Happy New-You Year!

Summer is over, and let’s face it – it was AWESOME.  As much as I love the sunshine, splashing in the ocean, my chocolate-dipped cone from Dairy Queen and flip-flops, I am not mourning the fact that it is over.  I celebrate the summer for what it was and I’m moving on.

There is just something about fall.  Poetically, I love the smell of apples and cinnamon burning on the stove; I love the crunch of autumn-colored leaves under my feet; and I love taking a hayride into the pumpkin patch to find the perfect one.  I also love the simple things.  I love wrapping up in a sweater and pulling on a cute pair of boots; I love picking Honey Crisp apples from the orchard (I really go for the donuts); I love an occasional pumpkin spice latte and I love catching the new fall lineup on TV.  Fall just makes me smile.

You know what else I love in the fall?  I love the first day of school. I love Halloween.  I love Thanksgiving and I love New Year’s.  Yes, that’s right -my New Year’s celebration is in September.  Tonight marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.   It is one of the only Jewish holidays I “celebrate” and hold sacred.  We eat apples and honey to represent a sweet new year.  We do not make resolutions or promises.  It is not a religious ritual for me, but a calendar alert for self-reflection, growth and sweet intentions.  It’s the refresh button in my journey of moving closer to being my best self. 

Next week is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. It is the time Jews atone for their sins and make amends with those we have hurt.  We ask ourselves how we can do better and promise ourselves to do so.  I do not participate in this holiday by going to shul or fasting.  I do not promise a higher entity to do better. I have never understood why someone would wait an entire year to take stock of one’s self.  I have never understood why we can’t slow down enough to do this every single day.  Evaluate every day.  Apologize every day.  Try harder every day.  Any day can be your “New Year’s” – your intent for starting anew.  We don’t need to hold on to yesterday, or last month, or our misdeeds.  On this day I reaffirm my internal vow to continue to make a daily practice of reflection and growth.  I am not perfect, nor am I striving for perfection.  I am just “simply positive” that it’s important to try to do our best, be our best, and give our best – whatever that is every day. 

Your homework this week is to take a few moments to think about your day and the interactions you have had.  Where did you go wrong?  What did you do right?  What could you do better?  How did your actions affect others good or bad?  What intention can you set for the start of tomorrow?  How would it affect your life if you practiced this way of thinking every day?  Any day can be your “New Year’s” – your intent for starting anew.