projects, including one of the columns I totally forgot to write about thanks to Mercury retrograde.

So, while there is still plenty to do, I feel a stillness I couldn’t reach until now. Saturn’s ingress into Capricorn, the Solstice and Mercury stationing today, I feel I can finally breathe.

As I collect my thoughts on 2017 and focus forward on 2018, there is certainly the changing of the guard on many levels.

My son is nearly three and a half now. He knows all about Santa, the presents, the lights and the songs. It’s pure joy in my heart to see his eyes light up at the wonder of it all. It’s exciting for me too because this is the first year he understands what’s going on. It reminds me of the excitement I had as a kid, except now I’m Santa!
Witnessing each Christmas pass and how each year he gets a little older, wiser and cheekier, I become increasingly aware of the fleetingness of time.

As time stands still in the heavens now, we are also invited under the Solstice to stand still too. While here in the South, we enjoy this season wearing T-shirts, thongs (flip flops) fresh seafood, cold meats and salad, our Northern friends enjoy log fires, egg nogs and snow. Collectively the spirit is the same.

The uniqueness of this particular Solstice is the light (the Sun) and the dark (Saturn) are together. Ego and ambition meets limit and reduction. Combine that with Mercury’s station and I’m reminded of a video I recently watched on Facebook how to be an effective leader (the Sun also rules leadership).

The video was entitled ‘be the last to speak.’ For most of us and most definitely for me, that is one of the hardest things to do.
True leadership and wisdom derives from listening and practicing being in the moment. As we gather around our friends and family at this time of year, practice being the last to speak. Practice holding the moment. Be still in time.

As the Sun changes direction and begins a new path, so will we over the coming weeks. Then we can return to our ambitions (the Sun) with more mindfulness, connectedness and wisdom.

I’d like to take this moment to thank each and every one of you this year. Whether you’ve had a consultation, attended a class or workshop or left me a comment on my social media pages, it’s been a wonderful experience to connect with each and every one of you.

My wish for you in 2018 is to start fresh with a solid foundation to build something that is lasting and meaningful.