Here comes a new year - a blank page for us all!

Firstly, welcome to our new subscribers and a big thank you to our existing ones for your continued support. It means a grate deal to us to know you are out there, interested in or developing your own practice in the outdoors.

Well here we are, the the Christmas festivities and the old year past and a clean blank year ahead. Now is the time to think and plan, to create, to hope and yes, to even dream.

In nature, 'tho things look dormant, there are stirrings; tiny buds are appearing, catkins hang in the frosty air and the first snowdrops are beginning to emerge from the cold ground. Our thoughts will slowly turn to the coming spring when the days are growing longer and the sun is climbing higher in the sky.

At COOPT we are preparing for our first event of the year in March when we will be running our next online Best Practice Certificate in Outdoor Play Therapy course.

We are provisionally planning to run this on Monday evenings but will confirm dates and times in due course and publish them here. If you're interested in developing your practice in nature and are unlikely to be able to attend face to face in the Autumn, then this course is for you!

Tomorrow will bring the first full moon of the year, a supermoon named the Wolf Moon.

In the South West here, we are experiencing significant Spring tides and at present flat seas following the turbulent ones of the Christmas period. The skies have been clear and bright blue and the sun has warmth underlining that we are now almost two weeks past the shortest day. The light is beginning to change, to grow brighter and if you are gardener. you may well be thinking about what seeds you will plant in the coming weeks.

With all the stirrings and new beginnings around, find time to rest and think about the coming year. Perhaps you'll go to your sit spot and see what is emerging both around and within you. Let thoughts flow freely and help you to make plans, even tho they may be tentative, have hopes and let your creativity rise to the surface and embrace it, nurture it and let it guide you through these first few weeks as you prepare for Spring and the coming warmth and light.