2026, Day 4.

Howzit so far, friends? What do you see, hear, feel, think? Any anticipations and/or dreads?

It’s all a big jumble for me at the moment. Ambivalence, paradox, transition, uncertainty, determination, commitment, divergence, deep gratitude, high potential, and so much connection I can barely comprehend. A bit mindbending.

So I practice being with it. It just is, and I get to make my own meaning from it. Daughter and I agreed today, walking around Mayfair, that grounding in gratitude makes life better. I think I improve each year in this practice. I feel anger less often and less intensely now than ever despite the state of the world, remarkably–that’s a win. It’s not because I care less; rather I’m learning to spend my time, energy, and resources more mindfully and intentionally. Anxiety, frustration, and profanity still overtake my consciousness sometimes–how can they not? I still have much work to accept it all for myself and others–to witness and hold space for us all in our undulating distress.

Looking back at the 2025 book list, I wonder how I can structure my consumption to better balance the unfinished titles with new ones? I’m what they call a mood reader(listener), I think… Maybe in 2026 I’ll include start and finish dates and see what patterns emerge; that could be a fun and enlightening experiment!

What could I consider a resolution this year? Book work wobbled in 2025; 2026 could see a transition to solid output in that and other writing, while I maintain this blog well into year eleven. I have a plan for Lunar New Year greetings that makes me smile–yet another project that could distract from Book, uh-oh. Maybe the Opal app will help? Son recommended it; I have successfully mitigated social media on my phone for 8 hours per work day and a few hours on the weekend. Here’s hoping I can rewire my reward centers a bit in 2026! Meanwhile, the need to further moderate calories continues to persist and progress–menopause allostasis, friends, I’ got this–I can adapt ad hoc, ad infinitum. Because that is the way of nature, and I am part of nature.

Wrote some jar smiles for a friend last night that felt good:

2026: Hope. Love. Peace. Connection. Meaning. Wisdom. Empathy. Forebearance. Perseverance. Just as always! Because we are us. We. Are. Love.

How have you grown and changed this past year? How might we become even better versions of ourselves in the year to come? Onward in openness, love!

OH the things we thought so innocently in youth! May our wisdom not kill our innocence, though–rather just make it smarter–more effective!

We must accept things as they are before we can effectively change them. Seems paradoxical and counter-intuitive, no? Takes me a bit to wrap my brain around, still, and when I do, my world opens!

Every day is just another day and also a brand new amazing gift of a day! We can be in it fully at peace and also attack it with force–both and all aspects of our nature, of nature itself. I wrote recently to a friend: “One more thing about change: It’s nature, and I love that.  It teaches me to be humble about what I think I know, to always expect that there is both more simplicity and more complexity than I currently understand.  Nature is the quintessentially elegant and efficient system of systems—no wasted energy or resources.  We humans are part of nature, and when we deny or defy it, we get positively smote!  *laugh-sigh* So awesome.”

Maybe in 2026 I can flow. Flow more–more smoothly, more easily, more widely, openly, lovingly, and authentically. Shall I create a playlist, incidental and intentional, to uphold and reinforce such an ethos for this, the Year of the Fire Horse? What posture and movement corresponds to this mindset? What does health in the five domains (Sleep, Exercise, Nutrition, Stress management, Relationships) look, sound, and feel like in Flow? Ooo, let’s try it and see!

How does 2026 feel for you? What will you lean into?
My best wishes for all of it and all of you, my friends.