Superstitions
It’s already half-way through January of this new year, 2023. I have been rather sensitive to what happens in the beginning of the year as I always believed that what happens during “Oshogatsu (the first three days of January, which are official holidais in Japan)” pretty much predicts what happens for the rest of the year. Surely there’s some truth to it, especially with intention setting, but not necessarily the “new year’s resolution.”
For an example, I remember when I was about 11-years old, there was a fire in our neighborhood on January 2. I had never witnessed a house-fire before, and was certainly quite a terrifying experience. I thought to myself, “Oh, no, does this mean we’ll have lots of fires in our neighborhood this year?” Being a child growing up in a rather stoic family, I didn’t get to express my anxiety about it but I know I carried that fear for the rest of the year. Even though we did not have many other homes burning down in the neighborhood, we actually did have a neighbor’s home across the street from us burn down later in the year, which confirmed the young person’s belief.
In recent years, though, I have paid attention to verify this belief. Intentions and goals aside, it turned out whatever happens in January is whatever happens in January. Obviously, some events would have some lingering consequences for the rest of the year and even further. The time span of 12 months can bring whole a lot of different events in our life or in the world despite what happens in January! May be I’m trying to justify my relatively low key activities in the last two weeks. With the storms and cold temperature, I have been unusually slow with all the things I think I should be doing whereas I’m typically more like a task master. I just need to tell myself it’s O.K.
One of my teachers, Gil Fronsdal, has been going over the four foundations of mindfulness again since the beginning of the year during his daily practice and talks, which is reminding me that the most important task is for me to be present. Present to what is — in this very moment.
What it is like in my body, feelings, mind and Dharma (mind objects) in each moment of each day. It gives me solace to come back to these foundations when my mind starts to flip about the fact that I’m being less productive (than I think I should!) So I can say one of my intentions and goals is to let go of my superstitions and be present each day!