Happy New Year to you, one and all!
I love a fascinating fact, and here is one I uncovered at the end of last year. I’d been delivering a four-week Writing For Wellbeing course, and as I was scouring Yuletide folklore for some lovely writing prompts, I though why not skip ahead to the New Year and take a closer look at our old friend Janus! I remember hearing his story at school, that he’d leant his name to January, with one of his faces looking into the year just gone, the other into the coming year.
As a god of time and transitions, Janus didn’t have a “face for the present” because the present IS a place of transition, which is something to think about when you feel ‘stuck’, either physically or mentally. The Romans didn’t view the present as a time in and of itself – just as something of a passing place between past and future.
That really resonates with me. We are always being encouraged to be ‘fully present in the moment’, which I actually find quite difficult. My brain is always speeding ahead! But what if the ‘present’, as the Romans believed, is merely a drifting boat, bearing you gently to the next exciting destination?
May all your destinations be exciting this year! If you would like to join me for four weeks of looking at the world in a slightly different way (and writing about it!), my next Writing Just For You course begins on January 24th. Here is the programme:
WRITING JUST FOR YOU #3
Each week, we will have a chat about the theme of the week, a mini-meditation or moment of mindfulness to get you in the creative groove and 20 minutes of free writing to a themed prompt. I will also suggest an Artist’s Play Date for you to try at home.
Week 1: Ice. (24/1/22)
This week’s theme is ‘cold snap’. How do you feel when the temperature drops?!
Week 2: Light. (31/1/22)
Candlemas falls on Feb 2nd, and has many interesting customs associated with ‘bringing in the light’. How can you bring light to your own life?
Week 3: Fire (7/1/22)
‘Warming the cockles of your heart.’ This idiom derives from the belief that the heart was shaped like a cockleshell, implying it is soft on the inside with a tough shell! What makes your heart melt?
Week 4: Love (14/1/22)
February 14th is, of course, St Valentine’s Day! We’ll be looking at the folklore surrounding ‘Valentines.’
Interested? Just drop me a line and I’ll save you a place. The course fee is £55. Payment details and Zoom link will be sent the week before.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Sandra
Sandra Ireland 
I’m really interested in this but it will depend on the timing of the sessions. I work as a therapist and have some commitments already booked in. I’m presuming that if I’m unable to make this course there may be others in the future. Carole
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Hello Carole, yes it’s an ongoing thing, maybe every few months. This is my third one. I have one person doing the content without attending the Zoom meeting, but it depends whether that would be helpful to you. It’s good to connect with people!
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