Thoughts on an End of Year Reflection

Dr Diann Rodgers-Healey

So 2018 is almost at a close for each of us. Like a flower that has had its day in the sun and like all things that come to an end, this flower too is about to close.

As wisdom would note, we can be sad about its passing and we can also be grateful for the new experiences it has added to our life and the lessons we have learned from them. It’s an interesting notion – ‘learning lessons.’  We tend to use this notion in the context of something not working out as we focus on moving beyond the disappointment to look at the lessons we can gain from it so we avoid doing what we did wrong. Little do we pursue lessons learnt from doing things right.

Nevertheless, such directions tend to occupy our minds with end of year reflections as we apply analytical lenses to dissect experiences, especially the disappointing ones; look at our part and that of others involved; identify factors out of our control and think about what could have been and what we could have done differently and sometimes, what we did right.

There is another way though, different to this process for sense-making of the past: one that is not analytical, not intellectual, not problem-solving and clinical.

What if, instead of seeing the whole year as a linear progression of events and experiences, we see it as an intangible collection of memories within us, experienced in space and time, that has brought us to this very present, readying for a future that nears.

Can we do more than just review a year? To ‘re-view’ is to take a second look at what has already been, to turn back and observe, even re-live the past, to be in the plane-field where those experiences reside in our memory.

What if instead of observing or re-visiting this plane-field, we view the life that it gave rise to, that emerged around us from the very fabric of these experiences. Like a seed that emerges into a stalk with a leaf, that emerges into a branch with leaves, that emerges into a tree with leaves, that emerges into a forest with trees, what did our actions and responses lead to, create and emanate?  What did our tiny ripples widen to do? How did they influence, integrate, interact with ripples that they encountered? What did they reinforce or oppose? What did they add to our world in their own right? And can we appreciate that all of this happened without our intention or awareness of the full ramifications of the ripples we started?

As a forest lies in the heart and mind of a seed, can not the world that we experience and influence also lie in each of our hearts and minds? As the seed creates the tree that creates the forest, each of us creates the actions that become the world - socially, culturally, economically, politically, morally, religiously and more.

So what is it then that we could re-view at the end of this year? Do we review the forest or the tree? As we tend to look at outcomes, impacts and results when we review, perhaps we spend more time studying and adjusting the forest. Yet it is the seed that is the origin of all that the forest came to be.

Each of us individually and collectively created 2018. We created, re-created, influenced and responded to what emerged as the year we remember. It would be wonderful to say that 2018 emerged tangibly and intangibly, in emotion and substance, potential and hope, unity and harmony as each of our actions continued to travel far and beyond rippling through the web of many circles created by many, closer to home and globally. But I think we are all aware that there is so much to do to make this a reality.

Nevertheless, each of us has been at the centre of what we contributed to that ever changing, intricately linked dynamic of what the world came to be in 2018. As we stood tall, discerned how to survive, thrive, and shared what resources were available for the greater good, we brought more light and hope.

So as 2018 comes to a close, might I suggest that we recognise or remember:

That what each of us does, makes a real difference. It is a difference that spreads far and wide.

What each of us do, makes the world what we experience it as.

And most importantly, how we want the world to be in 2019 starts with each of us.

Rather than re-viewing how 2018 has turned out, let’s take some time to rest and then envision ANEW 2019.