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WHEN CAN DREAMS BEGIN ANEW?
Many people wonder when the time is right to start pursuing a new dream. People around the world and across the centuries have answered this question in different ways. Here are a few of the traditional times for new beginnings.
THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR
At the end of each calendar year it is customary to reflect on the happenings of the past year and look forward to the coming New Year. But when does one year end and a new one begin? It depends on which of the forty calendars in everyday use around the world you go by. New beginnings can occur at many different times for different people.
The Gregorian calendar, or Common Era (abbreviated C.E.), is the most widespread. It is the only calendar known to many people in Europe and America, and is the official calendar for civil and business transactions in most countries in the rest of the world. This is a solar calendar, with one year equal to the time it takes the earth to revolve around the sun (slightly less than 365 and 1/4 days). This calendar has 12 months with 28, 30, or 31 days in a regular year. An extra day is added in February in leap years to match the calendar with the actual solar year. First introduced in 1582 C.E. by Pope Gregory XIII, it took over two hundred years for this calendar to be accepted by non-Catholic countries in Europe and the American colonies.
The year count used by the Gregorian calendar and its predecessors was proposed by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 C.E. (who also coined the term Common Era). Dionysius set the year 1 at his best guess for the date of the birth of Jesus. He wanted to establish a Christian alternative to the system in use in Europe at the time, which counted years since Diocletian was crowned Emperor of Rome 247 years before. Two centuries later (around 725 C.E.), the Venerable Bede in England introduced the convention of using the abbreviations A.D. (short for "anno domini" or "Year of Our Lord") for dates after the year 1, and B.C. (short for "Before Christ") for dates before the year 1. (There is no year 0 in the calendar.) Recently there has been a call to return to the use of the abbreviations C.E. (short for "Common Era") instead of A.D. and B.C.E. (short for "Before Common Era") instead of B.C.
New Year's Eve is traditionally a time to celebrate, with many parties where people sing classics like "Auld Lang Syne." A relatively new tradition is to count down the seconds until midnight when a huge brightly decorated ball is lowered in New York's Times Square. This is followed the next day by setting New Year's Resolutions.
OTHER WIDELY USED CALENDARS
But January 1st in the Gregorian calendar is not the only "New Year" celebrated around the world. The Jewish calendar is the official calendar of the nation of Israel, and is used by Jews everywhere to observe religious holidays. The Jewish New Year, called Rosh Ha'shanah, begins on the first day of Tishrei. The Jewish calendar begins its count of years with the traditional date for the creation of the world in 3761 B.C.E. For Jews, the first ten days of Tishrei are a time of solemnity and prayer, and are followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The Chinese year count is traditionally set as beginning in 2761 B.C.E. Chinese people around the world celebrate the New Year with many festivities, including costumes, parades, and fireworks.
Both the Jewish and Chinese calendars are based on observations of the sun and the moon. A lunar cycle (the time it takes the moon to revolve around the earth) is about 29 and 1/2 days. Most years have 12 lunar months with either 29 or 30 days. Both calendars have a system to add an extra lunar month every third year (leap years) to more nearly match calendar dates with seasonal events, in order to calculate when to plant and harvest crops. Thus the dates of Chinese and Jewish New Year's celebrations can range across several weeks on the Gregorian calendar.
Muslims measure years from the Hejirah, when Mohammed was forced to flee from Mecca in approximately 622 C.E. The Islamic calendar has twelve lunar months, and thus only 354 days. No effort is made to align the Islamic year with the solar year, and no months or other days are added. Thus Muharram, the first month of the year in the Islamic calendar, occurs one lunar month earlier each year according to the Gregorian calendar. Muslims have few New Year's rituals, but do solemnly note the passage of time and reflect on their mortality.
OTHER WAYS TO MARK NEW BEGINNINGS
Many cultures, ancient and modern, celebrate the cardinal dates of the solar cycle. These are the summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumnal equinoxes. The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, is traditionally celebrated as a time for regeneration and hope. Since the days start getting longer after this date, the seasons of warmth and growth are assured. The winter solstice for the northern hemisphere fell on December 22, 2003 C.E. This was the summer solstice for the southern hemisphere.
