2024, a step up from 2023, will probably not be very different from years gone by.

It will be the year of the dragon once again after 12 years, AI will usher in doomsday and be the messiah, climate change will be driven even faster by news, breakthrough diets will promise weight loss and lifespan gain, hyper growth of startups will defy logic and gravity, social media will dig deeper into our brain’s neural networks, battles will start-stop suddenly leaving permanent scars on the soil, bodies and minds of those impacted. At same time millions will be lifted out of absolute poverty in one corner of Earth, as millions face a hand to mouth reality in other parts.

2024 is neither bullish nor bleak. It is a blip in your lifeline with the capacity to rejuvenate you or numb your senses. It is time you act rather than be shaped by an environment that is being pushed and pulled in all directions.

Time to steal back what belongs to you:

Relationships from networks and socialising that satisfy the ego

Sanity from news and media that keeps you on the dopamine edge

Wisdom from trends and hacks that bypass reality and ways of nature

Attention from mindless consumerism that has displaced creative application

Awareness from blissful ignorance and blind acceptance

Stop being charitable with your most valuable possessions or soon you won’t have anything left to hold onto — except news that you don’t trust, people you can’t share your truth with, a mind that is unhinged and a regret list that money can’t recover.

Wish you and your loved ones a very sensible empowering new year.