Go only as fast as your slowest part feels safe to go.

~ Robyn L. Posin

It already seems passé to say Happy New Year, as it is off to a quick and dirty start. My favorite New Years meme I’ve seen so far says, to 2026: “Thanks for the free trial. I’d like to cancel my subscription.”  It made me laugh, and it also made me reflect a bit. 

It certainly feels to me like we’re heading towards war, violence is constant, and things aren’t looking too bright on the world stage. And yet, I also sense that there is an undercurrent to all of it that is building and churning up hope. We really have yet to see where this year is going, which is why our practice of presence is ever more important. 

Practicing presence is simple and profound. When you catch yourself in your head, spinning out with your thoughts, or worried about the future regarding things you can’t control, pause and notice your breath. Take two or three deep, slow breaths as you look around the room, noticing objects an...

Are you feeling that forward motion energy out there?  The New Year brings such new hope and bright ideas to the surface. There's something about flipping that virtual calendar to a new year that feels like a clean slate.  

And yet, we never really are clean slates, no matter what the calendar says.

Our patterns, memories, identities, and ego structures follow us from calendar year to calendar year. This is only a problem, however, if it's a problem. Some of our patterns are really good!  You might have a pattern of stopping and thinking before you respond to someone.  Your pattern might be early bedtimes and rising at dawn to meditate and journal.  You might see yourself for what you truly are (which is perfect, whole, and complete).  You might show up right away when a friend is in distress or there's a pet that needs adopting.  Heck, hopefully you at least have the pattern of brushing your teeth every day.  

However, experiences sometimes create patterns in us that we'd ...