There are many other ways to mark new beginnings. Many businesses use a fiscal calendar beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30 of each year (fiscal calendars can begin on other months, too). The "academic year" begins in late August or September for most schools and universities in the United States. Countless fans mark the beginning of a year by the date of the first game in their favorite sport.
Governments around the world also routinely set aside various civic holidays, such as Independence Day (celebrated on July 4 in the U.s. and on May 5 in Mexico). Religions around the world have their own unique rites of new beginnings, such as December 25 (when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus) and December 8 (when Buddhists celebrate the day Buddha achieved enlightenment).
In addition to the "New Years" noted above, many people base new beginnings on their birthdays, wedding anniversaries, baptisms, confirmations, bar mitzvahs/bat mitzvahs, and other milestones. Entrepreneurs often date their year on the anniversary of the day they began a new business.
Each new day is an opportunity for a new beginning. Imagine that there were no nights. What would it feel like if everything you had ever done was merely earlier this same day? All your failures, mistakes, and missed opportunities would hang over you relentlessly--after all, they all would have happened today! But fortunately our lives are broken down into both days and nights. The night brings a chance to rest, and each dawn is the beginning of a new adventure. Each new day is fresh and exciting, offering its challenges and rewards.
You can choose to reflect on your past and set goals for your future at any time during the year. You need not wait until some arbitrary date to dream and plan.
Nevertheless, at this time of year it is customary to set one or more New Year's Resolutions, such as losing weight, reading the Bible through in a year, or learning a foreign language. Some people give little thought to how they will actually accomplish their resolutions. Without a specific goal and a definite action plan, a resolution is only a wish. Such wishes have no legs.
A NEW YEAR'S CHALLENGE
Here is my challenge to you: Replace your New Year's Resolutions with New Year's Dreams this year! Instead of making plain old wishes that have little chance of coming true, dream big then put in place a structure that will enable you to accomplish your dreams. "A dream," says Paul Keenan, "is simply a wish with legs." And remember this - you don't have to wait til New Year's Day, whenever you celebrate it, to make a new beginning. Today is a good day to start.
Many people wonder when the time is right to start pursuing a new dream. People around the world and across the centuries have answered this question in different ways. Here are a few of the traditional times for new beginnings.
THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR
At the end of each calendar year it is customary to reflect on the happenings of the past year and look forward to the coming New Year. But when does one year end and a new one begin? It depends on which of the forty calendars in everyday use around the world you go by. New beginnings can occur at many different times for different people.
The Gregorian calendar, or Common Era (abbreviated C.E.), is the most widespread. It is the only calendar known to many people in Europe and America, and is the official calendar for civil and business transactions in most countries in the rest of the world. This is a solar calendar, with one year equal to the time it takes the earth to revolve around the sun (slightly less than 365 and 1/4 days). This calendar has 12 months with 28, 30, or 31 days in a regular year. An extra day is added in February in leap years to match the calendar with the actual solar year. First introduced in 1582 C.E. by Pope Gregory XIII, it took over two hundred years for this calendar to be accepted by non-Catholic countries in Europe and the American colonies.
The year count used by the Gregorian calendar and its predecessors was proposed by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 C.E. (who also coined the term Common Era). Dionysius set the year 1 at his best guess for the date of the birth of Jesus. He wanted to establish a Christian alternative to the system in use in Europe at the time, which counted years since Diocletian was crowned Emperor of Rome 247 years before. Two centuries later (around 725 C.E.), the Venerable Bede in England introduced the convention of using the abbreviations A.D. (short for "anno domini" or "Year of Our Lord") for dates after the year 1, and B.C. (short for "Before Christ") for dates before the year 1. (There is no year 0 in the calendar.) Recently there has been a call to return to the use of the abbreviations C.E. (short for "Common Era") instead of A.D. and B.C.E. (short for "Before Common Era") instead of B.C.
New Year's Eve is traditionally a time to celebrate, with many parties where people sing classics like "Auld Lang Syne." A relatively new tradition is to count down the seconds until midnight when a huge brightly decorated ball is lowered in New York's Times Square. This is followed the next day by setting New Year's Resolutions.
