Acceptance. To receive fully, willingly, and openly the gifts—and struggles—life offers us.

Boredom. No pandemics, recessions, or elections. Perhaps what we need most right now is an unexciting year.

Comfort. That you will find strength and hope in what grieves you.

Devotion. A diligent and fervent effort toward a thing you love.

Experience. Each of our lives tells a part of the full story.

Faith. That what we believe is how we might live.

Gifts. Don’t be afraid to use your talents, and then share them for the good of all.

Humanity. To remember our humanness, and regard the frailties of our human nature.

Imagination. To see a new way forward.

Juxtaposition. So that what surprises us doesn’t distract us, but teaches us.

Kinesis. In the stillness, find movement without direction but with intensity. Seek. Follow. Explore.

Longing. To stand with the impatience and potential of desire just a moment more. Do not rush. Be where you are.

Mundane. What if we didn’t seek the extraordinary in the everyday, but the everyday in the extraordinary?

Nonce. Because it’s a cool word. And because in its definition is: the one purpose, in the time being. To focus on what needs to be done, in this time we’re given.

Observation. To watch, but with an edge of analysis and thoughtfulness.

Patience. Because this one’s hard for me. And may be for you, too.

Quiet. In a noise-filled world, and everyone’s talking but not saying anything, it’s okay to say nothing, and it’s okay to stop listening.

Revolution. It is time. But for a rebellion of the most profound kind: a return to ourselves.

Settling. Stay right where you are. Let it sink in. Sit with it. Look at your surroundings. Do you like what you see?

Tested. Do something important this year that requires maximum effort.

Uncertainty. Get comfortable with it. We talked of it in 2020. But it’s here to stay. The only thing certain is change.

Vision. “To see,” from “wit”: the ability to relate disparate things so as to illuminate.

Works. Because we each have a job to do. But it’s not what you might think. Or, it’s the thing you’ve been running from.

Xystus. Sometimes, a walk lined with trees. (We could all use a little more of that.)

Yield. To slow, but also to bring forth.

Zeal. Just as it means: eager pursuit of something.

Thank you for being with me this year.

P.