February is the month that benefits from a leap year, thus having 29 days this year. A Leap Year is the year we gather the fragments of the 1/4 day in our calendar and give them space. It is a way of collecting time as if over the course these fragments were lost.

Three of the four words this month deal with time directly. But, the other part of a leap year is the actual jump, which brings us to transilience.

Transilience, like the other words this month, has a sense of high theory about it. It derives from a Latin root mean “to leap across.” But what of it? The term appears in biology, geology, physics, and genetics as a marker of a shift or sudden change. It could have so many applications. Even an episode of the TV show Fringe borrowed the term.

What if transilience relates to a state of mind or being? The leap year, then, can serve as our opportunity for transilience. Perhaps we can change from someone who wants to do something to someone who acts from potential energy to kinetic energy. We may be in one state of being today, but with effort and desire, we can move to another, hopefully higher or better, state.

Other words this earlier month :

• tachyon
• chronon

Look here for some leap year superstitions (including the gem that it’s okay for gals to ask guys to marry them only during a leap year…).

As a side note: I have a cousin who was born on the 29th of February, so I think she’s actually only about 10, though she teaches at a university. 🙂