A LETTER OF WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR
The year 2024 has started a few hours ago as I am writing. Here I am, i’ve been taking a few weeks off since my last post. I am back in my home in Milan after a beautiful weekend in Turin, a magnificent city that I had not yet had the pleasure of visiting. I am in my pijamas in front of the computer and with a cup of Lapsang tea next to me on the table.
I have not made any big New Year's resolutions. Rather, I have made plans. Of all of them, I feel I want to give more importance to the commitment I have set myself to live my daily days more slowly.
It is 1 January and in front of us we have a blank page to fill, an unknown road that no one has yet travelled. The new has charm in it, a thousand possibilities unfolding before us when we feel we have time.
Every time a year ends and a new one begins, a crumb of nostalgia pervades me for all those things I wanted to do, and did not do. But then there is the good intention to 'do more' or 'do better' and everything seems possible. In fact, I would like to prioritise and give importance to living every moment of the year fully aware of it. I am not perfect and I stopped trying to be for many years. However, I love the beauty, the slowness, the concreteness of things done to really experience them, and not simply to say that we have done them.
We are often in a hurry, aren't we? Too much, in my opinion. And chasing perfection distracts us from the pleasure of living in the present. Don't think that I have victoriously juggled this mentality, far from it... I am still learning the power of calm, which has generated in me an immense strength, which has become habit. That is why I assure you that slowing down is possible.
If we are always running, our life becomes superficial, and we will miss out on enjoying all its beauty. If we go slowly, on the other hand, we will admire its uniqueness. We will build memories, moments to share that will become experience and, over the years, wisdom. No special skill is needed. Just the desire to do it. Without being afraid of missing the train. We will always have time. Time is the greatest gift we have been given. The real challenge is to know how to use it cleverly.
To learn how to slow down, I recommend, first of all, listening and observing: devote part of your time to looking at things and understanding what they mean to you. Listen to the words that are spoken to you and attend to the words that you say, because your thoughts become words and words become actions. Actions make up your life, so your life depends on you and your thoughts. What you are, very often, is the result of your choices.
Don't wait for things to happen, but take action. Your life may be beautiful today, but ‘today’ does not last forever. You must have the courage to take action. Many people feel enslaved by technology (too many messages, too many social networks, too many notifications), their work or their tasks. My advice is to take note of the change you want to be. Act, today. In silence. Quietly. Consciously.
There are no downhill lives. There are people capable of climbing over mountains and looking beyond them. I am like that. And I hope you can be too. I send you a hug from my desk, in my home in Milan, this first afternoon of the year, which has the smell of a lit candle and wet tea leaves. Simple things that make my life beautiful.
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