Gathering the Year's Wisdom Through Poetry: A Year-End Writing Practice
Gathering the Year's Wisdom Through Poetry: A Year-End Writing Practice
As summer nears its peak here in the Southern Hemisphere and the year begins to whisper its closing song, many of us feel called to reflect inwardly. I find myself like the last light of the day drawing my energy back into myself. Doing my best to ignore the demands of what can be an over-committed commercialised time, I know I benefit from time to myself to integrate and reflect.
Louise Erdrich in her novel “The Painted Drum” gives me permission when she writes: “let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.” As we stand at the threshold of a new year, perhaps we might pause to take stock of what we “tasted” this year. Without needing it all to be sweetness, can we honour this year as it was, and what it nourished in us?
The Art of Harvesting Wisdom
There's something profound about viewing our experiences as a harvest—each lesson, each joy, each survival potential sustenance for the journey ahead. Like the skilled harvesters of old, we must learn to gather with intention, with reverence, with care for what sustains us. Equally, discarding what we do not want to carry in our heart-baskets next year.
Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of “Braiding Sweetgrass”) teaches us about the concept of the Honorable Harvest—a way of gathering that ensures continuity, that honors both the gift and the giver. What if we approached our year-end reflection with this same spirit? What if we saw our experiences not as things to be judged, but as offerings to be received with gratitude?
Practices for Gathering Your Year's Wisdom
1. Picking Words (3-5 minutes)
Free write from any of these words (harvested from the poem “Ordinary Sugar” by Amanda Gunn,) or pick your own words to begin.
Epiphany Rest Seduce Gently Harvested Wait Discern Unfurl Master Labors Plenty Sort
2. Blessing What Has Been (7-9 minutes)
Write a year end blessing. Perhaps including thanks for relationships that have deepened, skills acquired, new wisdom living in your body, challenges that proved to be confidants.
3. Seeds and Sunflowers Year-End Reflection (10-12 minutes)
Take some time (ideally somewhere peaceful and restorative) and consider what the “sunflowers” of your year have been- those things that have come to bloom in and around you. Next, contemplate what is still “in seed” in and around you? Write to the sunflowers and the seeds or choose the one you are most drawn to.
A Gentle Reminder
Your reflections don't need to be perfectly articulated. They need only to be true. This isn't about crafting a “piece of writing” or forcing meaning from difficulty. It's about witnessing—the way you've grown, the way you've survived, the way you've learned to love this world in all its complexity.
As Jane Hirshfield reminds us in her poem "Ripeness":
"To let your body
love this world
that gave itself to your care
in all of its ripeness,
with ease,
and will take itself from you
in equal ripeness and ease,
is also harvest."
May your reflection be gentle. May your gathering be sweet. May you recognize the profound wisdom you've already grown.
An Invitation to Gather Together
Join our next free Monthly Poetry Circle in March 2025, where we'll explore these themes in community. Together, we'll witness the wisdom each of us has gathered, celebrating both the harvest and the harvesters.
Want to explore more? Join our “Writing Retreat - Autumn” workshop in April 2025. Together, we'll learn how poetry can illuminate our path forward, helping us gather wisdom from every season of our lives.
*Note: References to Gregory Orr, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Jane Hirshfield are used transformatively, drawing inspiration from their profound insights about presence, harvest, and the wisdom of lived experience.*
About the Author:
Suzy Willow is an experienced Poetry Therapy practitioner and facilitator specialising in supporting professional women through life transitions. Known for her gentle guidance and intuitive prompts, Suzy creates safe spaces for women to explore their inner landscapes through poetry. Through individual guidance and group sessions, she helps women find their voice and vision during periods of change.