0 THE ART OF SIMPLICITY

The week that follows Xmas and precedes the New Year is always a little strange. It is a period during which one feels totally out of reality, displaced and so strange. There is a very good reason for that. According to our Georgian (Western world) calendar, those few days between the end of December and the beginning of January mark the closure of an event which most people have looked upon with too much expectation and hope, the conclusion of yet another year with it's ups and downs as well as a new fresh start that inspires people to feed out of reality dreams doomed to get shattered.

No wonder we are depressed and disappointed during the end of year celebrations! We put the bar far too high, have too many unfulfillable desires and aspire for things that we cannot get. Life is so deceptive if you don't keep your feet on the ground. Then it is impossible to suffer from the soufflé effect. Having no illusions ensures us to be happy with what we have and thankful for the little things.

Just take a look at the vast majority of the human beings around the planet who were frenetically getting ready for the festivities, stressing and even loosing sleep over the whole Christmas hype. Now that it's finished they are once more under extreme pressure at the approach of the 1st of January 2011. Another big decadent feast is soon going to take place and the circus kicks into full speed again.

All are exchanging their gifts, buying loads of unnecessary objects with the money they received and going apeshit trying to organize the big day that lies ahead. What a beserker world! We can never stop for a little while, breathe, take our time to enjoy the present moment and stop focusing on the future or what is out of reach and not under our control.

The past is gone and the future doesn't exist yet, so try to center all of your attention on what is happening pronto. You are living now and not yesterday or tomorrow. Today is the day. Everything else is built on fiction or memory!

Our lack of peace, perpetual quest for more, constant need to be busy and occupied has such a negative influence on us and is characteristic of our modern world, so in order to let you relax a bit and concentrate on what's important (youself and the present) I thought that you might like to enjoy the zen-like atmosphere of my wintery pictures.