Be Not Jaded in January: A Time for Retrospect

As we look back, that helps to shape the road ahead. It will decide if we are prepared--or impaired!

Roman god Janus upload.wikimedia.org

(SALEM, Ore.) - Ah ha, the Joys of January! Or are we turning jaded? The month which begins our new year is actually named for the Roman god Janus, who had a face looking forward and a mirror-image face poised to look backward. The second undoubtedly implied Retrospect.

But what happens when we look at the year that just transpired? Are we happy or sad--or filled with ire? It all depends on our expectations, which will then shape our explanations. It hinges upon the lever of absorbing life's lessons, and benefiting therefrom.

Our minds become mental diaries of past events--and their impact. In a sense, we tend to follow the /edit.php?storyid=13142"blank slate" theory of English philosopher John Locke, who offered us the key to cognition. He stated that at birth our minds were essentially blank, with each new experience after that leaving its mark on who we are. To which I'd surely add my corollary: that the dimension and border of that slate are determined by our genetic family tree.

Hence, how we view the world is slightly smudged by our personal perceptions. These are manifold. How our parents and siblings treated us cast their imprint. The shadows of the schoolroom loom influencial. Did we have teachers who encouraged and motivated us? Were our student peers kind and considerate of us--or were we frequent targets of bullying ridicule which did havoc to our search for self-esteem? These vital influences can be lifelong.

As we look back, that helps to shape the road ahead. It will decide if we are prepared--or impaired!

Crucial to our life cycle is our support system and our ability to trust others as well as ourselves. This in turn dictates our vulnerability to mood disorders, from having Clinical Depression to PTSD. Or our resilience to recover from life's setbacks and find a newly productive path.

January is the starting point of where and how we finish up. It may well be wintertime, but certainly no time for our minds and souls to hibernate.

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Salem-News.com Community Writer Barry Lee Coyne brings to our readers stories from his combined career of journalism and gerontology, and explains that these paths shaped his values. This writer-therapist often views the world as the masks of comedy and tragedy placed upon the scales of justice. For him, optimism inevitably wins. "Lyrical Lee" has traveled to 30 nations aboard and was once a press intern at the UN. His first published article was in The NY Daily News in '59, dealing with the need for integrity in public office.

He also launched the nation's first tele-conference on health education for shut-ins, created the Eldermentors project in VA to pair retirees with immigrant students needing role models, and was the main catalyst behind CCTV's "Public Public" panel show here in Salem. Lee received his BA in International Relations and an MSW in community organization. He currently serves as a member of Salem's Library Advisory Board. To send Lee an email, please write to this address: notcoy@netzero.net