“I’m looking forward to 2014...I’m so ready to move on.” (Anonymous)
Yes, me too. 2013 has been a strange year, in some ways painful and in some ways freeing, definitely filled with unexpected transitions.
Yes, me too. 2013 has been a strange year, in some ways painful and in some ways freeing, definitely filled with unexpected transitions.
But isn’t a calendar change arbitrary? If we are so ready to move on, can’t we do it without the new year’s arrival? Shouldn’t a new day be enough?
Sure! Every day is a new beginning. “Every day Creation is renewed.”
One of the reasons I think the New Year holiday is so profound - even if our resolutions don’t last - is that it is so highly ritualized. We prepare for (at least) a week: Facebook friends, organizations, newscasters and more count down what they see as important music, movies, events, and so forth from the past year. We are encouraged thus to reflect on our own year, on its ups and downs, on our own successes and “failures,” and ultimately on what we would like to change in the coming year. And then we all come together - in person or via technology - to count down the last minutes and seconds to the new year. (But even as I write this it is already 2014 in parts of the world; I understood this early, growing up on the west coast, when the clock struck midnight in the “heart” of our country (Times Square) at 9pm. See how arbitrary it is?)
Ritual is powerful. Ritual awakens us - “wake up and see”! - urges us into awareness.
We don’t have to wait for a new year. We can ritualize our mornings. We can wake up to a practice of prayer, reflection, renewal. If we don’t already do something like this, we can resolve right now that in the new year we will. Take note - it’s not just tonight as the clock strikes midnight, but:
Every day Creation is renewed: wake up and see
In the spreading light of dawn
The world and all it contains
Coming into being new and fresh,
Filled with divine goodness and love.
Every day, Creation is renewed: wake up and see.
Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg
So my resolution for 2014 is, when I feel like I am ready to move on, to leave something behind, I’m not going to look for an upcoming transition - a year or even a day. As the saying goes, “never put off until tomorrow what can wait until the next day.” Oh, wait - that’s the procrastinator in me. “Never put off until tomorrow what can be done right now.” This breath, this moment - now is the time!
Wishing you and yours many blessings in the year to come, moment by moment and day by day. Happy New Year!
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