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Reflecting on the Old Year and Looking Forward to the New…

I always find the end of the year bittersweet.  It is filled with reflection and questions I ask myself. Did I have a good year? Did I do what I wanted to do and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish? Was I a good person and did I help enough people?  Did I take care of myself as well as I should? Was I really happy?  I always look forward to starting a New Year, clean slate, maybe a resolution that I can maintain.  Each New Year goes by faster than the year before. I tell myself that I really need to enjoy each minute.

As the year nears to an end, I think about the changes, such as saying goodbye to an old friend, saying goodbye to friends and relatives that have left this earth too early,  glad for any new friends I have met along the way, new hobbies, renewed energy, and a promise to keep going with the one New Years resolution that I made, (exercise everyday and lose some weight) So far, so good, but it is only January 8th.  2011 is now in my memory, the good, the bad, and the indifferent.

2012 is a year filled with potential, hope and change.

What would you want to take from you old year into your new one?

There may be some special memories that you want to hold onto, or a treasured object that reminds you of a lost loved one or an event.

What would you want to leave behind?

It is like a Spring cleaning. Maybe a friend that did you wrong or some negative experiences that occurred? Feelings of anger, resentment, or guilt? Relationships that don’t enhance your life or no longer feel as significant?

I was sitting at a funeral just a few days before New Years feeling sad, thinking of the good times I had with this person and looking at his family thinking to myself, “what an awful way to start the New Year!  I guess I was thinking in the glass half empty mode.  The priest said out to the  audience, (I think he was talking to me) because just as I thought that, the priest said, “don’t think of this as “what a way to start the new year”, but what a great way to end the year and start a new year. It made sense. The bad was out of the way. He also said to go outside and burn the calendar from 2011. It wasn’t supposed to be something bad, but a personal ceremony leaving behind the old year and starting a new clean slate. that sounded so good to me.  However, I forgot to burn the calendar. I will try again next year.

A Toast to the New Year

 Peace to you and yours in the New Year.