As the sun sets into the gateway of the year, all is possible. We can walk away from all that binds and hurts us, and we can walk towards all that nourishes and encourages us to grow each day. It should be easy, but sometimes we can’t see clearly, sometimes we just keep going as we always have. Janus the double headed god guards this ancient gate, looking both back and forwards. Crossing this threshold is a chance to take forwards the best of the past, and to weave it into new and exciting creations in the coming year.
The mists of time close in around the sun as we pass once again over the threshold of the year. For thousands of years our ancestors have paused and celebrated as we see in another New Year, remembering all that has been, noticing who is no longer there among us, and filling our hearts with promises and hopes of a good year to come. Hope you had a great Hogmanay, and that the New Year is opening nicely for you.
Every morning when we open our eyes into a new day, we have the chance to start living the life we want, and to be the person we really are deep in our hearts. Most of us pass on this chance each day. The start of a new day at the start of a new year though is a prompt which most of us notice. What will you do with the rest of your one wild and precious life?
breathofgreenair 
Lovely to see you again Seonaid. Magical images, mystical words. Mary Oliver does it for me……
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Seonaid, I am catching up with your posts. You bring such beauty to the world through your creative eye and wonderful spirit. May 2015 be filled with good things for you and yours.
Many thanks for such lovely feedback. Comments like this make blogging so worthwhile. I look forward to reading more of your island adventures this year, and its been lovely having you along this past year 🙂
Beautiful
I’ll take what you say and run with it Seonaid 🙂
Lovely writing and the dreaminess of the photos is perfect for me .
Happy new year to you and yours x
Seonaid your photos are beautiful …. soft and lovely and full of the promise of a new year.
Blessings to you this year!
There you are again doing that thing you do so well 🙂
Well what can I say…..rose tea anyone?
After the white and lovely Christmas we had the New Year started with a fog and melted snow all around. Yet…it is snowing today again, making everything clean and bright so…there is always a hope out there (and in here)! Hope of holding onto and enjoying my wild and precious life day by day. 🙂
Beautiful photos, Seonaid, and as beautiful writing.
Happy New Year to you and the ones close to your heart!
Thank you Ese, lucky you having fresh clean snow, we’ve yet to have our first…..we’ve had a few crisp pink washed frosts but nothing much else…winter is holding onto her tricks this year 🙂 Day by day is they way to go I think, and post by post! I’ve been loving your prolific and skillful haiku writing over the year!
Our single wild and precious life (Mary Oliver, right?) – I am in deep thought about this very question. Midlife AND a new year has a way of nudging me (some days more forcefully than on others) and I am taking it very seriously because the nature and quality of my life depend on how I respond to this question. I know that you are also listening deeply to hear your own answers whispered through the mists…
Mary Oliver indeed, she is one of my favourite poets for pulling me into the here and now of nature 🙂 Its funny how sometimes the questions of how to move forwards feel so much harder to answer than at other times…..midlife is strange time indeed….moving away from the last strings which might hold us to parental views and stepping out into our own wide life. Whispers in the mist are about as much clarity as I can find right now 🙂
Nice photos but the words are the winner here. Thanks – I needed that. 🙂
Lovely to hear Judy, walking forwards is far harder than it sounds I find!
Perhaps we can only choose what we do with each wild and precious day. Warmly!
One day at a time is probably as far as our choices really stretch Michael….and warmly always sounds like a good plan!
might aspire to your level of breathtaking shots! – a beautifully optimistic and asseverate post (new word for the new year!)
I like your new word for the New Year…..it has a solid stirring feel to it Laura….and you take some pretty breathtasking shots yourself!
If you only knew the significance these words hold for me at this particular moment Seonaid. I hope for the strength to move forward as you suggest. D
The next new adventures of your life await…..one step at a time 🙂
Nice..:) wish u a very happy new year..:)
Thanks Josh, nice to hear from you 🙂
Beautiful photos and very thought provoking post Seonaid. I love the imagery of the god Janus guarding the gateway to the new year – what beautiful symbolism.
Thanks Suzanne…and yes the Romans were quite good at symbolism, and of course that’s where January gets its name 🙂
All transitions have both beginnings and endings woven together…we need to let go in order to move forwards!
Definitely – that feeling seems very profound and deep for me this year. I feel a bit like I’m stuck as still as a Janus statue. Maybe next week when businesses get back to normal I’ll feel more like I’m moving into the new. 🙂
Beautifully written! Love that hazy sunshine in your shots.
