An important commitment I want to make to myself this year as I am given this opportunity to be part of the year 2026 is live each moment as if it is my last moment with my Divine’s help knowing that will be my legacy to this generation and those who will come after me, by living curiously, in awe, practice gratefulness and living gratefully, seeing all beings as part of my being knowing my thoughts, words and actions affect me and other beings, taking care of this life in all areas – physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally and to be a good steward of all of my gifts granted and will be granted; knowing in this commitment process, I will make mistake or things will happen but not to be afraid and to be willing to start over and not to give up. “Do not be afraid to start over. ‘Pam Muñoz Ryan
As I step into this new year, I feel called to commit to a journey of deeper understanding—of myself and of my relationships. This isn’t just about setting goals; it’s about embracing growth and vulnerability in ways I haven’t before.
I’ve recently started working with a new therapist, and this feels like a significant turning point. My goals align with this process: to explore who I am, strengthen my connections, and uncover patterns that shape my life. Committing to the work, the sessions, and the process this year is a new depth I’ve never ventured into.
I’ll admit—I’m a little nervous. Change often feels uncertain. But alongside that nervousness is trust: trust that I am in God’s hands, and that He has led me to this path for a reason. I believe this journey will not only help me grow but also bring me closer to the person I’m meant to be.
Here’s to showing up fully, even when it’s hard. Here’s to courage, faith, and transformation in 2026.
Happy New Years, my dear friends! It is good to step back into our forum today. I have been spending less time on the Gratefulness questions because I have been spending more time learning how to practice the Plum Village tradition of Buddhism. But Grateful Living and all of you still have a dear place in my heart, and I think the two can nourish one another.
I frequently get overwhelmed thinking about how much I have to do, but it usually is projecting into the future– all the things I need to do in the next month. I would like to more quickly become aware of when I am feeling anxious and overwhelmed. And then take time to embrace my anxiety with mindfulness.
And remind myself of all the choices I have. A lot of my busyness is volunteer tasks that I choose to take on because they are meaningful to me and I feel that they are my way of helping the world. I can remind myself that I cannot be of much help to the world if I am not taking care of myself. I can ask myself if I need to let go of one or more of my volunteer commitments. Right now, I don’t think it is a question of letting go of anything, but learning to gracefully juggle and to cultivate gratefulness in the present moment. My individual days are usually not overwhelming– I have time for enough sleep and time for some self-care such as exercise/spiritual reading/meditation every day. But I often don’t accomplish everything I had set out to do, and the messy house, the pile of papers that need to be filed, the doctor’s appointments that need to be scheduled can start to feel like an oppressive weight. And it is hard for me to take time to sit down for a whole two hours and watch a movie with my husband.
I recently was reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “The Art of Living”, and I am feeling haunted by some of what he wrote (p. 165) “it takes determination not to get carried away by projects that make us feel stressed and overworked, causing us to neglect ourselves and our loved ones… Each one of us needs to identify our ropes so we can cut ourselves free… How long do you have left to live? What is so important that you let it get in the way of your chance to live deeply and happily? When you get your priorities straight, you can let go of the restlessness, frustration, anxiety, and resentment you’ve been carrying.”
So, after all of that rambling, let me try to boil that down into a commitment I would like to make to myself this year. I would like to safeguard that space in my life of nourishing my happiness and my relationships.
One idea that appeals to me, but may or may not work in my life, is a weekly “Soul Nourishment Day” in the tradition of Sabbath days. I think I will experiment with that to start this year out, but if that doesn’t work, I will look at other ways to safeguard the space in my life for nourishing my happiness and my relationships.
Welcome back,
dear Elizabeth . ..
indeed,
we have been missing you.
I am having similar trouble feeling overwhelmed,
and hope we can talk about this some more. ♥
I started this New Year’s Day by reading Richard Rohr’s daily meditation. It brought tears to my eyes when it stated that we need to let ” God sprinkle us. ” It states that “God leverages everything from your past wounds to your everyday work as [God] sprinkles you … throughout the world.”
My husband and I worked on a retreat team for several years and he use to say in his witness talk to attendees, “God needs you.” I needed that memory this morning. I needed to be reminded that it’s okay to take stock of myself but it’s not okay to deny my own relevance. Where Life places one always offers the opportunity to be a source of healing for oneself and others. Sometimes, our blunders are our biggest teachers.
