All that you leave behind...

Give it a Cinderella thought this year.

As she fled the ball at the stroke of midnight she left behind a beautiful glass slipper.

I've never given much thought to the glass slipper in any case. (Except when I go shoe shopping and the shoe I like does not fit!) but today, at the end of the year it makes sense.

And it is learning for us.

Let us leave this midnight ball with all the finery, the beautiful golden carriage, the page boys, the fine gown and even the glass slipper knowing that as the new year comes on the glitter of the carriage will turn to the practicality of the pumpkin, the pageboys will be mere mice and the glass slipper: the memories.

Take your pick. Leave some behind in that wonderful imaginary ball of the 2012. Take the best with you. Take the moments when you learnt. You grew. You lost someone. You gained someone. You discovered a new way. You uncovered a new view. You were grateful for what happened. You were sad.. Take that one slipper with you and move on. Limp onwards into 2013.

And the one you left behind? All the hate, the anger, the maliciousness. It was glass wasn't it? Fragile, destructible?  Let that stay back in the ballroom. And when it comes for you - make it meet it's opposing pair - with love and graciousness and move on, stepping gracefully into a 2013 that will unfold the way you let it unfold.

May the New Year take you in its pumpkin carriage and bring you into the best celebration of your life.