Beautify Your Finances:  How the Year of the Rabbit can Help Us create our Financial Renaissance.

Here are some lessons we can learn from this symbol of elegance.

Lunar Year is upon us. As a multicultural planner, some of my fondest memories are receiving a little red envelope from my family to signify a peaceful year. Lunar New Year is an important holiday celebrated by many cultures around the world, particularly in East and Southeast Asia. It marks the first day of the traditional Chinese calendar, which is based on a lunar cycle rather than a solar one. The celebration is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival in China and usually falls sometime between late January. As winter is passing and we’re inching closer to Spring, we ring in the new lunar calendar year by celebrating a fourth animal in the Chinese zodiac: The rabbit. 

What Traits does the Rabbit Represent? 

In Chinese tradition, the rabbit symbolizes compassion, thoughtfulness, and creativity. In zodiac terms, the rabbit represents the moon and creates a balance. Using this year as a starting point is a great opportunity for us to apply by taking a step toward peace and tranquility. We can also use this time to be uniquely creative with our finances. For us, our goal this year is to – meaning enjoy an authentic life, but fastidiously ground ourselves with a solid financial foundation. 

What can Rabbits teach us about finance? 

1. Out-of-the-Box Ideas: This is the year of creativity, thoughtfulness, and compassion. These creative ideas can be applied to our finances in a variety of ways. For example, we can start by challenging ourselves by thinking about money differently. For instance, we may want to consider ways of starting a business or investing in continuing education for job promotions.

2. Practice Patience and Compassion:                                                                                               Many of us are prone to try to find a quick-fix solution to improving our financial independence. The rabbit reminds us that we can take things slowly and we can give ourselves patience in our money journey. Through this, we can also practice compassion with our finances. Instead of having a hard-line view of money, we can think about how our decisions may affect those around us. Money should not be the sole focus of our lives but rather used to create meaningful experiences and relationships with other people in our lives.

3. Alertness as a skillful sign:                                                                     According to Chinese astrology, the rabbit’s trait of alertness can be a tool of responsibility. By being mindful of spending habits and financial decisions we can understand how our past behaviors are affecting our current situation. And more importantly how we can make better decisions in the future. 

Using the Hare to Launch Your Renaissance Year

The Rabbit provides us with a non-traditional way of looking at the year as an artistic endeavor. A renaissance year is an opportunity to be mindful of our goals, our lifestyle, and our financial plans. We can use the Year of the Rabbit to launch into a Financial Renaissance by utilizing creative thinking, thoughtfulness, and compassion in order to build and secure a better future for ourselves. 

We wish you much luck and prosperity this Lunar New Year. As we embark on the year of the Rabbit, let us use this time to think differently about our money, practice patience and compassion in our financial decisions, and be alert to our spending habits. Doing all these things can help us create a beneficial financial foundation for the upcoming years.