Bringing a Close to Another Year

How do you close out the year and start a new year?  Are you intentional in anyway of letting bygones be bygones, letting past offenses or disagreements be forgotten and “ringing” in with celebratory exclamations the New Year? For many of us, we need a little bit of “clean up on aisle 1” (1 being ourselves) before we enter into the New Year.  If you haven’t already started thinking about, the week between Christmas and New Year is a great time to review the end of the year in closed caption. We need to take care of any business undone, not just in our work place, but with each other.
 
I recently have been reading about the Jewish faith and specifically the holidays.  In the Jewish faith, the New Year does not coincide with the New Year celebrated by the rest of the world. It begins somewhere between September to October and is known as the High Holidays or the High Holy Days.  This New Year begins with Rosh Hashanah, which literally means “Head of the Year” and culminates on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  These two holidays are connected by the days between them, known at the Ten Days of Repentance.  Yael Eckstein in her book “Generations to Generations” states, “ This is a time of intense introspection, self-reflection, and repentance that leads to asking forgiveness from God and also seeking forgiveness from those whom we have hurt or offended – whether intentionally or unintentionally – throughout the year.  It is a time we can chart a new course and begin the year with a clean slate.” I can’t thing of a better way to begin the New Year, clean up messes and making things right with God, others and ourselves.
 
As a therapist, there are two areas that I view as great aids in the healing process of the heart, mind and soul.  The first and foremost is forgiveness.  We can’t change what has happened and may never have a perpetrator ask for our forgiveness but we, by God’s help, can be set free of the emotional entanglement of the hurt in our hearts, mind, soul and our lives.  And for us as the offender, we need to make things right with God, with the other person when we seek to be forgiven and forgive ourselves. Matthew 6:14-15 states “14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” We are to forgive not being asked to forget the offense.  We are releasing the person of the offense.  How often do we do this?  In Matthew 18:21-22, Jesus tells us clearly.  21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.  That is forgiving a lot! Let’s start this New Year off with a clean slate, spending this week reviewing this year and our relationships.  
 
The other power changer for people is moving from the half empty cup to the half full cup view by express gratitude.  Developing a thankful attitude for everything. The passage in Ephesians 5:15-20 gives us tremendous wisdom for life. 15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Living a life of gratitude dispels those dark clouds that want to hang over our heads and discourage us.  Gratitude blows those clouds away and cast sunshine on everything even in challenging times.  There are plenty of research articles of the benefits of expressing gratitude which improve, emotional, physical mental, psychological and our spiritual being.  Seriously consider adding gratitude to your attitude for the New Year.
This week between Christmas and New Year is an excellent time to reset for the coming year by cleaning up aisle “1”.
Blessings,
Karen