Christmas Contemplation

While going for a walk on Christmas day with my partner we began talking about how at this time of year we both think of events that have happened in the past year.  We spoke of feeling a little melancholic about not having certain loved ones with us, either because of distance or because they are no longer on this mortal earth.  We also talked about how life around us and within us has changed, some things for the better, some not so.  The analogy I used is that Christmas opens up past chapters in our lives, like a book revisited. But unlike a book, the chapters in our lives overlap and interlink with one another making it difficult to distinguish between them or even recognise when one has begun or ended.  Learning to recognise these chapters as a whole is important if we are ever to truly understand ourselves and the relationships around us.

Picture from https://www.facebook.com/WildforWildlifeandNature

These moments of contemplation give us a chance to re-assess the un-written words from our past and put the endings to chapters, perhaps so far not recognised, in their proper place.  I believe this process is important for us to honour events, positive or negative: celebrating or mourning gives us a chance to reach a feeling of closure.

Global Storytelling

At this time of year this process can be seen in other places of societal contexts: the newspapers produce endless summaries of the year past; the Queen’s speech telling us how brave and strong people have been; television and radio programmes all focussing on the experiences of the year past.  On a global scale it is important to remember the world’s events, big and small; this is after all what makes history.  As we all know the future of our culture and society is made up of the history we create in the present.

Personal Chapters

On a personal scale we tend to be not so willing to summarise our recent or indeed more distant past, thinking that dwelling on the past will not help us now.  However, just like culture and society our every present moment is creating our personal history and our every past experience will in some way affect our present moment.  Without having summarised and created relevant endings we will be leaving the chapters open.  We may even lack a conscious awareness of the existence of the whole chapters, which then leak together, becoming mixed up and undefined.

Being able to think about and put our lives in a clearly defined story line, with chapters that include a beginning, a middle and and an ending, will give us volume in our present lives, clarity in our thinking and a more peaceful, calm inner being.

Becoming Your Own Author

As we draw nearer to 2013, new chapters are waiting to be opened for all of us in the New Year.  We often do not know what they are.  An acceptance that events will happen is likely to put us in the author’s seat of our lives rather than letting life be the author with us as the main character being pushed from one role to the next.  We do this by embracing new experiences the best we can, knowing that this is another chapter beginning and remembering that these chapters will one day have an ending.

This Christmas my partner and I have had a quiet time which has given me a chance to re-write some of the chapters which needed editing a little.  Life’s past experiences never seem to be complete; as I gain more knowledge my perception of the past changes and I become the editor of the book of short and long chapters that have never been written down but are nonetheless very real.

I hope that new beginnings for you will bring you much joy.

Happy New Year!