Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

~Roald Dahl

___________________

I am cheating.

In the middle of a 10-day personal retreat, I feel moved to pop my head out of my cave and send love to all of you as this year comes to a close.

When I look back at the landscape of my life in 2012, what stands out the most is the connection I feel to so many of you.

Some of you are in my life every day, in the flesh, and for that I am beyond grateful. The photo you’re looking at above is the view I see each morning when I walk my dear, magical dog, Lucy… that’s a long shot toward the east looking at Upaya Zen Center and beyond to the hills surrounding Santa Fe. This is the valley I am blessed to live in, and the people I love and care about are tucked in here as well.

Some of you have connected with me more closely here on the Liberated Life Project through the e-course I gave this year, and I have loved watching you unfold more deeply into your life’s passion and find ways to express that to the world.

Some of you are co-conspirators in this mission of creating a beloved community. We are doing this in incredibly diverse ways, ranging from social and spiritual activism to enlightened business building to creative arts and expression. I’ve been lucky enough to meet these folks in person: Katie Loncke and Dawn Haney of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Joy Holland, George Kao, Pamela Slim, Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo, Jami Sieber, and June Tanoue. I love each one of these people, and a one- or two-word description would never be sufficient to convey the beauty of what they are doing. Please take a moment to check each of them out, and you’ll have opened up your own world to many new possibilities.

And finally there are some of you I have never met in person — and yet I feel such a strong kindred spirit connection with you and the work that you do. Some of these folks include Lisa Wilson, Sandra Pawula, and Eileen Pardini.

As we arrive together at the end of this year and head into the next, my wish for all of us is that we can re-connect with the magic that is embedded so deep within this world… it’s a part of our every waking moment though we often can’t “see” it until we slow down enough to let it touch us, sometimes in the most surprising ways.

This magic has been a constant companion to me for the past five days that I’ve been immersed in retreat, and I look forward to diving into it more in the coming year with you.

Until then, I send you my deepest blessings for the new year….

 in freedom,

Maia (and Lucy)