It is a tradition, at the end of the year, to look back on the year just gone and to look forward to the year ahead. For some, the famous “New Year’s Resolutions” are flights of fancy, quickly forgotten because they were never the object of our full commitment in the first place. For others, taking time to look back and then to look forward holds a sacred place in our lives. For any readers who would like to observe this ritual and to maximise its contribution to their lives, this blog posting offers questions for you to reflect on as you look back on the year now passing.

I invite you to make time and space to reflect on 2010. This is an opportunity to celebrate and mourn: to celebrate the people, experiences, learning and achievements that have met your needs and enriched your life; to mourn those times when your needs have not been met as a result of your own actions, the actions of others and events beyond your control. This is a time to notice what you want to take with you and what you want to leave behind. This is a time to put aside doing in order to be present and curious, a time to invite new wisdom and insights.

As you reflect on the questions below – or choose other questions that beckon to you at this time – allow yourself to be guided by your own inner wisdom and spirit, noticing the pictures you see, the words and phrases offered by your unconscious mind and the sensations you feel as you reflect.

• As you look back at the year just passing, what stands out? What feelings come up for you as you survey the year?
• What has been your experience of the year? Has life been easy or a struggle? Have you experienced progress and success?  Or failure, inhibition and “stuckness”? How has it been for you to experience the year in this way?
• Who have you been this year? Have you been authentic and true – with yourself, with others? Have you been divided within yourself? Or even hiding behind some constructed mask?
• How has your experience of yourself affected your communication and relationships with others? When have you been conscious of your needs and the needs of others? When have you been unconscious – lost in the doing, for example? How has it been for you to live your life this way?
• When have your needs been met and how? How has it been for you to have your needs met in these ways? When have your needs been unmet? How have you experienced your unmet needs?
• What are the riches of this year that you would like to take forward into the year to come? What experiences do you want to celebrate? What new learning and insights have enriched your life?
• What is it time to let go of and leave behind so that your forward path can be more rich and fulfilling? Who do you need to forgive, for example? What beliefs have had their day? What actions do you need to take to complete this process of letting go?

And as you reflect on these questions, what other questions are coming up for you? What else is needed so that you can honour the year just passing and clear the way to move on?