The delicate balance of our existance

We got an extra day yesterday. And what a glorious day it was. Sun shining bright. No breeze. Low humidity. Perfect.

So what did you do with your extra day? I decided to take a long walk out in the sunshine through the stunning Par La Ville Park. An oasis in the middle of all the hustle and bustle in Hamilton. Because the day was so beautiful, the park was alive with people.  Happy faces. Laughter. Joy filled the air.

In tribute of this glorious day I decided to do some research to find out what this extra day is all about and why we have it. Does it have any significance of us and our daily lives?

Well it turns out the Leap Year is not as straight forward as it seems.

I discovered it takes almost 365 1/4 days (365.242199 days to be exact) for the earth to complete a full rotation around the sun. But our calendar only has 365 days.

If we didn't add a leap year day every four years, we would lose six hours from our calendar every year—that would mean we'd lose 24 days over the course of 100 years.

What’s even more intriguing is there is one exception to the leap year rule involving century years, like the year 1900. Since the year is slightly less than 365.25 days long, adding an extra day every 4 years results in about 3 extra days being added over a period of 400 years. For this reason, only 1 out of every 4 century years is considered as a leap year. Century years are only considered as leap years if they are evenly divisible by 400. Therefore, 1700, 1800, 1900 were not leap years, and 2100 will not be a leap year. But 1600 and 2000 were leap years, because those year numbers are evenly divisible by 400.

Julius Caesar started the Leap Year because he wanted his festival days to fall on certain days so he added days to different months to achieve the result he needed.

It was in 1582 that the Georgian calendar was introduced when they realised they couldn’t just add days because by doing so eventually it threw the whole calendar year off. Upsetting the balance of human existence.

All this to say something we think is as trivial as adding another day to the calendar every four years is so much more complex. The extra day is actually defined by the mystery of the Universe relating to our sun. The force that is integral to our existence. Reminding me just how interconnected everything and everyone is in this Universe. Upsetting one thing can upset the balance. Upsetting our entire means of existence.

The sun was so perfect yesterday. Once every four years if it is divisible by 400 we get this glorious extra day. One more day to find our authentic selves. Another day to discover who we are. 

Thanks Feb 29 for putting pep in my step and allowing me to come alive by forcing me to break away from my usual work routine and get out to feel the sun on my face warming my soul, forcing my creative juices to rise to the surface. Unblocking the roadblocks in my mind and allowing me to see clearly. To think. To explore.  And express to gratitude for the powers of the Universe for helping me to see there is nothing trivial about the delicate balance of our existence.