How a New Year Supports Reflection on the Past & Future

As we approach a New Year, I’ve been reflecting - as many people do - on the past year, and how I feel about the year ahead. New Year can be a time of taking stock, reviewing and setting goals. In some ways, being at the gateway of a New Year is like crossing a threshold, saying goodbye to what’s gone before and looking ahead to what lies ahead. My reflections have prompted this blog, as I recognise that so often in my counselling work, I support people to reflect on their past and explore their best hopes for their future.

Doorways to new perspectives

In my counselling practice, I welcome clients at the doorway of the counselling venue. For some, it’s their first time coming to counselling. Others have crossed the threshold many times. It’s important to me to provide a warm and accepting welcome at the doorway each and every time. 

A warm welcome awaits people I work with for counselling

Doorways, a bit like a New Year, invite leaving something behind to enter something new.

And, with January 1st fast approaching, my thoughts and reflections have turned to doorways in a more general sense. I’m reminded that the month of January is named after the Roman god Janus.  The Romans regarded Janus as the god of the doorway, occupying the threshold between the year past and the year head. According to ancient Roman mythology, Janus is the deity of endings and new beginnings. Ancient statues depicting Janus show him with two sets of eyes, one to the front of his face and another pair to the back of his head. In this way, Janus looks both forwards and backwards, reflecting on the past whilst also contemplating the future. Perhaps you find yourself at this time of year – at the gateway to a new year – looking back over the previous year as well as forwards into a new year.  

Janus looks both forwards and backwards, reflecting on the past whilst also contemplating the future

The threshold to a new year

At the threshold of the New Year, many of us find ourselves looking back and connecting with regret, loss and disappointment. You may be reminded of hopes that didn’t come to fruition or fulfilment or where you’ve been let down in some way? Hopefully, there’s also a recognition of the things you’ve learnt over the past year and the progress you’ve made. And, as 31st December approaches, and we enter through the doorway to a new year, you may find yourself looking forwards with hopes and dreams about the year ahead, imagining new possibilities, and new ways of being. Fear about the future can also be part of the mix. It’s no surprise then, that many people consider speaking with a counsellor as a new year dawns. 

Both regret and gratitude are common feelings as we reflect back on the year just gone

Hope and fear can be there as you look forward and into a new year

How are you feeling about the year just gone and the year ahead?

Thresholds as a metaphor for what happens in counselling

And the process of counselling and psychotherapy can, in itself, be a form of crossing a threshold.  I am mindful that as we work together, I am invited to cross the doorway into my client’s world.  Clients open up about their world, their thoughts and their feelings. Sometimes tentatively, sometimes more directly, clients allow me through the various doorways that mark the edges of their world and their experience. It is important we go at the pace that feels right for the client. I tread gently and with respect. Some doors are bolted tightly shut for very good reason. Establishing safety and a place where people feel okay about choosing which doors to open, and which to leave closed, is an important part of the work. Together, we may look at the past. Some doors lead to past childhood memories and experiences. Other doors may lead towards a hoped-for or even a feared-for future.  It’s important too, to stand and linger in the doorway, and note how it feels to be here, in this moment, in the here-and-now and we consider the different doorways of life.  Perhaps there is excitement, or fear, or apprehension, or curiosity? Perhaps memories of being shut out, or having doors closed to us begin to bubble up? Perhaps we begin to recall and connect with the feelings of rushing through some past doorways. All emotions and experiences are welcomed in counselling we contemplate the threshold of entering into discovering more about what it is like to be you, and feel the feelings you experience. 

Counselling involves an opening of self, and a looking back and forwards at your own life

All emotions and experiences are welcomed in counselling as we explore what it is like to be you

New year wishes

So, doorways offer scope for all sorts of adventures and explorations.  As the doorway and gateway to a new year approaches, one of my hopes is that I can continue to offer a warm and accepting welcome at the physical doorway of the counselling space I work from. And, my wish for you, too, is that you can find spaces and ways to get what you need from reflecting on your past and looking ahead to your future. 

Next steps?

If you’re interested in scheduling a free intro call to ask any questions you might have about counselling or how counselling can help you in your own process of reflecting on the past and your future, I welcome you making contact with me, Claire Law. I’m a BACP Senior Accredited Psychotherapist offering professional counselling and psychotherapy in Preston, Lancashire and online for adults based in the UK.

I offer a simple, no-pressure approach to people who are considering therapy - and can chat through how I work, and to share with you my availability for new clients for either:

• In person counselling at my therapy room in Preston.

• Online counselling via MS Teams.