Dear Universe,

I hope everyone’s 2013 is off to a happy start, one that feels refreshing and hopeful.

I spent New Year’s Day being very busy.  With all the traditions to follow it really felt like the day flew by!  But, it felt important to follow some of the superstitions I wrote about.

So I ate my twelve (possibly thirteen—I lost count) grapes.  October tasted especially sweet.

I wore my colored undies and sported a new top.  I ate kale, black eyed peas and cabbage (thanks to my mother’s culinary expertise).  I went around the house burning (smudging) my sage to cleanse and purify the energy and rid of any negativity.

And I did my favorite activity of all.  I opened my letter from last year (written while I was in London!)

It’s a New Year’s Day tradition that I write a letter and list to myself, to be opened the following New Year’s Day and not a second earlier.  It’s is a way of looking ahead with the hopes for the coming year.

I made a cup of coffee, sat back and opened the envelope, nervous for what I would find.  (I was prepared to cry).  Luckily, it was a happy letter and my list of things I hoped for?  Well, quite a few came to fruition.

The biggest surprise?  Reading I wanted to travel to Los Angeles and Egypt.

I’m sure it was only a passing thought, one I didn’t remember writing, yet I did go to Los Angeles and Egypt, in that order, one trip right after the other.  You, Universe, can sometimes be so precise when it comes to manifesting requests.  I like that.

Then I took my time to write my letter for 2013.  I thought long and hard about what it is I really want to do, see and be this year.  I wrote the list carefully and specifically, knowing you do pay attention to details, and I sealed my fate.

If only it were that easy.

I realize some of the things I wrote aren’t easy to accomplish.  I realize some may be a downright impossibility, but that’s the fun of it.  You write down a few basic things, but then you also write your wildest dreams.  You just never know how things will come to be.

I have also learned that sometimes the things we think we want most, are actually the things we don’t need so I always remember that when I read the list later.

Of course I do hope that some of the list gets checked off these next twelve months because I did think of some really positive, amazing things! 🙂

The letter always feels like a present and I’d like to think the year older version of me that opens it is a little wiser and a little happier upon receiving it.

So it’s not too late.  Write a letter, make a wish list for 2013 and seal it up to open January 1, 2014.  Keep it light and positive and most importantly, keep it somewhere safe.

What do you want your year to be like?

I can’t promise that everything in the letter will come true, but I can promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised either way.

Sometimes in the day to day grind we don’t see ourselves moving forward.  We don’t always feel that progress is being made.  But somehow, in the total of the 365 days—525,600 minutes—things do change, shift or manifest.

The letters and lists are a perfect way to see it firsthand.

Thank you for a pleasant 2012.  Please let 2013 be even better.

Much Gratitude,

A