I recently received a very interesting gift. It’s a small hand carved yogi. It’s called a “weeping yogi.” Hand carved by the people of Bali, it’s meant to be a symbol for meditation. The Balinese believe that you should share your sorrows and worries with this little yogi as he willingly accepts his role in life to shoulder the sorrows and worries of others. Wouldn’t you know, I got it just in time as things arrived in my life to worry about! How fortunate!

The little yogi got me thinking about the power of superstitions. As this new year approaches, it reminds me of another one. On the first day of every month, the first thing you are to say upon waking up, before you utter a word is, “Rabbit, Rabbit” and you will have good luck for the whole month. A friend told me about this superstition many years ago and I always try to remember to say it. Do I know if it works? Not really. But on some level it makes me feel good to give it a shot. You can read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit

As this New Year’s day approaches, with all the pressure inspired by our culture and the media especially to “make a resolution to ______ ( fill in the blank) it seems almost silly to lean on these superstitions to try to create positive change in your life. But ultimately, it should be whatever you want that inspires you to make change. Tie a string around your finger, don’t step on cracks in the sidewalk, post sticky notes in your home with positive sayings, create a vision board… these are all just some ideas focused on generating the energy for change.

As far as worry, it’s just human nature to worry. It really does not serve us. Worry is just a way of our expressing fear at the idea of losing something or someone. Loss of health, loss of love, loss of money.. these all are the core of worry. If we can take one lesson from our friend Buddha, it’s the idea of non-attachment. Easy to say, hard to do. Live life attached to nothing and you will have no worries. Maybe. Maybe not. But live your life with the abandon of a child and you will know joy. And everyone can use a little joy in their life.

Have a wonderful New Year.

Namaste.