A Year Each Day
What if?
What if we collapsed all the festivities and remembrances of a year into each and every day?
If that day were to be 12 hours long, to match the months, and each day represented by a block of two minutes, there would be potential for continuous evaluation of the things we claim to be important annually. 
I have railed against Thanksgiving as a time somehow different from the rest of the year. Perhaps because I grew up in a culture which expected me to be grateful every day.
In the last couple of weeks I have found myself rejecting the idea of February 14th as a day to express love, as though this is something that we do not do for the rest of the year. It seems to me that purchasing a bouquet or a restaurant meal on a designated day would be an empty gesture if not backed up by 364 days of loving expression.
How would the distilled year look?
Waking at 8 a.m. we could feel the optimism of a new beginning, and resolve to leave behind bad habits. For the first hour we could embrace new, positive practices.
At four minutes past 9 o’clock, it would be time to check the weather, and prepare according to the forecast. At 10 past, we could appreciate our neighbours and other communities. At 28 past we would express our love for the people around us, especially those with whom we had made a long-term commitment. At 9.50 this expression would be extended to our entire family.


Twelve minutes past 10 o’clock would give us time for reflection, and a chance to apologize for wrong doing. Just after half past we would be set for social fun with a green drink. 
Around 11.30 we would take some quiet, contemplative time, and soon be ready to delight in new growth in our lives and world. From 11.40 to almost 12 o’clock, we would eat no bread.
  Twelve minutes after noon we would meditate again, planning an hour to pray, and give to those less fortunate than ourselves. At twenty-four minutes past we would honour our mothers, and a quarter-hour later we would acknowledge Canada’s place in global history.

Ten after 1 o’clock would be time for a meal and being together with family and community. At 20 past, there would be delicacies made with dairy foods and plates of fruit would adorn the table. Soon after half-past, we would raise a toast to all the fathers. Before quarter to, we would honour the first peoples of this continent, and just after quarter-to, we would play some music to mark religious traditions of the French settlers.
At 2 o’clock that would expand to include a celebration for all of Canada, and at ten past three there would be a short rest, given different names in different places.
At four minutes past four the contributions of workers everywhere are feted, and education would get underway.  5.28 p.m. would be a daily observation of gratitude and thanksgiving, and before the end of the hour, we might all use costumes and silliness to defy our fears of the Unknown.

At twenty-two minutes past six we would remember those who have gone into the Unknowable before us, and once the clock struck seven we would be preparing for a big, family time with food and sharing, at around seven fifty.
All of this seems worthy of note every day: there is no benefit in waiting for a particular month. While it is lovely to be anchored in the annual traditions, let us be conscious and expressive of all these festivities, every day.

Today is always a good day for action. Contact me to plan how I can support you as you move forward.