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Read the press or scroll the news on your phone and you can be forgiven for thinking that we’re in apocalyptic times.  No wonder there is so much anxiety, anger and depression around.

And yet, as Stephen Pinker, Johnston Professor of Psychology at Harvard, has posited on various occasions - things are no worse than they have been in previous eras, and in many ways are getting progressively better.  Yes, wars are still raging, most politicians are ruthless and corrupt, climate change is wreaking havoc, and the rapid pace of technological change is unsettling.

A poignant time of year, when stars twinkle in the night sky, fairy lights dance on trees and buildings, and candles emit a warm glow from inside our homes.  Amidst the perennial turmoil of the world we live in, light in the darkness and the familiar traditions surrounding the Solstice, St Lucia’s Day, Christmas and Hanukkah, give us hope for the year to come.

During these times of darkness and chaos it's imperative we try to stay centred.  We need to avoid getting caught up in the collective dramas in the world, as well as being thrown off balance by unexpected events in our own lives, and the anxiety and confusion they engender.

Focusing on light and healing can help us feel more peaceful. 

I have been blessed to have travelled a great deal in my life,  but the older I get,  the more I find that the outer journeys, exciting as they have been, do not match up to the inner one.

I am finding that it is the inner journey, the spiritual path, that brings greater rewards and contentment. I’ve discovered that ageing can be enriching as I’m more inclined to self-reflection and just being in the moment, not something my younger self could have imagined.

We seem to be living in apocalyptic times of unbearable and incomprehensible human suffering.  Each one of us is affected by the deeply disturbing news from our media to a greater or lesser degree, and the horrors give rise to a huge range of  conflicting emotions.

Everything in our world is interrelated and we need to look at action and reaction in a wider context.   There is a systemic interconnection among the events that happen on our planet, and how we think, feel and behave has an effect on the whole.

Planet Earth has once again reached the midpoint of her annual journey around the sun.  Here in the northern hemisphere the Summer Solstice is a magical time, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, giving us the longest day of the year.

Traditionally it has always been a day of joy and celebration when we cannot help but appreciate the beauty and bounty of midsummer.  It's also a deeply meaningful time when we can reconnect with Nature and find nourishment and healing.

A Super 'Buck' Moon, a Comet and a host of planetary conjunctions are making this an intense and dramatic time for everyone.  Revolutionary energy seems to be in the air, pushing for change both in our own lives and in the world around us.

Since  The Woman’s Book of Joy was first published in 2016 the pace of change and resulting upheaval in the world has increased exponentially.  It’s hard not to feel de-stabilized by everything that’s happening, and anxiety and fear can overwhelm us.  For women it has been particularly challenging, and trying to deal with all the issues that face us has left many thinking there has to be a better way of living.

Spring is always a magical time, full of promise and hope for better things to come - a time of rebirth and renewal.   In India the festival of Holi has just been celebrated with the joyful throwing of coloured powders. It’s the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and a time for singing and dancing.  In China the Li Chun festival sees people decorating eggs and trying to balance them, in the hope of having fortune smile on them for the rest of the year.

We seem to have entered a dark new phase in our current age of crisis and uncertainty.  The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the horrors it has unleashed seem incomprehensible.  Does history just keep repeating itself, is a third world war inevitable,  and have we as human beings learned nothing from the past?   Or is it possible that we can change?