The Ides of March is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, corresponding to 15 March. It was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts. In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar which made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history. But that was just history… right? Right.
We can imagine all sorts of things regarding times of the day, days of the week. We honor holidays as powerful times of observance. And make no mistake – these observances affect our thoughts, emotions and potential spiritual states. Does the moon affect our moods? Does knowing that it’s your birthday alter your thoughts of yourself and those around you? Of course. These repeated observances bring to pass changes in our behavior. Memories are created and replayed – and we do it over and over again.
Thoughts are powerful. Words are magic as well as powerful. William Shakespeare issued the phrase, ‘Beware the Ides of March’ in Julius Caesar for a reason. Over the years it has become a portent of doom, primarily because it was a warning to Caesar of an imminent brutal tragedy. These words were spoken as a prophecy by a seer or a soothsayer. They were spoken as a warning. Had Caesar heeded the warning, he may have lived and Shakespeare would have to have written something different. In a sense, Caesar had become his own worst enemy
How often have you had a feeling about something, scoffed and discovered later that had you trusted your feeling, you could have avoided a disaster? Have you ever been your own worst enemy? If someone told us that we needed to beware the Ides of March, we would think they were crazy or under the influence. Right?
The metaphorical Ides of March can manifest in any moment. On any day. Do we trust our inner voice? Do we trust our feelings? Do we, sometimes, overthink situations in life? Sometimes I trust my inner voice. On occasion… maybe even more than occasionally… I overthink situations in my life. I’m working on these things. Sometimes I feel I’m getting better at trusting my intuition. Some days, I feel particularly courageous. Somedays… I just dread. I get knocked down. But I get up again. Because I choose to focus on being aware rather than to beware. To me, beware means to ‘be aware’. Be aware has a much less ominous feature than beware. Be aware means to pay attention. Evolve and nurture our personal growth in awareness. Good things seem to come rather than bad things when I focus on surrendering to the flow rather than fighting against the current of life.
Be aware – trust your inner voice – and when you get knocked down, get up again. Look around, there may even be a hand reaching out to help you. We all need a little help sometime.
Be aware of the Ides of March…