How do you say "goodbye" to a difficult year and move your life forward in a more hopeful and confident way? Do what I did, and try a Burning Bowl ceremony at your next gathering.
All you need are some double fold cards (Avery 5234 or make your own), writing tools, a fireproof bowl and a fireplace, and cards and envelopes to address and mail later. Make a card for each guest with his/her name on it, and explain the process of THE BURNING BOWL.
From the outgoing year, pick an experience, a relationship problem, a loss, a troubling work situation, or anything that weighs you down emotionally, and write it on the card with your name. The organizer collects everyone's cards in a metal or pyrex bowl, and after the idea of "letting go" of the past year is understood by everyone, the cards are set on fire and burned to ash.
Then, give each person a card/note (I offered postcards from my lifetime postcard collection, so it can be "chacun a son gout") and envelope. For this task, take some time with your guests to help them articulate what they'd like to see happen in their lives in the year to come. When these aspirations/visualizations/wishes are written down, participants address the envelopes to themselves. The organizer keeps the envelopes with the promise of mailing them to the participants at midyear, around July 1.
Skeptics like MFD groused about "witchcraft", but seriously...this is a simple group exercise that focuses people on common evaluations that most people make at this time of year--"Why did I gain 5 pounds?" "Why does my love life suck?""Why did one of my inappropriate and neurotic middle aged woman guests repeatedly ask me if I was 'really a man' because all I had in my refrigerator was beer and condiments?"--and promotes neutralizing these bad vibes and imagining something different in the new year.
As the saw says, "Time will tell." I think some people just barely tolerated it, others with profiles of significant loss and confusion appreciated the cathartic and visioning experiences.
I have put a bottle of celebratory champagne into circulation, to be brought from party to party among the Burning Bowlers, but not to be opened until the July party I'm planning for our rooftop deck! It's a leap year, and we have an extra 24 hours to revel in exciting changes...
Ideas for Posting
BURN?
--What would you "burn" from 2007? (This should be NTMI, not too much information, but a general statement of your unwanted residue from the year ending.)
BRING?
--What do you want to bring into your life in 2008? (New work, new relationship, relocation, marriage, etc.)
As theactivelistener, I look forward to "hearing" your Burn It/Bring It lists! And maybe even to some creative response.
And, oh, by the way, I have my New Year's Burn It/Bring It MixTape. With a few glitches fixed, it's listed below:
1. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) Green Day
2. Time of the Season The Zombies
3. Every Day is a Winding Road Sheryl Crow
4. Bringing Democracy to Iraq Lewis Black
5. Let It Be The Beatles
6. Dancing in the Street Martha and the Vandellas
7. Shining Star Earth, Wind and Fire
8. Imagine John Lennon
9. Talkin' About A Revolution Tracy Chapman
10. Don't Panic Cold Play
11. I Won't Back Down Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
12. On the Road Again Willie Nelson
13. In My Life The Beatles
14. Auld Lang Syne James Taylor
15. New Year's Day U2
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