Preparing for your New Year

Like many people, this is the time of year when I start thinking about where I've been and where I'm going. Although it's partly because we're in that week between Christmas and the New Year, I think I also get contemplative because of the season. Winter for me is a time of deep reflection and stillness, where I'm trying to "hear" myself better to get a real handle on what it is I want and how I want to get there.

There are a couple of exercises I'm using this year to help me with this process (in addition to my normal journaling). One is from Lisa Gates, who writes about this time of year as "the gloaming":

The gloaming is that magical, exquisite time of day when it's neither day nor night. Dusk. Fairytales tell us that at this time of day the little elemental beings come alive in the forest and whisper and cavort under your feet as you make your way toward home and into the starry night.

Metaphorically, you could say it's you in between worlds. In terms of linear time, you're between Christmas and New Year's, but deeper, more internally, you may looking at your present and into your future, conjuring a leap between your current job and the next. You're letting go of old projects and choosing ones that resonate fully with the vision of yourself in your future. You may be taking a look at what was, and choosing a new is.

She then shares six inquiries for the six days between Christmas and New Year's (not too late to catch up).  I'm finding that they're some excellent questions that deserve days to ponder and get clear about.

I'm also exploring Sarah Susanka's Year End Ritual:

The goal is to set aside some time at the end of each year—I designate about eight to ten hours during the last week of the year--to conduct a review of all the significant things that have happened over the course of the past twelve months and to give voice to your heart’s longings for the coming months and years. I recommend that you create a special journal, or a folder on your computer if you prefer, in which to record your observations. You are going to write down all the thoughts, feelings, and experiences that come to mind as you engage this Year End Ritual, and then you are going to close the journal or folder and not look at it again for twelve months, until its time to engage the ritual again next year.

I intend to write about these things, but I'm also planning to use visual images to gain a different understanding of where I'm at in some of these areas. The more I work with pictures, the more I see how they help me bypass my "rational" brain, something I sorely need when I'm trying to get at some of these deeper issues in my life.

What year-end rituals do you have? How are you preparing for the New Year?

Photo via Anrichie

Comments

[Elisa]

Hey Michele,
I'm working on the end of year ritual as well (or I will be starting tonight). There are so many other things distracting me right now, but my plan is to literally clear my desk (even if it means just dumping the stuff on the floor), lock my door and get on with it.
I'm also hoping to do some prelimiary goal setting in the various aspects of my life. It helps me to compartmentalize if possible, so I'll just take them one at a time.
The question is, what do I do first? And why does something like laundry or filing so often end up distracting me in these situations? :)

[Lisa Gates]

Michele, I love how you use this time of year to "hear" and "see." Reminds of that great quote by Satchel Paige: "Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits."

Might be something Elisa could experiement with while the laundry beckons..."just sits and be."

Thank you!

[Michele Martin]

I have a hard time with the sitting and being. I have that old "human doing" problem where I keep feeling like I'm not productive enough--and I know that Elisa struggles with that too. Even the end-of-year rituals often are a way for me to feel like I'm doing something to improve myself, which is just this huge drive I have, even if only to look like I'm getting somewhere. Sometimes I am, but sometimes it feels like I'm just going through the motions. It's most definitely a process.