The pleasure with which nature gives herself over to the embrace of the seasons reaches poetic heights in the summer. Shadings of green enchant the instrument of interpretation — the eye — with surprising variety. Whether it is colourful flower beds, vineyards covering the hills of Wellington with a symmetrical perfection, or the playful kiss of the morning sun on the glowing face of the receptive landscape, Boland summers are a deep delight that banish all resistance.

Time's gift for turning the loose components of our life and our circumstances into an experience — good or bad — is a dynamic that repeats endlessly. Outside us and inside us. The quality of our inner world is less dependent on time, which brings the cycles of seasons of growing and harvesting nearer, than the world outside us is. The backbone on which our experiences rest is the choices we make. And our choices are usually influenced by our concept of ourselves and of others. And the wiring that lies twisted between thought, emotion and habit, and that reacts to the finest and rarest impulse, is wrapped in mystery.

Invisible, it is unreal to us, and yet it is the locomotive that keeps the rest of the train's carriages on their track and takes them forward. Nothing happens without a thought that has exerted its influence on a decision setting everything in motion. Decipher the reflex routines of this "internet" and you have broken the code. Interrupt the stream of thoughts that constantly empties its content into our spirit, so that choices which grow up to make new choices may enjoy the privilege of having had better ancestors. Our heart is the altar on which thoughts throw themselves, to be consumed through the fire of feeling and of conscience into either fate or destiny.

If 2019 is going to be a good year, it must first be good in our inner world. If choices colour in our experience and time is only the guardian angel that brings circumstances near and creates opportunities for growth, then time is the instrument that allows us to choose again. If we choose rightly, the change is immediately effective and a given — provided the refining influence of our spirit could have the last word …

Groete Amanda Kreitzer