The Ancient Romans used the God Janus to depict New Year's as he is the God of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. Janus is depicted with a face on the front and back of his head so that he can look both forward and backwards at the same time. They also named the first month of the calendar year after him. Even to this day, many people believe that New Year's is a time for reflecting on the past year but also setting resolutions and refreshing their mind and spirit for the new year to come.
I attended a workshop two years ago on New Year's Day that was both relaxing and fun but also helped me both look backwards and forwards in a new way. It is a great fit for those of you who consider yourselves "crafty" and even those who don't. I want to share this with you - and I hope that you set aside some time this upcoming New Year's Day to work on this project for yourself.
Materials:
Lined paper (this can be your journal)
Old Magazines
Scissors
Card stock (5x7 or 4x6)
Markers
1) First, on lined paper or in your journal take a solid half an hour to reflect on 2010. Ask yourself questions such as: "What went well?" "What did I intend for the year - did I achieve this?" "What would I have done differently?" "What was my favorite moment?" "What did I enjoy the most this year?" There are many other questions that you can ask as well depending on where you are in your life. "Did I spend enough time with my family?" "Did I contribute to the greater good?" "What are my values and when did I feel like I kept to or broke them?"
Next, take a solid 1/2 hour to write about 2011. What do you want to achieve? How do you want to feel at this time next year? What will you want to write about then? What can you do to solve some of the same complaints / issues you had of 2010?
Don't break the hour. Keep writing. It really doesn't matter if it is in complete sentences or uses correct grammar. To give you some perspective, I went back and read my journal from two years ago. I could barely follow my thoughts - but at that time it made complete sense.
2) Next, take your stack of old magazines and cut out pictures, words, phrases, images, etc. that appeal to you. Don't think too much about it and don't try to find a specific image. Just cut out want strikes you as interesting.
As I was doing this step, I felt as if there was just a disconnected pile of clippings adding up. Once I felt that I had enough, I started going back through them and sure enough there were patterns of themes. I had an education theme, a friend or group theme, and a water theme (for me water means relaxation). I took all of those groups of clippings and pasted them to the cardboard - again, in a way that more than likely, only made sense to me.
3) Give your year a name. The Year of.... In 2009, my year was "The Year of Reinventing Myself". I had lofty goals that year in making sure that I finished out some big projects that I was working on which were projects that could change my life. I finished them, with some help from a coach, and it did reinvent my life that year.
4) Share the name of your year with me! I will post mine on January 2nd with some pictures of my clippings. It has been thoroughly researched that when you share your goals with someone you are more likely to follow through with them. According to Dr. Stephen Kraus, a Harvard-trained social psychologist, 85 percent of people who make resolutions abandon them - 20 percent within a week! However, according to research by the ICF, people are almost twice as likely to achieve their goal if they work with a coach.
Be in the 15% that reach your goals in 2011. I bet it will reinvent your own life. Here is to a healthy and happy 2011. Happy New Year's to you all.
