Thank you so much for subscribing to New Paradigm Digest. It’s been quite a year for all of us.  I spent half of it in Vilcabamba and Cuenca, Ecuador. I found that living in Vilcabamba, a beautiful valley with a river running through it and a population of 8000 helped me save money ( My rent on a 2 room cottage was $200/mo) and I met some wonderful people but in the end, the town did not have enough culture for me, especially as a single man. I will visit again but do not feel at this point that it is where I will end up living, but then again, you never know

My time in Cuenca was fun with a lot more culture, good restaurants, low cost of living, good music and films for $2,  I missed my friends and family and the reliability of service providers and a stable legal system. I found that service providers do not always show up or even call if they can’t, that laws seem to change frequently and that people often tell you you can do things like paying your immigration fine at the airport when you can’t. In short, I am happy to be back in Ojai, my small town, 20 minutes from the ocean and 1.5 hours from LA.

Sadly, my father passed four days after my return from Ecuador. He was two weeks shy of his 100th birthday. I will miss him. He was the kindest man I ever knew.

The year was marked by the end of what looked to me like the most dysfunctional and Orwellean time I can recall. With a new president, I am hopeful we can  begin to restore our country’s visionary place in the world.

My sense is that the economic woes we face are not going away and that the year will present more challenges but that perhaps by the end of it we hopefully will have passed through the worst. (Trend analyst Gerald Celente will be giving his 2009 forecast which we will cover here soon). One thing to keep in mind is that it is during challenging economic times that major innovations happen in increasing numbers. We will be monitoring and reporting on these new paradigm innovations as they develop. Perhaps you will be one of the innovators or know of one. Please let me know of any you become aware of at jefhutatgmaildotcom. Also let me know of any areas you would like to see more coverage of.

I wish you and your families a new year in which your fondest visions become reality.

Thank you again for your support and if you have enjoyed your subscription, please let others know about NPD.

Jeff Hutner, Editor

p.s. Here is a wonderful piece from my friend Lawrence of Integral Spirituality, a highly recommended site whose thoughts I echo.

It has been said that those of us living today must give birth to an Integral Age where inner and outer life reach a higher synthesis and resonance; where heart and mind are integrated; where education, medicine, business and politics reflect a new science of conscious life that has the power to harvest our highest intentions.

Call upon your own delight and joy to be the power of 2009 to bring forth into this critical time your magnified and aligned sense of personal mission and let others hear and see what you are giving birth to. From your mind’s greatest clarity, write it down, rehearse your personal mission daily or weekly, and then share with others how and where you intend to do your 1/6 billionth part to foster this great new emergence and transformation.

Affirm the true nature of your personal mission work, whatever form it takes in the world. Do not forget that the heart has such transformative powers that it can expand beyond the confines of every form of hurt and hatred to embrace violently paired opposites and transmute every schism with love and compassion to new greater dynamic unions.

I ask you then to enter 2009 supporting the great new emergence and great work that is now the work of every one of us and every organization on the planet: the work of speaking the deepest truth of our nature, the work of revealing and using our power to heal and to reconcile virulent conflict; our power to transform every dysfunction and limitation that stops us from living sustainably, peacefully and yes, most importantly, joyfully and in abundance on this beautiful blue jewel of Earth.