Richard Rohr’s meditations always approach us through the lens of the Christian myth and I use the word myth purposely because myths are not always historically absolutely true but they teach TRUTH. And so, the commitment I want to make to myself this year is to let God/Life sprinkle me. Life wants to leverage my successes, my failures, my strengths and my weaknesses to bring healing to my little corner of the world. May I always be willing to embrace that vulnerability. That is an important commitment that I want to make to myself this year. May I temper my EGO and nurture the Life I’ve been given.
In the tumult of 2025, I got acquainted with surrender and faith. Surrender: a small and bright living flame in the heart, which glows behind compulsions, beliefs, projections, and anything else that surges me forward into the future. Surrender as repose, as presence, as the avenue into the greater flow of life. Faith: quiet trust in the divine, forbearance, gratefulness, humility, presence. I intend to continue practicing both this year. Wishing everyone a happy 2026!
Loosing weight and walking more.
Happy New Year Everyone 🎉 May 2026 bring new opportunities filled with love, good health, abundance, gratefulness, and some magic of course!
I commit to take pause, to breath in gratefulness each day and exhale what doesn’t belong but release it with love, faith and hope. Happy New Year, Happy New You and Happy New me. I read it is the year of the horse let us all enjoy the ride.
It’s quite challenging for me to keep the discipline needed to achieve a long-term goal. This is my 6th year since immigrating to the States, and my main goal is simply to improve my English. My commitment is to ensure that I don’t overwhelm myself by practicing too much at once; little by little, but every day. Practice makes permanent. Happy New Year to our lovely community!
I would say you are doing very well in moving toward your goal. English is my native language and I feel I am always learning a new vocabulary word or a better way to express my thoughts.
I just came in from feeding the barn cats and the dog. The setting moon made the various clouds and bare branched cottonwoods come alive with it’s reflective light. The same moon we all see. Namaste.
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An important commitment I want to make to myself this year as I am given this opportunity to be part of the year 2026 is live each moment as if it is my last moment with my Divine’s help knowing that will be my legacy to this generation and those who will come after me, by living curiously, in awe, practice gratefulness and living gratefully, seeing all beings as part of my being knowing my thoughts, words and actions affect me and other beings, taking care of this life in all areas – physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally and to be a good steward of all of my gifts granted and will be granted; knowing in this commitment process, I will make mistake or things will happen but not to be afraid and to be willing to start over and not to give up. “Do not be afraid to start over. ‘Pam Muñoz Ryan
To keep growing on my emotional and spiritual journey.
As I step into this new year, I feel called to commit to a journey of deeper understanding—of myself and of my relationships. This isn’t just about setting goals; it’s about embracing growth and vulnerability in ways I haven’t before.
I’ve recently started working with a new therapist, and this feels like a significant turning point. My goals align with this process: to explore who I am, strengthen my connections, and uncover patterns that shape my life. Committing to the work, the sessions, and the process this year is a new depth I’ve never ventured into.
I’ll admit—I’m a little nervous. Change often feels uncertain. But alongside that nervousness is trust: trust that I am in God’s hands, and that He has led me to this path for a reason. I believe this journey will not only help me grow but also bring me closer to the person I’m meant to be.
Here’s to showing up fully, even when it’s hard. Here’s to courage, faith, and transformation in 2026.
I want to work towards appreciating the fun and delight in my life and be willing to seek out more.
The second would be to stay in the present.
Happy New Years, my dear friends! It is good to step back into our forum today. I have been spending less time on the Gratefulness questions because I have been spending more time learning how to practice the Plum Village tradition of Buddhism. But Grateful Living and all of you still have a dear place in my heart, and I think the two can nourish one another.
I frequently get overwhelmed thinking about how much I have to do, but it usually is projecting into the future– all the things I need to do in the next month. I would like to more quickly become aware of when I am feeling anxious and overwhelmed. And then take time to embrace my anxiety with mindfulness.
And remind myself of all the choices I have. A lot of my busyness is volunteer tasks that I choose to take on because they are meaningful to me and I feel that they are my way of helping the world. I can remind myself that I cannot be of much help to the world if I am not taking care of myself. I can ask myself if I need to let go of one or more of my volunteer commitments. Right now, I don’t think it is a question of letting go of anything, but learning to gracefully juggle and to cultivate gratefulness in the present moment. My individual days are usually not overwhelming– I have time for enough sleep and time for some self-care such as exercise/spiritual reading/meditation every day. But I often don’t accomplish everything I had set out to do, and the messy house, the pile of papers that need to be filed, the doctor’s appointments that need to be scheduled can start to feel like an oppressive weight. And it is hard for me to take time to sit down for a whole two hours and watch a movie with my husband.
