Welcome back and hopefully this weekend you remembered to spring forward. With Daylight Savings Time causing us to reset clocks, watches and try to remember how to reset all those time enabled devices on kitchen gadgets and in our vehicles it is, pun intended, a timely reminder that the seasons are changing.
This week we’ll take a look at seasonal adjustments, not only in our physical lives but also discuss the many seasons of change we all encounter along our paths to “Becoming Today”.
Here for most of the United States , Daylight Savings Time in 2020 +1 took effect at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 14th. Often referred to as “spring forward” , a mnemonic device to cause you to remember the day clocks are set ahead by one hour.
Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states that do not observe daylight saving time. Though currently the Senate is considering legislation to keep it year round. The a bipartisan bill called the “Sunshine Protection Act of 2021” wants to end the twice yearly time changes arguing among multiple points including that keeping us on DST will:
- Results in fewer car crashes and pedestrian accidents, due to more hours of daylight being aligned with drivers’ standard work hours and increasing visibility.
- It also reduces the number of robberies by 27%, according to a study be the Brookings Institution,
- Researchers also claim that time changes result in a higher number of cardiac issues, stroke, and seasonal depression.
- When clocks move back, in the Fall, there is a drop in economic activity and worker productivity of up to 4.9 percent, according to the financial enterprise JP Morgan Chase.
It also seems in learning about these proposed changes, we were all lied to in school. Remember being told it was important to allow farm families to keep the kids in the fields longer? Well it turns out it never had anything to do with farming and most farmers don’t like it anyway.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac quotes a writer for the Literary Digest, “The farmer objects to doing his early chores in the dark merely so that his city brother, who is sound asleep at the time, may enjoy a daylight motor ride at eight in the evening.”
Anyway before we get lost in this aside. Our most recent change in itself may be changing from being a seasonal change.
This week also brings us the true seasonal change of the Vernal Equinox.
This marks the true beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere. The 2020 + 1 equinox will arrive Saturday (March 20 th) at 9:37 UTC or 4:37 a.m. Central Daylight Time.
On this date the sun rises due east and sets due west as it crosses the equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the March equinox is called the vernal equinox, because it signals the beginning of Spring , as vernal is defined as fresh or new like the spring.
Spring of course is also a very symbolic time of year, so yes I’m finally getting to what this all has to do with our shared paths of “Becoming”.
Looking at some of the traditional symbols associated with this seasonal change, Spring has generally been accepted as the start of something new, a time of new beginnings, a period of progress, the blossoming of new things, birth, growth and creating new life. All very “Becoming” aspects.
Dreaming of spring indicates taking pleasure in life. Spring is most often thought of as the season of happiness. Nature, flowers, leaves, plants, trees, vegetables, and fruits all begin to blossom.
Other interpretations of Spring include it being a time of :
Rebirth
Fertility
Renewal
Creativity
Rejoicing
Gratitude
Expression
Transition
Productivity
These are all new beginnings like the ones we may envision for ourselves.
And yes Spring does have some spiritual implications as well. It represents an awakening. Waking from a period of hibernation, we are suddenly made aware of the possibilities of new life, new ways and yes a new us.
In Ecclesiastes, the passage often referred to as “A Time For Everything”, outlines the many changing seasons we all experience in life. It outlines the constant cycle of “Becoming”. In fact 28 specific times or seasons are mentioned in this one passage.
Tomorrow we’ll take note that not included is a very important aspect; none of those 28 involve a time to quit.
Becoming Today with Rochelle Jeanette 