The Significance Of Today

Every other year, I've placed a great deal of importance attention on what I did on the first day of the year.  How I woke up, what I wore, my journal entry, my exercise routine, my attitude...it was all important.  Why?  

Because THIS was the beginning.  A new year, a new start.  THIS was the day that it was all going to change.  I could always picture myself, looking back and grinning, thinking, "ah yes.  I remember the first day of 20xx.  THAT was the day that I started (exercising every day/eating healthy/doing random acts of kindness/meditating daily) and I haven't stopped since.".

And, as you can imagine, a few days later that all fell apart.  It wasn't for lack of desire.  It was just that life got in the way.

An unhealthly meal enjoyed at an outing led to many more.  A day of not exercising due to fatigue or schedule led to two, then three, then weeks at a time of lethargy.  You know how it goes.

This year?  This year I woke up late.  I poured cereal for the kids, checked Facebook, did 15 minutes of yoga to loosen some tightness I'd gathered from stress, took a shower and brushed my teeth.

I'm wearing jeans and an old blue shirt.

I did pretty much the same thing I did yesterday morning.

And yet the significance of this day feels far greater than any new year's day past. 

It has nothing to do with the date on the calendar.  I admit: It is exciting to think that 2013 is MY YEAR!  It's wonderful to have a reason to remember renewal and to dream about what might be.

But that's the thing: We don't need a reason.

We wake up every single day to a day we will never experience again.  

Every morning is an opportunity to choose an outfit in which we feel comfortable or alive or sexy or at home.  Each day is a new beginning (no matter how trite that seems).  

And why worry about the entire day?  This moment.  This moment is one we will never experience again.  

There is no "life" that gets in the way -- these moments are life.

This child's size-5 shirt I hold in my hand?  I will never again have the opportunity to feel it like this, to fold it with delicate creases, to place it softly into my daughter's drawer.  

So, no, today I don't plan to do anything in honor of the first day of the new year.  We'll be buying our calendar and possibly sledding, taking the ornaments off the Christmas tree and probably having peanut butter and jelly for lunch.

Because if there is any practice I want to begin (again) for 2013, it is the practice of honoring the significance of each day, of each moment.

So may you have a:

Blessed 2013.

Blessed January 1st.

Blessed 11:29 a.m. (or insert your time here).

Blessed Today.

Blessed Now.

Namaste.