Why do people make New Year’s resolutions? Why not May Day resolutions? You could have a “Resolution Picnic.” Or Autumn Resolutions? What’s the big deal with resolutions made at the beginning of the year? Winter is cold enough without resolutions, especially this year.
When I investigate a subject I’d like to understand better, I begin with the origin of the word and that’s how I learned about Janus. Researching “New Year’s resolution” led me to January, which is named after the mid-level Roman deity, Janus. Janus has two faces, one to survey the past and one to look into the future. Janus was invoked at beginnings and endings, openings and closings and other transitions. That’s why you often find carvings of a human man with two faces on gateposts, entryways and doors.
Janus may be two faced, but he’s not duplicitous. Janus is Roman, although other ancient societies had two-faced creatures. But it’s Janus who lends his name to the first month of our Gregorian calendar. The new year is a beginning, and even before Rome, people have thought to reflect a bit upon their existence at the beginning of a new year. In our country, the first published mention of New Year’s resolutions appeared in a Boston newspaper in 1813.
Perhaps you made resolutions, but if not, this is still a good time to reflect on where you’ve been, where you’re going, what you learned and what you want to achieve. It may be that the Jews instituted this custom to the Western world, because the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have traditionally been set aside as a time of repentance and renewal.
To help you do that, I have collected a few questions for self-examination from 10Q. 10Q is a project of Reboot, an arts and culture nonprofit that reimagines and reinforces Jewish thought and traditions. Each year, 10Q releases 10 questions; one a day beginning with the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah and continuing through Yom Kippur. You record your answers and send them back to 10Q. In exactly one year, 10Q sends your answers back to you, so that you can check your progress. Or the lack of it.
You’ll have to wait until Rosh Hashanah to participate, which is Sept. 15-17 in 2023. But you can register now at doyou10q.com. The process is secure, but can be open or confidential; you decide. At the site you can read some answers that participants have made public.
However, I can give you a preview, and whether or not you are Jewish, reflecting on where you’ve been, where you’re going, what you learned and what you want to accomplish is a good process that engages your faculties of self-examination. Here are the 10 questions that 10Q asked me in 2022:
1. Describe a significant experience that has happened in the past year. How did it affect you?
2. Is there something that you wish you had done differently this past year? Alternatively, is there something you’re especially proud of from this past year?
3. Think about a major milestone that happened with your family this past year. How has this affected you?
4. Describe an event in the world that has impacted you this year. How? Why?
5. Have you had any particularly spiritual experiences this past year? How has this experience affected you? “Spiritual” can be broadly defined to include secular spiritual experiences: artistic, cultural, and so forth.
6. Describe one thing you’d like to achieve by this time next year. Why is this important to you?
7. How would you like to improve yourself and your life next year? Is there a piece of advice or counsel you received in the past year that could guide you?
8. Is there something (a person, a cause, an idea) that you want to investigate more fully in the coming year?
9. What is a fear that you have and how has it limited you? How do you plan on letting it go or overcoming it in the coming year?
10. When September 2023 rolls around and you receive your answers to your 10Q questions, how do you think you’ll feel? What do you think/hope might be different about your life and where you’re at as a result of thinking about and answering these questions?
After 365 days of brutal cold and withering heat, ups and downs, triumph and setbacks, it’s easy to forget what you have done. There’s a lot to remember. So by sending my answers to me a year later, 10Q stimulated my memory. I have to admit that when I looked at my answers that I had provided in 2021, I did not accomplish as much as I had hoped, but seeing what progress I made helped me strengthen my resolve to do better.
And we always have to do better, you know? Once you’ve done it all, once you’re perfect, you have nowhere to go but down.
The Rev. Jeff Briere is a retired Unitarian Universalist minister.
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The Rev. Jeff Briere is minister of Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
