January through March is a time of reflection and renewal for me. It is a season to think, plan, and experiment.
January first marks the start of the Gregorian calendar and the beginning of the New Year for much of the Western world. It has become the standard work-calendar tradition to make new goals and set new habits. It is a moment to push towards the productive aspirations I have for the year ahead. The perennial list of goals include getting healthier and writing more. Long ago, I abandoned naming specific milestones like losing ten pounds or publishing a book—since these require a constellation of moving parts which are not completely under my control.
Broad goals like health, creativity, or wisdom seem much smarter for me at this stage in my life because I can always make progress toward these aspirations no matter how fast or slow it happens.
Chinese New Year is my second chance to realign my life to go in the right direction. Usually, the Lunar New Year falls between the end of January and the end of February, so it is a good moment to reassess. I ask questions like: have the schedules, routines, and habits that I have adopted for this new year actually helped me to strive towards my intended destination? Maybe my outdoor exercise is being hampered by icy weather, and my writing time is being eaten up by email obligations, or my reading has been sacrificed to scrolling on my iPad. Chinese New Year helps me make course corrections.
Finally, in March, there is the Bahá’í Fast which ends with Naw Ruz on the first day of spring. For nineteen days, I abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset, and I spend a little more time praying and meditating. This period of dedicated spiritual reflection inevitably invites new ideas and new ways of being. It further hones my initial goals and aspirations for the year and gives me the discipline to carry out a more realistic plan for the remaining nine months.
Thus, by the time the snow melts in Michigan, I am on track to realize my goals. Are they the same aspirations that I had back in January? No, of course not. They are refined ideas that are truly worth my time and effort in the spring, summer, and autumn.
What traditions do you have around setting goals, intentions, and aspirations for your life?
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