Joy is burning inside me like a Christmas candle and if I cup my hands around it with gentleness and care, the flame leaps higher.

If I add my secret thoughts, my hopes and dreams, I feel it burn brightly and the bubble that is my world expands ever outwards to the shimmering frontiers of possibility.

“Go there!” I say to myself. “Go beyond the confines of your heart and claim the magic in your life that is waiting, hidden in the deep forest of pines where Santa rests with his team of reindeer, bells tinkling, snorting steam in the winter cold.”

I know that miracles happen when we leave our worries behind and embrace the new. The new year is waiting and Christmas is the time to open ourselves to freedom, and to discard our old and worn out clothes of worry and anxiety.

We can become children! Not through innocence but through openness. Throw our arms wide and hug our possibilities. Through the magical door of Christmas we can enter the new year of our dreams.

When we extend our horizons, we see things we have never seen before. We taste unusual things, smell fresh and rare aromas, and see beauty where it lies hidden. Instantly, we begin changing.

In this difficult time, when we have confined ourselves with caution and worry, we can still go stand above the sea and enjoy a glorious sunset or a pristine sunrise or watch the magnificent silver reflections of clouds reflecting in the trail of a runaway wave.

Think of that wave. Imagine where it came from so far across the sea. Follow it in its years of travels, through ragged storms and blue windy days. This is us, each and every one of us, travelling through our lives, propelled by the elements and currents we cannot see!

We don’t necessarily need to travel to an exotic place to experiment and find new adventures. Try to find it here, on our special and gorgeous island.

I came across my friend, Karen, yesterday. She was walking in the wild stretch of hidden beaches between Chaplin Bay and Horseshoe. She gave me a brilliant smile.

“Look Nina! I found this casuarina branch. This will be my Christmas tree. I want to experiment and do something I have never done before! I want to try something different this year.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and thought: “There it is; what we are all yearning for: something different this year.”

I sat and gazed out over the ocean. Waves crashed in sprays of foam on the barrier reef. I knew that just beneath the surface swam rainbows of fish in an endless stillness.

A deep inner calm always exists underneath the turbulence of our worries and anxiety. We all have this unwavering essence of our true and beautiful self that is untouched by the waves of our lives.

Dear readers, go to that still place in your heart. Leave behind your judgments and become children. Let the flame of your inner Christmas candle leap higher! And most of all, try something different this year.

Merry Christmas!

Nina London is a certified wellness and weight-management coach. Her mission is to support and inspire mature women to make positive changes in their body and mind. Share your inspirational stories with her at www.ninalondon.com