Happy Lunar New Year! The lunar year is celebrated in Taiwan and many parts of Asia on the second new moon after the December (often winter) solstice, signaling the arrival of spring and therefore, new life.
According to the Zodiac of Animals, this year is the year of the Rabbit, and soothsaying traditions believe that the animal under which a year falls will be influenced by that animal's personality traits and can impact individuals born under different birth signs in different ways. But how accurate are they?
The very human desire to look into the future is a natural way to make us feel safe and protect ourselves from the uncertainty of life. It is why oracles, horoscopes, psychics, scientists, day traders, and other everyday people make their predictions in the hopes of creating some kind of stability in our lives. We see it as a kind of agency or free will, power to see the future and know exactly what to do.
But what is real power in a world where no one knows what the future will hold? Real power just might be the ability to take whatever happens to us, and not allow it to paralyze us. To accept all the ups and downs and choose to do something with it.
This year is going to be one of many changes for me and my family. We will be moving from Taiwan back to the US, but to a place I've never lived before. There are many unknowns:
Will we make new friends?
Will my son enjoy going to an American school?
Will our parents stay in good health?
Will we be able to afford a house?
Will I cook more?
Will we get a dog?
It helps to write these questions down and address my anxiety about each of them. Not necessarily solve them, but just understand why I feel the way I do about each of them, explore what the answers might be and acknowledge that I can't know them right now. And what's more is that what the year has in store for me is only half the equation. The other half -- the more empowering half that ultimately determines how the future plays out -- is what I do with what happens to me.
Wishing you a prosperous, peaceful, happy, and healthy year of the Rabbit,
Regina 💛