I recently was reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “The Art of Living”, and I am feeling haunted by some of what he wrote (p. 165) “it takes determination not to get carried away by projects that make us feel stressed and overworked, causing us to neglect ourselves and our loved ones… Each one of us needs to identify our ropes so we can cut ourselves free… How long do you have left to live? What is so important that you let it get in the way of your chance to live deeply and happily? When you get your priorities straight, you can let go of the restlessness, frustration, anxiety, and resentment you’ve been carrying.”
So, after all of that rambling, let me try to boil that down into a commitment I would like to make to myself this year. I would like to safeguard that space in my life of nourishing my happiness and my relationships.
One idea that appeals to me, but may or may not work in my life, is a weekly “Soul Nourishment Day” in the tradition of Sabbath days. I think I will experiment with that to start this year out, but if that doesn’t work, I will look at other ways to safeguard the space in my life for nourishing my happiness and my relationships.
Welcome back,
dear Elizabeth . ..
indeed,
we have been missing you.
I am having similar trouble feeling overwhelmed,
and hope we can talk about this some more. ♥
I started this New Year’s Day by reading Richard Rohr’s daily meditation. It brought tears to my eyes when it stated that we need to let ” God sprinkle us. ” It states that “God leverages everything from your past wounds to your everyday work as [God] sprinkles you … throughout the world.”
My husband and I worked on a retreat team for several years and he use to say in his witness talk to attendees, “God needs you.” I needed that memory this morning. I needed to be reminded that it’s okay to take stock of myself but it’s not okay to deny my own relevance. Where Life places one always offers the opportunity to be a source of healing for oneself and others. Sometimes, our blunders are our biggest teachers.
Richard Rohr’s meditations always approach us through the lens of the Christian myth and I use the word myth purposely because myths are not always historically absolutely true but they teach TRUTH. And so, the commitment I want to make to myself this year is to let God/Life sprinkle me. Life wants to leverage my successes, my failures, my strengths and my weaknesses to bring healing to my little corner of the world. May I always be willing to embrace that vulnerability. That is an important commitment that I want to make to myself this year. May I temper my EGO and nurture the Life I’ve been given.
Here’s a link to Rohr’s meditation: https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-little-salt-goes-a-long-way/
In the tumult of 2025, I got acquainted with surrender and faith. Surrender: a small and bright living flame in the heart, which glows behind compulsions, beliefs, projections, and anything else that surges me forward into the future. Surrender as repose, as presence, as the avenue into the greater flow of life. Faith: quiet trust in the divine, forbearance, gratefulness, humility, presence. I intend to continue practicing both this year. Wishing everyone a happy 2026!
Drea, You are an inspiration to me. Thank you.
Loosing weight and walking more.
Happy New Year Everyone 🎉 May 2026 bring new opportunities filled with love, good health, abundance, gratefulness, and some magic of course!
Michele, When I take my daily walk, I will be picturing you beside me. Sending you a New Year’s hug!
I want to be more aware of the presence of th Holy Human Spirit that is with me.
I commit to take pause, to breath in gratefulness each day and exhale what doesn’t belong but release it with love, faith and hope. Happy New Year, Happy New You and Happy New me. I read it is the year of the horse let us all enjoy the ride.
It’s quite challenging for me to keep the discipline needed to achieve a long-term goal. This is my 6th year since immigrating to the States, and my main goal is simply to improve my English. My commitment is to ensure that I don’t overwhelm myself by practicing too much at once; little by little, but every day. Practice makes permanent. Happy New Year to our lovely community!
I would say you are doing very well in moving toward your goal. English is my native language and I feel I am always learning a new vocabulary word or a better way to express my thoughts.
My Ngoc, little by little each day is a perfect fit for you.
In this new year I commit to live simply, give more, expect less and enjoy every moment.
EJP, I admire your consistency. It’s one shared value we have.
EJP, I have noticed this is a consistent commitment in your life. It is simply beautiful, and all encompassing. Blessings on your journey.🩷
To be right where I am, fully, in the gift of this moment. 🩷
I commit to continue growing and learning and being the best version of myself. I also commit to being kind and helping others in whatever ways I can.
Happy 2026 🎇
And to you too, SunnyPatti.💫
I just came in from feeding the barn cats and the dog. The setting moon made the various clouds and bare branched cottonwoods come alive with it’s reflective light. The same moon we all see. Namaste.
Joseph, I love being reminded that we all see the same moon, the same sun. May we all learn to truly see and care for each other.