Rev. C. Scot Giles, D.Min., LLC

In the cycle of my personal year, the first day of the New Year has become an important day. My office is closed. Pretty much everything else is shut down. It’s quiet and free of distractions. Psychologically, it’s a time of new beginnings, and so it’s the day I take to get a grip on the larger themes in my life.

Every New Year’s Day I write myself a letter which is electronically locked away for a year by my Journal Software. Therefore, the very first thing I do when I reach my desk on New Year’s Day is to read last year’s letter. In it I will have summarized what was on my radar screen at the time, where I thought things were going, and what I wanted to focus on in the year ahead.

It’s fascinating reading. Enough time has elapsed between the time when I wrote it and the time I read it, that memory of what I said will have faded. It’s always been instructive to see that much of what I may have been worried about turned out to be nothing.

Reportedly, Winston Churchill once remarked “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life. Mostly about things that never happened. Clearly worrying helps.” That always elicits a chuckle. Realizing that much of what seemed so worrisome a year ago actually turned out to be nothing, is a lesson I take to heart. I take my worries less seriously now.

In my personal discipline I review my “Focus Areas” every week to keep myself on track with my goals and vision. Therefore, this annual review isn’t like looking at a list of New Year’s Resolutions that I made and then ignored. I will have paid attention to what I wanted to focus on as the year unfolded. Instead, on New Year’s Day I take stock on how well I did.

When I was younger my “Focus Areas” tended to be about professional and financial success. That’s less true now. I’ve been blessed with a good practice, great clients, a happy marriage and have somehow stumbled into a good spiritual life (with the aid of a Franciscan Spiritual Director who I worry). These days I pay a lot more attention to themes of balanced living and inner work than I used to. That feels right for this stage of life.

I always reflect on how pleased I am to still be alive. I never expected to live this long (I’ve a medical problem that was predicted to bring me to an earlier end). However, I’m doing quite well, and may actually achieve my humorous boyhood image of becoming an eccentric old man who lives in a forest with 105 cats.

As my wife is fond of pointing out, I’m on track. I’m male. I’m getting older. I’m certainly eccentric and I’ve got a start on the cats. Basically, I need to plant some trees.

But I don’t want to make light of this. My annual review is an important thing. I really do use it to help me live intentionally. Like Thoreau, I don’t want to live my life on autopilot.