Change and transition. From one year to the next. We make resolutions. We move to a new house. We discover a health challenge. A loved one dies, a marriage ends, a child leaves home. Our work life shifts—job description, location, retirement. One of our kids is in the middle of a challenge or crisis. In recent years, we’ve begun to refer to seasons of change and transition as liminal.

Years ago, on pilgrimage to southern Spain, our leader led us in this simple prayer: “For all that has been, thank you; for all that will be, YES.” When we left one city, he’d invite us to face the hotel where we’d stayed and name the things for which we’d been grateful there: a comfortable bed, the hospitality of strangers, good food, a moment of spiritual awareness. Then we would pivot and face the direction we were heading in with a YES for all that awaited us!

In this new year, I invite you to consider joining me in this simple practice of gratitude and trust for what the future holds. We can practice this mantra no matter how chaotic or uncertain our external circumstances.

• What do we do when we find ourselves stressed by change? We pause and look back at the day before, the week before, the year before and we say thank you, thank you, thank you.

• And what do we do when we stand in a liminal space where the future appears uncertain? We pivot from a reflexive no to an intentional yes.

Saying NO is always easier than saying yes—primarily because it is a way of staying in control. We say NO because we are afraid. We feel stronger when we can say what we are against. We feel safer when there is a “they” over there we can blame for our problems. But the habit of saying NO risks a victim stance, encouraging us to blame anyone or anything else—our parents, our trauma, our genes—for what doesn’t go right in our lives.

Saying YES to the future fosters a willingness to be surprised rather than a need to control everything. Saying yes invites us to trust the “Force of Love moving through the universe” and release our fears.

I recorded the included video at the end of 2021, but I find it still relevant as we close out 2023 and enter 2024. Even if you have already committed to another new thing for the coming year—an updated eating plan, a dry January, a new exercise routine, or an audacious work project—this little mantra can be added with great effect!

May the coming year be filled with meaningful work, healthy relationships, spiritual grounding, physical vitality, and creative expression. May your trickle of good intentions become a steady flow of grace-infused wellbeing. May the New Year be filled with deep peace and joy!

Walking with you,
Vicki