Year End: The Psychology of Closure

Have you ever noticed that once you can tell a story about something, it’s in the past?

The year’s end is upon us and I observe my clients reaching for closure to make sense of another time of upheaval in the world. I encourage everyone to engage the psychology of closure, not just at year end, but in any transition. Closure is a powerful force for change, growth and evolution and our brains are naturally constructed to use it.

So this year, make yourself a commitment to bring an intentional close to the year and set your sights on new aspirations for the months ahead.

To help you prioritize making time to close out YOUR year, I’d like to explore this powerful dynamic more deeply. Why do our brains try so hard to tell the story of time in wrapped-up little packages with nice neat endings? And how can we use this to our benefit?

Photo by Sigmund

The Psychology of Closure

The term “closure” describes the ways in which our brains are built to “fill in the blanks” when they detect information gaps. Rather than seeing incomplete shapes, our physiology and psychology work together to perceive a partial circle as a whole circle instead. You can see the ways that visual designers use this principle to “trick” our brains into seeing shapes that aren’t there, a technique used liberally in logo creation…

Read the full article free at InPowerCoaching.com