Close to twenty years ago, I was writing on ye olde blogge about the range of procrastination the various Hindu "fresh start" dates allow. Nu and I were laughing about that at pooja today because At and Nu loved to use the term "fresh start" after they encountered Will Ferrell (their childhood fave) saying it in The Other Guys.
In any case, I've always thought of Pongal as a day to reset any New Year resolutions that didn't take.
A younger and wiser cousin wrote on the cousins' chat:
The sun symbolizes energy, positivity, equanimity, discipline, consistency... adopt one value that you feel you need in life and practice it for the six months that the sun moves to the north.
I probably need all of those traits in my life, but may pick equanimity--I could certainly benefit by being less emotional.
Pic: Max and I are out by Scout's memorial around sunrise. Scout always came out with me for pooja.
7 comments:
Happy Pongal! I love learning about various holidays through you, so thank you so much. The sun definitely deserves celebration!
It's funny they think of "fresh start" with Will Ferrell because when I think of Will Ferrell and the word "fresh" I think "beer" from the movie Old School. "I brought you an iced tea!" "Oh no thanks honey, I have a fresh beer right here." When he's working on the Red Dragon car, "keep it on the down-low, this thing isn't exactly street legal." This will make zero sense to anyone not having seen the movie, but I'm not deleting it!!!
Happy Pongal.
Happy Pongal! I like the forgiveness that seems inherent in the Hindu religion. We should all be allowed the chance to have another crack at a Fresh Start now and again. After all, the adage says, If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
We're unforgivingly cold here in NEO, but at least it's sunny. I'm going to try to follow your cousin's words and choose Energy for 6 months, going against my usual instinct of cocooning and being slothful in Winter.
(We'll see how many Fresh Starts I'll need for that decision!)
Happy Pongal. I hope you get the reset you need.
Happy Pongal! I love the idea of resetting on resolutions that didn't quite set. I'm off to meditate!
Happy Pongal, Everyone!
Nicole--I haven't watched Old School--I want to!
Gillian--Thanks!
Nance--sending good energies! (I don't know if Hinduism is forgiving, or it's just that there are so many options...)
Steph--Thank you!
Engie--Is it guided? I came across this recently:
If you have trouble with meditation but made it one of your resolutions for this year, you may have more success with a meditation anchor such as mindful eating. The idea is that instead of clearing your mind, you tune all of your thoughts to a single action: Eating a bite of food. https://www.saveur.com/culture/how-to-enjoy-your-food/
oooooh— a great idea to re-set. I always love that the Jewish new year is sort of near the start of school but also offers this fresh start reset since September is already my other January.
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