Bonus Day - Leap into Something Good!

Thirty Days Hath September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31, except February which has 28…do you know that poem? Of course it goes out the window today. Today is the exception to the rule. Today is a bonus day!

So the earth revolves around the sun every 365 ¼ days so we have the added day in February every four years or eventually people in the northern hemisphere would have summer weather at Christmas and snow in July. Adding an extra day every four years keeps things in sync. Pope Gregory XIII, founder of the Gregorian Calendar we use today, decided to cancel the 10 days between Oct. 5 and Oct. 14, 1582 in order to make up for too many extra Leap Years. Can you imagine the havoc it would have on today’s world if they decided to cancel ten whole days? I would certainly knock on the door over at Vatican City and the Pope and I would have to have a few words if I missed my October anniversary because of him. Imagine going to sleep and waking up the next day only to find the calendars all around you are 10 days ahead. Whoa!!!

In Ireland there is an old tradition that women could ask men to marry them on Leap Day. Its said that the tradition started in the 5^th century when St Bridget complained to St Patrick about women having to wait so long for a man to propose. St. Patrick said women could propose on February 29 during a leap year. How generous! In 1288 Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose any day during a leap year and the men had to pay fines if they said no! The fines would range from a kiss, silk for a new dress or a new pair of gloves. Clearly this was just way too dangerous for the men of Scotland and they eventually changed the law to allow women to propose only on February 29. I mean it’s not like the most eligible bachelors could head down to Costco and buy a case of women’s gloves to hand out, really! Get a grip! We can’t allow such mayhem and madness in the world! Yes, traditions have changed over the years however we still end up with an extra day every four years.

So love and marriage aside, how can you spend your February 29^th? Why not look at this day as a bonus day? Why not use today as a day of transition? I was watching Oprah yesterday because I wanted to see the beautiful Lora from Less of Me who was a guest on the show and the topic was about midlife transitions and they talked about rites of passage at different times in our lives. Why not use today as a rite of passage or a day of transition? Why not claim today as the day when you put the negative things of the past behind you and start anew?

Have a little ceremony if you want, take two candles; light one candle to represent the the present and future and and one to represent the past, take a deep breath and as you exhale, release the hurts and negative things from the past and blow out the candle from the past. Give it a ceremonial closure and then look to the present and future with a new positive frame of mind.

Write down all of the negative things and hurts from the past and say goodbye to them. Shred the paper, throw the paper into the fireplace (carefully burn it in that candle of the past) or type it out and press the delete key.

So your diet and exercise routine hasn't been perfect? Why not use today to let that go and start fresh! Stop beating yourself up over the past and transition into a new frame of mind. Make the rite of passage from "I want to lose weight" to "I want to lose weight and I'm ready to take the necessary steps to lose weight" Let go of the planning and wanting and grab hold of the doing and taking action phases.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never given February 29^th much thought before but today but now I want to treat it like a bonus day. A friend sent an email about donating business clothes to a local organization that helps women dress for for success at job interviews. Today seems like a great day to do that! If you’d like to do the same and don’t know of a place, Dress For Success is an organization with many locations throughout the world. I’m sure there are others if you just do a little bit of searching.

Yes, I’m also going to do a bit of mental decluttering today too. I’ve held on to too many things for way too long. My friend Susan recently told an acquaintance who was complaining about her dysfunctional relationship with her mother “As a child you were a victim, as an adult you're a volunteer. You have every right not to volunteer for that treatment anymore - it's your decision.” How true is that with so many relationships and situations? We have a right to stand up for ourselves and say no more being a victim or volunteer, we can make the decision to be strong and we can release the victim mentality thoughts or patterns in from lives for good!

So what will you do with your bonus day? Will you take a chance on love? Will you use it as a day of transition into more positive frame of mind? Will you let go of the past and start with a clean slate? Will you be kinder to your body? Will you start a new healthy habit? Why not use February 29^th as a stepping stone to leap into something positive?