Here’s what happened: I’m in the back of a cab, on my way from San Diego airport to Encinitas. It’s early morning. I’ve just flown in from San Francisco where I was appearing the night before on KQED for my PBS show Shift Happens! I’m feeling tired. I’m looking forward to taking a shower. I haven’t done my morning meditation yet. So, I decide to speak to God.

Happy Valentines Day to you.  Today is a good day to pay attention to your relationship to love, and to commit to being the most loving person you can be.  Make it your intention today to love everyone.  Allow yourself to let love in today.  Don’t leave yourself out.  Loves excludes no one, after all.  To mark this occasion, here is a poem, Falling in Love, which I put inside a card for Hollie this morning. 

You can fall in love with the same person
for the first time at least ten thousand
times, if you play it right.
And that’s just in the
beginning.

After that, you can fall in love with each
other more times than you can count.
And each time it will feel more like
love than before.

Eventually, you will fall in love together
as often as you want.
And even more than that, because
you won’t have a choice
about it.

The last time you fall in love will
be when you finally let love do
away with you and me and him
and her and all of us.

In the end, only love remains.

Ha! It was love falling in love
with love all along.

It’s nearly 6pm on New Year’s Eve. Hollie, Bo, Christopher and I have just finished our last supper of 2012. Hollie has taken the children upstairs for a bath before bedtime. I’m cleaning up in the kitchen (or I will after I’ve written this blog). The house is full of stillness. It feels like there’s an angel in the house. The stillness fells the same as the pause that happens between each exhalation and inhalation. It’s like the whole world is taking a deep breath. We are all breathing out, and letting go. We are all breathing in, and getting ready.

At 10am, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the New Year celebrations begin. The people of Christmas Island and Samoa send out a wave across the planet. At 11am (GMT), the people of New Zealand catch the wave, and they then pass it on. After that, for every hour, on the hour, another country in another time zone, rides the wave. Celebrations happen all over the world: fireworks light up the sky, people kiss and hug, crowds cheer in the New Year. This is a time for remembrance and celebration, honouring the passing of what was, and welcoming in the new.

Now is a time for new beginnings. It’s a time to remember what is important, and to commit again to what is real and true. And so I like to make time in the first days of a new year to think about what a new beginning really means for me. One way I do this is to take a blank piece of paper – a perfect symbol for a new beginning – and at the top of the paper I write a sentence like “A new beginning means to me . . . “ I then complete the sentence a few times, watching for the responses that feel most meaningful and true.

Here are some highlights from my inquiry so far: A new beginning means to me . . .

• Committing to my daily spiritual practice.
• Doing my daily “A Course in Miracles” lessons.
• Saying “Yes” to God’s Will.
• Listening to my heart more.
• Being a loving husband.
• Writing more poetry.
• Being a loving father.
• Writing my parenting journal.
• Learning to juggle.
• Committing to my daily yoga.
• Being a loving son.
• Letting go of all grievances.
• Looking after my physical health.
• Being a loving brother.
• Playing my guitar more.
• Being a more loving friend.
• Cooking new, fabulous, healthy recipes.
• Playing more golf than in 2012.
• Being a more loving person.

I wish you a happy new year, full of new beginnings.

I have created for Oprah.com an eight-day mini-version of the Be Happy program. I have selected eight exercises for you, one for each day, to be completed over eight consecutive days.  I recommend that you give each exercise at least 15 minutes a day.  If possible do this program with a buddy, as this will give you a chance to get into some rich conversations and also offer you extra support.

Here is Day One for you:  Click HERE to see the entire course on Oprah.com

Day 1:  Defining True Happiness
What is your definition of a happy life?  Are you living it?  Do you remember to include yourself in your definition?  Think carefully on this because your definition of happiness will influence every other significant decision in your life.  For instance, if you think happiness is outside you, you will turn happiness into a search, a pursuit, or a destination; whereas if you know happiness is inside you then happiness becomes a compass, a guide, and an enabler that helps you to live a rich life.

Be Happy Exercise:  There is a world of difference between searching for happiness and following your joy.  Your first assignment is to reflect on the question “When am I at my happiest?” Identify what inspires you, nourishes you, and fans the flames of joy within.  Being clear about this will help you to be true to yourself, to be honest, to make better choices, and to have the courage to say a big YES to what really matters most to you in life.  Say “YES” to joy today.