Alienora here! Some of you may well have come across me before: I have been blogging since 2012 – and, after a much-needed six-month break, have thrown myself back in… courtesy of a new blog.

I have kept a low profile for two reasons. Over Christmas, I appeared on television – and, knowing that this was in the offing, decided to pare my online presence down to the absolute minimum. No further details regarding this televisual experience will be forthcoming. I signed an agreement with the television company – and would not dream of going back on my word.

But perhaps more crucially, I needed to strengthen my boundaries: to care less what other people thought; to distinguish clearly between the acceptable and unacceptable; to learn to metaphorically hold up my hand and call, ‘Halt!’ or, ‘No!’

The dragonfly featured above has become an integral part of that. The image was taken, on my mobile phone, back in the autumn. It almost seemed as if the beautiful creature were waiting for me; certainly it tolerated my approach and appeared unworried by the strange clicking of my device.

Dragonflies appeared to me three years ago when my life was extremely difficult. They gave me hope and beauty and solace back then, messages reiterated by this most recent apparition.

‘Dragonflies symbolise change, and change in the perspective of self-realisation: the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity, and the understanding of the deeper levels/meanings of life.