Walking Through a Janus
We’ve just walked through the door to the next decade, and it’s been…intense! Janus (the basis for January) was the Roman god of doors, beginnings and endings, and transitions. This two-faced god, half looking to the future and half looking at the past perfectly embodies this time. His shrines were “… used for symbolically auspicious entrances or exits…. These gateways had a particular connection to Roman armies departing for war and there were both lucky and unlucky ways to march through a janus.” (Ancient Origins) The fact that there were both lucky and unlucky (or helpful or not helpful) ways to go through the gates emphasizes the power of a mindset.
Creating an entrance to this decade and marking an exit from the 2010’s calls for a thoughtful approach requiring some serious review and reflection: what do I want to bring forward into this new decade and what do I want to change? Where would I like to be, who would I like to be and what do I want to experience over the next 10 years?
Marie Forleo, life coach and motivational speaker, recommends doing a decade in review rather than a year in review. She refers to a quote from J.C.R. Licklider, a computer scientist, who said: People overestimate what can be done in one year and underestimate what can be done in ten. I wanted to create my own auspicious doorway of entrance and exit!
Challenge accepted! I got out all my journals for the past 10 years and sat down to review. THAT was an eye-opening experience. My memories of certain events didn’t always align with my written accounts and the timelines weren’t always as I remembered. Some things I remarked on their probably long-lasting effects, only to struggle to remember exactly WHAT those effects I was to be currently experiencing.
It offered me a glimpse of what I had once held dear and how that changed over time. The highs and lows were laid out in often colorful phrasing, I felt I was reliving certain moments through a different lens and could see, with the gift of distance, how those choices played out in the inner sphere. Plenty of eye-rolling and wincing were included. At times I wrote how I was deeply moved by something or received some insight to an issue that had been frustratingly elusive. I could follow the emotional tones and the play-by-play description of the creative process of birthing The Elderberry, the launching of my last child, becoming a grandmother, the loss of several family members along with the deepening of my connection to the plant world.
This review required me to identify the biggest game-changers and why they mattered. What did I REALLY want to remember as I moved into this new time? What did I want/need to release in order to free up the bandwidth to create those experiences? I peered at this time period before me and identified those things I wanted to create, experience and achieve. Goals were set and a future imagined in some detail. It’s a guide (or lighthouse) I can refer when things get crazy or I feel sidetracked. It feels good.
It’s not too late to try this exercise, to create your own auspicious gateway. If this first month is any indicator, we will all need to develop our own lighthouse or road map to help us through these times. May 2020 be a year of wonder and nourishment, of discoveries and renewal.