2024 First New Moon

11 Jan 2024

And just like that, the first new moon of 2024 is upon us. It felt like just recently we were at Boudha Stupa to observe the last new moon of 2023.

The postcard I wrote & mailed to myself on 7 Dec 2023 from Nepal arrived on 7 Jan 2024 in Singapore. I showed it to my first tuition class of the year to get them to design & write a postcard to themselves to capture their hopes for the New Year.

“Who’s Marcus?” The curious speed readers in my class asked.

“Marcus was my travel buddy who helped me carry relief supplies for street & shelter animals. He also held my hand when the road became uneven so that I wouldn’t fall down,” I explained to the clean limbed and bright eyed 12 year olds.

For Nepal constantly tests one’s fitness, capacity for kindness and openness to changes.

Marcus carried all the heavy stuff, helped me up & down stairs, vehicles, curbs and kept me from tripping over misaligned tiles & bricks on our paths.

Some days he went ahead to check out places we could have our meals in, their menus and accessibility to me. He was my google map. 😄

Silence followed as the young ones ruminated on the challenges of travelling with someone like me, and reflected on new reasons beyond that of entertainment & education for travelling.

As we look to the first New Moon of 2024, may we continue to find new meanings, new directions and new resources for our benefit and for all sentient beings, regardless of the conditions & situations we’re in.