Editors' Note: This feature was written at the end of 2020. It opens with a list of situations and questions for that year -- but we find they also could apply to any year. Just substitute this year for 2020 as you read and practice.
2020 has been a sad, scary, and struggle-filled year. All around the world, community life has been shut-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Global economies and household finances have been direly affected. We've seen unrest in the streets and climate catastrophes from the seas to the forests. Faced with this combination of tragedy and radical change, we come to the end of the year asking ourselves, what has this been all about? What can we learn from the 2020 experience?
Before we say goodbye to 2020, we really ought to consciously reflect upon its lessons and, yes, even its blessings. This is called "honorable closure."
The term comes from the Angeles Arrien, a cultural anthropologist who is profiled in S&P's Remembering Spiritual Masters Project. In an e-course she developed for us, Becoming a Wise Elder, she wrote:
"Many traditional societies believe that if you end your work and relationships well, new and greater blessings and opportunities will arise. The practice of honorable closure is consciously ending phases, and stages of work, relationships, or transitional cycles. When there is honorable closure, there are no regrets. In cultures around the world, honorable closure is achieved by expressing gratitude for the people and situations that have helped us or challenged us to grow, and by identifying any remaining regrets."
I was reminded of this important practice for transitional times when I attended a webinar with Lynne Twist and Sara Vetter of the Soul of Money Institute. Lynne set the stage with some questions about the dark times the human family has been going through: What hidden meaning could be accompanying our hitting bottom all together? What strengths have been fostered? What creativity has come forth? What do we see now that we hadn't seen before?
Then we were invited to engage in an Honorable Closure for 2020 Ritual that Lynne had designed by journaling about four questions. Before you welcome the New Year, I encourage you to complete this process. 2020 deserves no less.
l. Name three or four of the most significant challenges and breakdowns that you went through in 2020.
2. Name any growths and strengths that came from those breakdowns.
3. Name three or four significant accomplishments, breakthroughs, or successes you experienced in 2020.
4. List the ways you have been blessed and what are you deeply grateful for at the end of 2020.