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Our 2026 Program Calendar is now available. This year marks another important milestone in our history as we launch new programming, products, and more in celebration of Br. David’s 100th birthday.
To seek and provide clarity in my thoughts and interactions with others.
Good New Year Blessings to all! I am writing this to help hold myself accountable to the goal of consciously decreasing the clutter. At work I started a hanging folder of “things to file,” versus having a big stack of papers on my desk that I’ll file later. Later doesn’t come to a big stack of paper. That’s progress. And with my tiny house, to set my timer for 20 minutes at least every other day, to start, and just “move, detach, pitch, toss,” or move it towards the door to find a home elsewhere. I wish you all Peace, in whatever form that looks like for you in your journey. ☮️💕(michele, i found the emojis on my laptop!) New Skill in 2026!
yay! 🤗☮💗🌈
I wanted to follow up and say I found them accidentally, as I usually use my cell phone for reflections. Thanks Coach! Have an awesome weekend.☺️💕☮️
https://cdn.grateful.org/uploads/2015/08/14110158/Holiday-comfort-eCard-1024×1024.png
Reading Sutras and related literature, playing music and singing, be present, be of support when needed and possible. And to not be afraid. Be grateful. May you be blessed. Happy New Year!
To pause and meditate before volunteering. Not to be a martyr or a victim. To seek within my life-affirming spirit my resilience and joie de vivre. I’ve found that I have difficulty writing a gratitude list per se. Instead, during the day I vocalize my gratitude even to the point of saying out loud that I’m grateful for the zipper on my coat which closes so easily over my bulky clothes!
I do this sometimes too,
dear Greer,
especially when finding something that has been lost or misplaced. ♥
I want to make the commitment to a regular meditation practice. This is important to me because it allows me to give myself time to reflect and process and grow into the best version of me.
It’s a good question. I was just going to sit here and write down a few goals for the new year. I definitely want to stay committed to my practices and stay committed to the people around me.
I’m not sure about specifics, as I haven’t spent the time to ponder yet. I think I will go out for a hike on this grey and rainy California day, and clear my mind and see what comes up. Hoping all of you are experiencing peace and contentment on this New Year’s Day. 🙏
Enjoy the rain. Agua es Vida.
I hope you are too,
dear Charlie . . . ♥
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
Yes, I resonate with this: “…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.” Sometimes life feels like starting over again and again. It takes courage to be committed. Thank you Kansha.
“Do not be afraid to start over. ‘Pam Muñoz Ryan
I love today’s Word,
dear Kansha.
It implies that there is always hope. ♥
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, Elizabeth. Happy New Year.
Thank you, Loc Tran!
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. ♥
Thank you, Sparrow! Wishing all the best to both of us as we work through the feeling of being overwhelmed
Me too. ♥
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/
This is so familiar! “Sometimes the places Christ sends you will feel manure-like—the last places, the last people, the last situations you’d ever want to engage. Like Jonah, you may be tempted to resist the hardship, the discomfort, the awkwardness and stinkiness, to stay in your comfort zone.” Ahhh … to embrace the stinky awkwardness, once again. Carol Ann, you are bringing healing and inspiration to our little digital corner of the world, and I thank you for it.
♥
“May I temper my EGO . . . ” Yes, Carol Ann. Always a good commitment for me.
Thanks for sharing. Yes. I agree with you. Richard Rohr and his teams bless us with fertilizer that we need at the right time. We have seasoned in our lives, and we can season other beings’ life with our gifted seasons or fertilizers through our daily meetings. It does not have to be the same fertilizer or salt. Not all beings need the same fertilizer, but we need to be willing also to accept fertilizers from others knowing that we are all journeying at different pace. I like this ” Sometimes the places Christ sends you will feel manure-like—the last places, the last people, the last situations you’d ever want to engage. Like Jonah, you may be tempted to resist the hardship, the discomfort, the awkwardness and stinkiness, to stay in your comfort zone. Yet, it’s your salty fertilizer that brings salvation to a dysfunctional and dying world. …. And don’t forget the kind of salt the disciples used was harvested with its surrounding minerals. Those trace elements gave the salt its uniqueness”
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!
Thank you Drea.
Namaste,
dear Drea . . .
you always speak to me. ♥
Yes. Letting go or to surrender that’s when it less painful for me and to have my faith in the middle of it. I deal with chronic pain and only when I let go and not tighten my body can I start feeling less pain. It does not take it away but it helps me to function a little bit and to see some options. Thanks.
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!
Always some magic! Thanks.
Michele, When I take my daily walk, I will be picturing you beside me. Sending you a New Year’s hug!
aww, thank you:)