You know why? Because time is arbitrary. January 1st only has meaning because we as a society have decided to attribute meaning to it. Scientifically speaking there is no more difference between December 31st and January 1st than any other change of days.
Of all the cultural systems of tracking time the Gregorian/Western calendar has got to be the least practical of them. Most other cultures had the good sense to base their time trackers on celestial events. For convenience sake I will put the blame on the Roman Empire. (I’m talking to you Julius and Augustus.) The Chinese celebrate their New Year in February. The Aztec calendar starts in our March, Jewish is September, and Celtic is October.
[Fireworks just went off outside my house. Yep it’s 00:00 as I write this.]
My favorite is the Celtic philosophy. They start their New Year in the fall, when everything is dying and going into hibernation. Death is a necessary start for new life. Remove the old and make room for the new. My experience has been that major interior shifts happened in September. Eventually it migrated to March. Because I think the universe has a sense of irony it is currently January.
Having said all of that, I do think there is great value in ritual and by ritual I mean habit. If you have already spent the last ten years attempting change in January then your brain is prepped for this. You should definitely take advantage of that. Creating new habits or stopping bad ones for most goals will be a must.
My question to you is if you haven’t already made the choice to change what difference will Jan. 1 make? Unless the goal of your resolution has become obsolete you can review and try again any day of the year you need to. I believe absolutely that we should all resolve to change. But don’t let an arbitrary date stop you from making that choice.
Of all the cultural systems of tracking time the Gregorian/Western calendar has got to be the least practical of them. Most other cultures had the good sense to base their time trackers on celestial events. For convenience sake I will put the blame on the Roman Empire. (I’m talking to you Julius and Augustus.) The Chinese celebrate their New Year in February. The Aztec calendar starts in our March, Jewish is September, and Celtic is October.
[Fireworks just went off outside my house. Yep it’s 00:00 as I write this.]
My favorite is the Celtic philosophy. They start their New Year in the fall, when everything is dying and going into hibernation. Death is a necessary start for new life. Remove the old and make room for the new. My experience has been that major interior shifts happened in September. Eventually it migrated to March. Because I think the universe has a sense of irony it is currently January.
Having said all of that, I do think there is great value in ritual and by ritual I mean habit. If you have already spent the last ten years attempting change in January then your brain is prepped for this. You should definitely take advantage of that. Creating new habits or stopping bad ones for most goals will be a must.
My question to you is if you haven’t already made the choice to change what difference will Jan. 1 make? Unless the goal of your resolution has become obsolete you can review and try again any day of the year you need to. I believe absolutely that we should all resolve to change. But don’t let an arbitrary date stop you from making that choice.
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