TWO thousand and eight has expired in celebration and 2009 dawns in anticipation. A new calendar adorns the wall and the Sydney Test begins. It's January, the month named after Janus, the two-faced Roman god of gates and doors, the god of new beginnings, the god with one face that looked back over the past, while the other looked resolutely to the future. Now is the time to review, reflect and resolve, to slow down the relentless beat of our lives.

Janus wasn't the only one who thought it was a good idea to look back on the year just past. Socrates, the celebrity 5th-century philosopher, was an avid fan of reflection. Although he was in rather a different context and under a bit more pressure than most of us at the end of the year (having been sent to his death for defending his right to question society and its leaders), he was famously quoted as saying "a life unexamined is not worth living".

Socrates regarded public discussion of the great issues of life and virtue as a necessary part of any valuable human existence.

With this in mind, it makes sense to look back over 2008 to try to make sense of what has happened — to grapple with the year, which has probably ranged from the wonderful to the woeful for most of us.

When should we sort out our often-stressed lives? The combination of summer, the beach or the bush, holidays and the new year seems to be as good a time as ever. In the southern hemisphere, the end of the year is accompanied by a more profound and longer change in the rhythms of our working lives. Busy-ness slows down, daily schedules shift, there is more personal time, and the cricket is on the radio.

Find a special place, walk alone or talk with a friend or partner, pray, meditate, have your palms read or get the tarot cards out. Mind map, make lists — work out a way to sort out some of the confusion and the innately messy parts of living. Simply being in a different rhythm, place and space makes it easier to get perspective. Continued...