The Chinese New Year begins on February 14 in this year of 2010. The New Year is not a fixed date on the calendar, like our January 1, but varies according to the lunar calendar. This year is the Year of the Tiger. Check out this link to read about tigers and their significance: http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/2010ChineseHoroscope.htm.
For the Chinese, the new year is the beginning of Spring! The date can fall anywhere from late January to early February, so, take heart, those of you who think Spring won’t arrive until March 20 – it’s already here!
The spring season in China, is the season of the Wood element, the time of year when, after a long winter’s rest and deep quiet, the hibernating creatures are ready to spring forth from their caves; begin, once more, the hunt for food and keeping up with their young. The creatures of the human sort are full of energy for new ideas, plans, visions of what the year will bring. The Wood is about long-term vision, goals, stretching our minds to embrace what life has in store for us and stretching our muscles and tendons to enable flexibility in our lives.
Here in the west, we have a custom of making new year’s resolutions…things we would like to accomplish, projects we would like to tackle, plans for improving our lifestyle. For many of us, they fail miserably around March when our efforts peter out. Our gyms are filled to capacity beginning on Jan. 2, and our weight loss clinics have lines out the door. But soon the elipticals and treadmills stand idle, and the chairs in the weight loss programs are emptier again. Why is this so predictable?
When the new year arrives on January 1, in the west, we are in the dead of winter. If we live by the laws of nature, of which we are just as much a part as the birds, bears and vegetation, winter is the time for deep rest and renewal…hibernation! It is a time of being rather than doing. We need this time of quiet and rest to renew ourselves for the active seasons ahead. When we try to take on new regimes, make big changes, begin new projects, we are maybe just not ready. Our bodies want more sleep, our minds want to be still.
The Chinese new year, on the other hand, is the perfect time to take a new direction. Life is reawakening, the sun rises a bit earlier in the sky, and goes to bed a little later…we have more available light to work by. We can almost feel the quickening of new energy in our bodies, and the hopefulness in our hearts that the beginning of another cycle brings. What could be more supportive in nature than the bursting forth of new life all around us? The excitement of this movement pushes us into activity, and we are bound to have the best chance to accomplish new goals at this time of year!
So, now when someone asks you about your new year’s resolutions in January, just pull the covers over your head and answer, “give me another month and I’ll let you know!”
