Most of the Western world waits until January 1st, our calendar New Year, to transform their habits. But what if you got a jump start?  Winter Solstice (the astronomical phenomenon marking the shortest day and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere) has been celebrated in cultures the world over for thousands of years. This start of the solar year is a celebration of Light and the rebirth of the Sun. What if you used this rebirth December 21st to think of just one new healthy habit you can get a jump start on? 

Many of the traditions we now think of as being part of Christmas – including Yule logs, mistletoe and Christmas trees – have their roots in the pagan celebrations of winter solstice. Wait, the Christmas tree was originally a winter solstice tree? Sort of. The Druids – the priests of the ancient Celts – used evergreen trees , holy and mistletoe as symbols of everlasting life during winter solstice rituals.  For thousands of years people have sought out rituals for everlasting life, what a thought?!

If you don’t want or need to add a new healthy habit, what about letting go?   You might clean out your closets and donate clothes that you no longer wear to charity. But an even more intentional ritual is to take an inventory of the past year. Write down what’s no longer serving you, what you don’t want to bring into the new year. Then rip up the paper, shred it, even burn it. Rituals talk to our subconscious and the releasing ritual gives us the message that that part of our lives is over.  

What are your rituals? Would love for you to share them…Happy Winter Soltice!