I love the sense of mystery which mist and fog bring 🙂
Misty tranquil images and your words are perfect for this time of the year. Yes I think we all need to take stock and set goals, but not just now, they need to be followed through, but many times life just gets in the way. Maybe we should take the first day of each month to renew our commitments.
You know I think that sounds like a great plan….a little time each month just to think about the way we are living and the choices we are making…New Month….a new tradition!
I am absolutely applauding. I LOVE your words and mind-set. It is a New Year and I’m resolving to keep my face pointed toward the sun instead of looking back into the night. I have just finished reading WINDOWS ON THE WORLD… 50 WRITERS, 50 VIEWS by Matteo Pericoli. The writers describe the view from their office desk as they look off into the world. Where their drawings are excellent, your photography is stunning. Your world and view is very similar to mine here in the Northwest part of the United States. It is so wonderful to read your reminders that we are in charge of our lives and the view we choose to see. Thank you!! Happy New Year to you and your family!
Gwynn what generous praise, thank you. I love hearing of how similar the earth looks and feels where we both stand, despite the ocean which lies between us! Taking ownership of our lives sounds so easy….yet all sorts of things get in the way 🙂
Sublime and ethereal 🙂 Happy New Year Seonaid!
Thanks Sarah….the light through the mist does something dreamy to my mind 🙂
It is a wonderful sight isn’t it? Makes me feel all wistful 🙂
Hey Happy New Year GM I trust many lovely and fresh shots will be captured this year 🙂
on a completely separate note – I noticed a few dust specs (most obvious above the sun) on the third image which probably means your sensor needs a wee clean – you tube videos explain how to resolve this – I spend my life cloning them out 🙂
Thanks Scott….they are dust specks but on the outside of the car window which I shot this through!! Didnt have time to put the window down as we whizzed by 🙂
sorry i spot everything 🙂
Thats OK….I almost discarded the shot because of the dust spots…but I just loved the effect of the sun and the mist in the slowly disappearing trees 🙂
tbh i had a dirty sensor for the first 3 months of this year and fretted over whether I could clean it myself, Shops effectively want you to be scared to do such things. However I would prefer to do that sort of stuff myself and it proved to be straightforward although the swab and fluid are expensive but a lot cheaper than giving Jessops £40 ever time 🙂
I know who to come to when I need instructions for sensor cleaning…I would prefer to do it myself too…but havent had to yet 🙂
You are so right, and as always making us think…This year I WILL do what I have been wanting to do…And, in fact I will. I will work less at school and use my time on other important things. The time we have is short and precious. I have made up my mind.
That sounds like its going to be an interesting year 🙂
Funny really how the whole world stops and takes stock… and then plods on in the same foolish ways, Seonaid. 🙂 Thanks for the reminder. I love the wistfulness of the photos. All my ‘if onlys’ 🙂
Oh mine too Jo….but this year might be different! We can only try…
I’ll give it my best shot! 🙂
Wonderful images, Seonaid.Your words are so inspiring as always. “To be the person we really are deep in our hearts,” sounds like a great goal for this year, and totally achievable if we stay focused.
Yes, staying focused is the challege!! Always lovely to hear from you, and I’ve just been on your blog and loved the review of 2014….you’ve inspired me to look back through my images from last year!
Some beautiful images with which to start the year Seonaid. Sending you warmest good wishes for a very Happy New Year 🙂
Thanks Andrew, the freezing mist came from nowhere and I loved what it did to the sun. I do love a good misty shot!
Happy 2015 Seonaid, may peace and joy fill your heart!
Thanks Gilly, wishing you a good one too Xx
Certainly a bewitching morning, gorgeous light! Happy 2015, Seonaid!
Thanks Sue…it was bewitching indeed, but just afer midday….when the mist swept away the light. Hope 2015 is good to you!
Thank you!
You have really caught the opalescence of the light, Seonaid. Happy new year to you and your family.
Oooo, I love that word Sue!! The light was bewitching as freezing fog swirled in around us. We moved from full sun and clear blue skies across a line and into the mysterious mist….
I’ve been out on mornings like that… magical 🙂
So beautifully put! I’m intending to make 2015 MY year and do all those things that have been put off for far too long. Happy New Year!
Alison x
That sounds wonderful Minerva….wishing you a fun filled and exciting 2015 of discovering you 🙂