Place: Home
Poison: Cordial
Favourite Things: My husband home from work early, the sea breeze, our neighbours, simple summer evenings…
It has taken me a few days, but I am actually on a proper computer not just my iphone so I can write properly about my new year’s reflection questions.
Every year for the last 8 years, on the eve of a new year, I have a ritual which has become a necessity to the ending of a year and the beginning of a new one. I find a place of quiet and rest, a place with some lovely coffee, tea and cake and I write. I muse. I think. I prepare. I repent. I find myself in the midst of the Christmas Chaos and I launch myself into the potential of a blank diary that promises the earth.
I find it hard to come across someone, even the most depressed that doesn’t embark upon a new season, a new year without some sense of hope. I remember the eve of a new school, a new school bag, new stationary set, lunch box and ironed uniform and it always promised me so much. Or that night before a new job, so full of tension and also expectation, the last days of a pregnancy where there is fear and trepidation, combined with a crazy amount of hormones and happiness.
Wherever you find yourself at the moment, a time of reflection and the opportunity to ask yourself some big questions is an opportunity awaiting…I’m not a big fan of New year’s resolutions because I often disappoint myself, but I am the hugest advocate of reflection, questioning and writing down the possibilities, which if left un-authored can never be realised.
Here are my questions, they have morphed and changed with the seasons, but mostly have provided a consistency and opportunity for growth and change in my very normal, but hopefully domestically radical existence.
What’s been a particularly positive experience?
Who’s been a person I’ve got to know better?
What am I especially thankful for?
What am I determined to do differently next year?
Where have I grown in the last year?
What am I prepared to change in my schedule to make growth a non-negotiable next year?
What is my character?
What is my contribution?
What is my personal culture?
Who is my community?
Key scripture verse for last year?
High point?
Low point?
Lesson learned?
A quote that sums up the year?
One word that expresses the year?
Light a candle, pour a glass of wine (or water in my case), crank up some atmospheric tunes, find a new journal or start a new computer file, open a blog, take time essentially and focus on the important rather than the urgent. Even better find a friend and encourage and share your reflections.
Guaranteed hope will arise.
Mrs V
