I have been thinking about jaguars.

When a jaguar is ready to spring, what does it do?

It crouches back. It becomes very intent. Then it bursts forward in a powerful leap forward.

Scientists now understand that evolution happens in quantum leaps, not steady forward movement. Sudden shifts into completely new paradigms is what the cosmos does. After long, long periods of no apparent change.

For those of us who are feeling nervous about what appears to be a global movement toward fundamentalism, nationalism, totalitarianism, I have a thought:

I imagine 2017 as a crouching back. It may feel like a regression, but in fact, perhaps it is only the jaguar preparing itself to make a quantum leap into the future.

Wishing you all an amazing and evolutionary New Year.