Happy New Year 2012 from the UK!

I took these pictures of the TV whilst watching the fireworks taking place in London. Pretty spectacular.

I have received a lot of messages from people saying that anytime is a good time to start fresh.

I appreciate that.

I also feel its a thing of beauty that the whole world starts afresh on 1st January every single year.

Those good feelings have to count for something.

Have an awesome moment, day, week, month and year!

I have a small update to the free daily letter.

I have decided after much thought to change the ‘free daily letter’ to simply ‘the free letter’.

This will be sent out in the same way as before, whenever I have written something new.

This only difference is that instead of daily, this may be daily, it may be every other day, it may be weekly.

I am writing everyday, but won’t always publish here.

The reason for this is I would like to make sure that you receive my highest quality writing possible and gives me more time and space to grow without the arbitrary goal of publishing daily affecting what I am doing. Consider this an experiment. It feels right at this moment.

I’d like my writing to grow slowly with me rather than putting more pressure on it than is necessary.

Writing daily was a real achievement for me and very worthwhile but the time has come to evolve.

I hope that you understand where I am coming from on this one and are along for the journey as always.

Beyond The Surface continues weekly as usual and contains the deeper explorations.

Thanks for reading!

I recently received a comment on G+

“good writers such as yourself make small, simple things interesting to read about.”

Wow. I have never been referred to as a ‘writer’ before.

This got me thinking about many things, some of which I will be exploring in more detail in the future here.

Today I would simply like to explore the term ‘writer’.

Am I a writer? What is a writer? How do I know if I am? If I am not, will I one day all of a sudden come to the realisation that I am?

I am many things. One of the things I do is write, that is for certain. Good somedays, bad other days, needs improvement others. A touch of wonderful the next. Always growing. Ever changing. Sometimes overwhelming.

Perhaps the practice and physical act of writing then is what makes me a writer.

I am a writer because I write, not because someone tells me I am, or because I get external validation, although this is always great to hear. I certainly haven’t passed any test that makes me a qualified writer.

I am really very happy if you enjoy my words and join me on my journey, but this is not my sole motivation. If it were, this might change what I write as I try and cater to differing readers needs.

I write also because it adds to my own life. It is a way of expressing and connecting with others through shared experiences, or reflections around situations similar to us both.

I aim to share from my own experience and invite you in, without telling you what you should or shouldn’t do.

I’ll keep writing! ‘Writer’ or not!

I’ll be exploring writing in more detail in Beyond the Surface today.

Do you write? Do you consider yourself a writer?

I would love to hear your thoughts here.

//

If you like the words I write, you could consider…

Signing up for my free daily letter delivered direct to your inbox.

How do you measure the degree to which you are living the good life?

• Wealth?
• Health?
• Comfort?
• Material items?

Lately I have been measuring mine by answering the following question:

“Did I make a difference to someone’s day today?”

If I can answer this with “yes”, then I am living the good life.

Somedays the answer might be a very small yes, others it might be a BIG, often tiring and longwinded journey to YES!

It provides a very simple focus to the day, moment by moment. I can pretty much always find a way to make a difference even if it is just a smile, or listening, I mean REALLY listening to someone’s problem.

Of course there are other elements to answering with a yes such as taking time for myself so that I am energised enough to give to others.

Somedays the yes might have been for myself – did I change something that positively impacted my own life. Did I make a difference to myself by eating well, breathing slow and stretching out?

If I want to feel good, at the end of the day I review the ways I have made a difference today and then the next day look for opportunities to do more of the same.

How did you make a difference today?

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