2025 Lunar New Year and Other Things

Today is the Lunar New Year, the Year of the wood Snake. Here is a charming photo of a card I bought in Japan for just this occasion. This representation is not in the least bit scary; on the contrary, it is a most gentle and rather joyful scene. According to the ancient texts and, in this case, The Japan Times, describe the Wood Snake as ushering in a period “associated with wisdom, calmness, patience and subtle strength.” (Jupiter Lai, a Hong Kong-based astrologer of both the Chinese and Western traditions.)  “The snake’s yin energy, she adds, will manifest “persistence, vitality and refinement, reflecting a year that encourages people to approach and overcome challenges with peaceful resilience and focus.”

This was my favourite prediction and why I chose it.

The Lunar New Year appears to be celebrated more and more widely. The Smithsonian has a section of its website dedicated to these 14 days, ushering in Spring and ending with the Lantern Festival. Even on the sidelines of the Lantern Festival, participation is a beautiful experience. Events are listed online in different cities around the world.

One of the 12 animals represented in this tradition is the Dog. In fact, that is my lunar sign. Ironically, I have been afraid of dogs most of my life and certainly didn’t want one. However, I will introduce you to Sasha, the highly evolved dog of my daughter’s family, whom I have also grown to love. This morning, she is watching over the neighbourhood and “guarding” the property. She is a peaceful deterrent – mostly chasing the squirrels up a tree.

The 12-minute-a-day creativity project

I received comments and emails from a few of you who were intrigued by this program I am taking. The update is that I love it. And to my surprise, I find sticking to the 12-minute time limit liberating. First of all, it is doable. Second, the two-minute breathing before I begin focuses my attention.

This is not a plan for the painting you are executing or the book that is underway. This is something different. It is where you give yourself the luxury of taking up something creative for 30 days that you want to do and have not been doing.

You don’t need to be in a program to do this. I chose to do this because this year has some specific challenges, and I know the value of a creative, hands-on life. As I have written about in the past, the research is all over this topic, and with good reason.

I look forward to sitting down after breakfast, and because I am doing it rather than planning to do it, I get feedback from my experience. The feedback is surprising. I get joy, satisfaction, and energy from these 12 minutes. I am not resisting the time limit and now agree with the teacher that this is a useful exercise in and of itself—the 12 minutes, I mean.

Reminders

“Acceptance doesn’t by any stretch of the imagination mean passive resignation. Quite the opposite. It takes a huge amount of fortitude and motivation to accept what is – especially when you don’t like it – and then work mindfully as best you possibly can with the circumstances you find yourself in, and with the resources at your disposal, to be in wise relationship to what is, which may mean at some point acting to mitigate, heal, re-direct, or change what can be changed.” Jon Kabat Zinn