NOVA Magazine

At this time of year, our thoughts are turning towards celebrations, whether Christmas, Hanukkah, the Solstice, or even just a wonderful relaxing holiday break. I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief that another year has come full circle and it's time to let our hair down.

But along with the usual anticipation this year, there's a definite sense of change in the air. We see it everywhere... in people moving from the city in search of a simpler life closer to nature, in the waves of migration across the globe towards safer havens, the clouds of financial uncertainty spreading from Europe set against the extraordinary energy emanating from China and India, the new dynamism required of business to stay ahead of the game. It's almost as if climate change is the one certainty!

Prophecies abound about the year ahead, 2012, and we can either believe the worst or the best. One thing is certain though and that is we have the capacity to determine our own futures, starting with our thoughts and building our intent through the words we utter and the actions we take.

Each of us is a field of vibration within the universal field of energy. When we realise this, and it's really the essence of a holistic mindset, we understand the crucial importance of living our lives as consciously as we possibly can. Of raising our individual vibration and literally lightening up!  You all know what I mean... acting with kindness and consideration, eating natural and nutritious food, reducing your ecological footprint, and ‘walking in another person's shoes'.

Every time we resist the impulse to anger or decide against some impulsive purchase (even at Christmas) or decide that our city lifestyle really doesn't justify our enormous 4WD (I admit this is becoming a personal crusade in my city overrun with such inappropriate vehicles), we are acting with conscious intent.

And, as the more positive prophecies for 2012 all concur, the true transformation of this time is of the heart and the mind. Sceptics will scoff but we can't afford the luxury of such cynicism. Just to take one example, the earth's energy field recorded a massive spike on 9/11, it would seem as a spontaneous outpouring of grief and compassion towards those whose lives had been so cruelly ended.  It proves, if we need proof, that what we each think and feel reverberates beyond us, so we can shape the world of the future. What can be more empowering than that?

Talking of change, once again NOVA Magazine is reaching out into new directions, this time to embrace the iPad. And to our knowledge, we're the first holistic magazine to launch an edition on this revolutionary new publishing platform.

From January, our iPad version will have all the quality and artistry you've come to expect from us over the past 19 years, redesigned to enhance your reading experience.

So whether you're a committed print reader or stretching your boundaries with the fabulous new technology now available, NOVA Magazine will be offering you a choice. With Christmas almost upon us, on behalf of the NOVA team, I wish you peace and happiness.