January is named after Janus – who looks both forwards and backwards. Janus is often represented over a gateway or doorway, and it strikes me that January is a kind of doorway. We say goodbye to the previous year, looking back, reflecting, remembering, and using that recall to inform our hopes, ideas, and even plans for the coming year.
I don’t think this is something to do just on the 1st, or even in the first few days (by the way, I read a study today which said 26% of men give up diets after ONE DAY!), but that we could take a theme for this month – make this the theme of gateways, of doorways, a moment to pause, reflect and dream – both of those entwined, letting reflections stimulate dreams, and dreams stimulate reflections.
This is different from making resolutions (even sustainable ones!).
Why not get yourself a notebook, or create a new document on your computer or tablet, and allow yourself to record your daily reflections and dreams for the month? See what emerges…..
January – the month of Janus, God of gateways and doorways
January 3, 2014 by bobleckridge
In today’s i newspaper, The Examined Life, by psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz, is reviewed. His conclusion is that: …”all change involves loss, and yet life itself is change – we are always giving up something for something else….” In this my 74th New Year, so many years of looking back and looking forward, I am of the mind, (not resolved!) to write my story, reflecting on all it’s changes, yet still dreaming this January of what I might yet become!
[…] one facing back, and one facing forwards. That’s where we get the name of the month “January“. He is also god of gateways, doorways and transitions. As I transition from 2016 into 2017 I […]