Yup.

© 2009 Cedric Victor.

Another full lap around the sun.

Presently, I find myself in an enviable position: I realize that I am in the best shape of my life, physically, mentally and spiritually. All these things have been at the forefront of all of my intentions and I realize (only in retrospect) that “improvement” has been a silent and very deliberate undercurrent since moving up to New York.

“For those who have dwelt in depression’s dark wood, and known its inexplicable agony, their return from the abyss is not unlike the ascent of the poet, trudging upward and upward out of hell’s black depths and at last emerging into what we saw as ‘the shining world.’ There, whoever has been restored to health has almost always been restored to the capacity for serenity and joy, and this may be indemnity enough for having endured the despair beyond despair.”

- William Styron
Darkness Visible

Being in New York  has something to do with it. Also, having sorted through friends and enemies worth keeping, I find that being surrounded by  fellow celebrants of the harvest, the few in my life now, makes all the difference.

E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.
(And so we came forth, and once again beheld the stars.)

- Dante
The Inferno