OTHER WIDELY USED CALENDARS
But January 1st in the Gregorian calendar is not the only "New Year" celebrated around the world. The Jewish calendar is the official calendar of the nation of Israel, and is used by Jews everywhere to observe religious holidays. The Jewish New Year, called Rosh Ha'shanah, begins on the first day of Tishrei. The Jewish calendar begins its count of years with the traditional date for the creation of the world in 3761 B.C.E. For Jews, the first ten days of Tishrei are a time of solemnity and prayer, and are followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The Chinese year count is traditionally set as beginning in 2761 B.C.E. Chinese people around the world celebrate the New Year with many festivities, including costumes, parades, and fireworks.
Both the Jewish and Chinese calendars are based on observations of the sun and the moon. A lunar cycle (the time it takes the moon to revolve around the earth) is about 29 and 1/2 days. Most years have 12 lunar months with either 29 or 30 days. Both calendars have a system to add an extra lunar month every third year (leap years) to more nearly match calendar dates with seasonal events, in order to calculate when to plant and harvest crops. Thus the dates of Chinese and Jewish New Year's celebrations can range across several weeks on the Gregorian calendar.
Muslims measure years from the Hejirah, when Mohammed was forced to flee from Mecca in approximately 622 C.E. The Islamic calendar has twelve lunar months, and thus only 354 days. No effort is made to align the Islamic year with the solar year, and no months or other days are added. Thus Muharram, the first month of the year in the Islamic calendar, occurs one lunar month earlier each year according to the Gregorian calendar. Muslims have few New Year's rituals, but do solemnly note the passage of time and reflect on their mortality.
OTHER WAYS TO MARK NEW BEGINNINGS
Many cultures, ancient and modern, celebrate the cardinal dates of the solar cycle. These are the summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumnal equinoxes. The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, is traditionally celebrated as a time for regeneration and hope. Since the days start getting longer after this date, the seasons of warmth and growth are assured. The winter solstice for the northern hemisphere fell on December 22, 2003 C.E. This was the summer solstice for the southern hemisphere.
There are many other ways to mark new beginnings. Many businesses use a fiscal calendar beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30 of each year (fiscal calendars can begin on other months, too). The "academic year" begins in late August or September for most schools and universities in the United States. Countless fans mark the beginning of a year by the date of the first game in their favorite sport.
Governments around the world also routinely set aside various civic holidays, such as Independence Day (celebrated on July 4 in the U.s. and on May 5 in Mexico). Religions around the world have their own unique rites of new beginnings, such as December 25 (when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus) and December 8 (when Buddhists celebrate the day Buddha achieved enlightenment).
In addition to the "New Years" noted above, many people base new beginnings on their birthdays, wedding anniversaries, baptisms, confirmations, bar mitzvahs/bat mitzvahs, and other milestones. Entrepreneurs often date their year on the anniversary of the day they began a new business.
Each new day is an opportunity for a new beginning. Imagine that there were no nights. What would it feel like if everything you had ever done was merely earlier this same day? All your failures, mistakes, and missed opportunities would hang over you relentlessly--after all, they all would have happened today! But fortunately our lives are broken down into both days and nights. The night brings a chance to rest, and each dawn is the beginning of a new adventure. Each new day is fresh and exciting, offering its challenges and rewards.
You can choose to reflect on your past and set goals for your future at any time during the year. You need not wait until some arbitrary date to dream and plan.
Nevertheless, at this time of year it is customary to set one or more New Year's Resolutions, such as losing weight, reading the Bible through in a year, or learning a foreign language. Some people give little thought to how they will actually accomplish their resolutions. Without a specific goal and a definite action plan, a resolution is only a wish. Such wishes have no legs.
A NEW YEAR'S CHALLENGE
Here is my challenge to you: Replace your New Year's Resolutions with New Year's Dreams this year! Instead of making plain old wishes that have little chance of coming true, dream big then put in place a structure that will enable you to accomplish your dreams. "A dream," says Paul Keenan, "is simply a wish with legs." And remember this - you don't have to wait til New Year's Day, whenever you celebrate it, to make a new beginning. Today is a good day to start.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hi! I'm Don Morris. A vision statement is only one of the written products that I help my coaching clients create at Encouragement Plus Coaching (http://www.encouragementplus.com). Others include a personal creed, a personal development plan, a passion statement, a dependable strengths profile, and more. Do you need help identifying your passions, abilities and values? Set up a complimentary coaching session to see how well we can work together to reach your dreams by filling out the form on the Encouragement Plus Coaching home page. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Don_H._Morris |  |
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