New Year’s Day

During our family gatherings over the holidays, the talk turned to why we celebrate the New Year coming and why it is celebrated on January 1st. Now don’t reply telling me that it is this day because that is where the Calendar starts. Someone had to create the calendar and decide when New Year’s Day would be. The history of New Year Celebrations is quite extensive and has been celebrated on many different days for different reasons, some more logical than others. Wikipedia has a nice review of the history if you are so inclined. I am not going to tell you the final reason we adopted the current system. You will have to investigate that for yourself.

In general, though, the New Year represents a point in time where we all choose to look back at the past year to see what lessons we have learned and to look ahead to the New Year with a sense of how we would like our life to be going forward. I think the idea of firm Resolutions (which are often broken) is not always effective. I prefer to set sincere intentions as a guide for my thoughts and actions. I may wander from the path from time to time, but by recalling my intentions, each day in my meditation practice, I can “correct my course” as needed.

In the Buddhist tradition, the birth of the Buddha and his ultimate awakening on the same date is celebrated as the beginning of a New Year. It is a time for bringing happiness to others; in gifts of cash or food, or volunteering with charitable organizations. This is a very similar sentiment to the one expressed in the poem The Work of Christmas, by Howard Thurman that I offered last week.

We can bring the idea of a New Year’s Eve celebration down to the present moment by with a New Day’s Eve. As we get ready to retire at night, we can review our day, noting our moments of kindness (either given or received), lessons we received from others, awareness of our own intentions during the day and how they were present (or not) in our interactions with others. We do this without judgement, understanding that we did the best we could in that moment. Then, before we go to sleep, we can set our intentions for the New Day; greater awareness of our mind state in each moment, being kind to others in all situations, envisioning how we can help others in the New Day, and whatever else fits into your view of a better, happier life for you and others.

This simple practice only takes a few minutes and we always have time for this as we get into bed for the night. If you are so inclined, you can even journal the lessons you learned each day and what your hopes are for the New Day.