So today marks the first day of February with the promise of Spring just around the corner, and for those who are pleased to be saying goodbye to January it’s time to start looking forward and making plans, especially if you found yourself singing the song by Pilot “January sick and tired you’ve been hanging on me”.

So as we look back on January and reflect I feel that we can have high expectations and place unnecessary pressure on ourselves to achieve goals and targets that we set ourselves at the start of the New Year. We see in the New Year with promises and mission statements to ourselves, and possibly others, that “this year will be a good or better year than the last”. Not to mention resolutions that are made, such as losing weight, quit smoking or drinking and research shows that most of them are broken within the first half of the month and only one in ten will be successful.   Many people struggle in January with the long winter days after the anti-climax of the holiday season, not to mention the bills that start to arrive from expenditure over the Christmas period which now seems a far away and distant memory.   Holiday adverts start appearing everywhere trying to lure us to spend more money with the promise of blue skies, white sand and crystal clear waters. It’s hardly surprising that most of us at some point will struggle with the month of January.

But let’s put all that behind us because today is the first day of February the days are already getting longer and lighter with birdsong heard much earlier in the mornings. I always feel inspired in February and it is the first month when I actually feel like I am getting up after the birds start to sing, I lie in bed listening to them, they set me up for the day, they are so happy chirping away and then when I go out to walk my dog the song thrush sings and it is the most beautiful sound.

I really enjoy my early morning dog walk but this year as well as listening to the dawn chorus there has also been something very special to see and that is the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have all been visible in the pre-dawn sky, and on clear mornings I have looked up at the sky in awe. It has been a beautiful and magical sight as I am reminded of the beautiful and amazing world that we live in.   If you’ve not yet experienced this beautiful morning sight, the five planets will be visible in the pre-dawn sky until 20 February so there’s still plenty of time to do so. This sight hasn’t been seen since January 2005 and I am pretty excited by my morning viewings.  I should add that I am not sure of the time of day that this happens for my worldwide readers.

They say that planetary activity can have an impact on our moods and as a result we can sometimes feel a little bit unsettled. They can also signify and lead to a time of change so add that to the month of January it’s hardly surprising that some of us have been feeling a little bit of out of sorts.

Planetary activity can also lead us to look at things and make changes to our lives.   Sometimes we are resistant to change and even experience fear from the unknown but I think wherever possible we should try to remain open minded, embrace change where it is needed and to try to go with the flow. After all they say change is as good as a rest.

Whatever February and this extra planetary activity has in store for us I am sure it will be exciting and it could after all be time to look at our lives and make any changes that we might be just a little afraid to make. What’s the worst that can happen?

I hope you have a great February and I would be interested to know what you did to help you get through that long month of January and what you like or loathe about February,  perhaps you are even planning a change in your life at the moment?