2017 was for me, a lot like that Wonder Woman movie.  Hotly anticipated, and began with some intriguing promise and enjoyment. It then started to look a bit shaky, and then graduated to several bewildering moments of disbelief interspersed between some entertaining scenes.  At the end of it all, you’re a little bit relieved to see the back of it (“Love will save the world” biatch, PLEASE”), but also rather disappointed in the whole thing, and that you didn’t spend the time invested in more worthwhile things.

Because I’m not an optimist, my memories don’t often roll like a Hollywood movie trailer. It doesn’t show me all the best bits, the witty one-liners, the exhilarating car chases and action sequences. Instead, it recalls failures to progress, disappointments, a general sense of mundanity where they might have been more excitement and developments. In the case where I thought I had lost something significant, it turns out it was even worse – I never really had it at all – and that hurt more than I ever should have let it.  Like parading around your prized show-unicorn for everyone to see, and then realising not only was it just a donkey with an ice cream cone stuck on it’s forehead, but that even the donkey thought you knew this, isn’t interested in helping you fix the situation…and is just kind of embarrassed for you. Nice feeling, that.

Overall, if 2017 was a duck, then this would be what the duck looked like.

These sorts of eeyore-esque emotions cloud my judgment over what was, at the very least a spiritually (permit me to use such a loathsome word) progressive year. Before I get into that, there are some honorable mentions to raise, lest I read this when I’m old and demented and figured 2017 to be truly awful:

• I tried and a few new activities, some of much I hope to pursue regularly next year. More ‘extreme’ activities like paragliding, as well as regular ones like climbing, yoga, learning to swim properly.
• I felt truly at home in Singapore, and in front of a bowl of Chicken Rice.
• I found another ‘Hibiki’ to love!
• I visited some truly beautiful places, and had a lot of fun times in them. A particular highlight was Portugal, and the magical Sintra.

As I get older however, I need to realise that a good year – and indeed, a good life – isn’t all about boxes being ticked, or all of those materialistic things that you can eagerly relay humblebraggily to your to friends and co-workers. I only began properly stepping onto that path to realisation this year by engaging in the practice of Mindfulness. Far from being a hippy-dippy fad that one might roll their eyes over – Mindfulness has allowed me recognise that I can shift the paradigm in which I can view the world. And in shifting that paradigm, I change my approach to all of life’s challenges.

In essence, shit happens – and will always happen. But I can change my relationship to the shit.. which in turn will transform the way in which I am affected by it.  It’s a useful skill for anyone to have – a sort of teflon-coated shit shield, that works externally as well as internally (all sorts of shit fill the mind at any given point, right?).  Additionally Mindfulness asks you to quiet the mind, and not to saddle yourself with lingering thoughts of the past, or anxious worries for the future.  Those moments have already gone or have yet to come – the only certainty is now, this exact moment that you’ve wisely or foolishly chosen to read about my ruminations.

As such, for 2018, the perpetual long-term objectives will be constant practice of meditiation – and to adopt my chosen tenets of mindfulness, practically, continously and meaningfully.

1. Five key principles – Non judgment, Be Kind, Accept Differences, Focus On What You Can Do, and Gratefulness.
2.  Forgiveness will not change the past, but it can change the future. When you forgive others, you unlock the door and set your own prisoner free.
3. Be good to yourself, and to your mind. Happiness does not need to come from the outside.
4. It is not other people – but your thoughts of other people that trouble you.
5. The most important time, is now. The most important person, is the one you’re talking to. The most important consideration is that you care. Whatever you are currently doing – give it all your all, as it is the single most important thing you can be doing right now!
6. Mortality makes us live fuller lives. We are all sitting on the conveyor belt to death –  don’t live for the holidays, live for all the days.
7. Winning arguments doesn’t make you happier. Good relationships are what makes people happy.
8. Your mind tells stories. Just because you think it and feel it – it does not mean it’s real. Do not allow your mind to succumb to confirmation bias, where it looks for content to crudly finish the chapter and treat it as vindication of a past story.
9. Practice mindful speech. Pause before you respond. Is it true? Is it beneficial? Is it the right time, and place?
10. Physical pain is inevitable. But mental pain is optional.

Having said all that –  I am not not yet invulnerable to the temptations of tangible achievements. When I am a mindful master, then perhaps I can forgo the superficialities that society tells you makes you Interesting – but that day hasn’t come yet.

So here’s all the other stuff I will be looking to achieve this year:

• At least five new cities, two new countries, and three new activities to pursue.
• On top of that – parasailing, snorkelling, white water rafting.
• Regularly take up Muay Thai/something with punches in it, again.
• Exercise at least twice a week.
• Buy a property – yes, really, REALLY.
• Be better with my parents, show them how much I love them.
• Take a part-time classroom course.

Cheers to the new year.. bring it on.