The Holiday breather is upon us. Not a breather entirely of course, as we will run around a lot trying to make it all happen again. Still, this time of year we often notice the difference in the air and in ourselves. We slow down and look back at our year, and we give thanks and wonder and assess how we really did through it all.
One author I like, Kathy Dowling Singh, writes about the “ingathering” we do at the end of our lives when we ready for death. We are not dying at this time of year, at least not most of us, but we are letting go of the year that is dying. If it has been a tough one we say good riddance, but for most we have parts we savor. The ingathering is a psychological process of taking in our impressions and memories and seeing what stands out to take forward as guidelines, along with the memories and images to anchor us.
We have spent the last 10 months extending ourselves, deploying parts of who we are into our roles and duties. Now we get to make our own acquaintance again. This ingathering, when done well, will have at least some, and sometimes a lot, of grace mixed into it. It will fill us up with a sense of newness and plentitude so we can move into the new year.
Anne Lamott says this about grace. “I do not understand the mystery of grace—only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it left us.”
May you find yourself in a new place by January 1, 2016.