I recently moved from home, town and state, leaving the past decades of marriage and mothering for a new stage in my life. Some days make more sense to me than others. Each day, I show up to my practice in devotion to the new day, to my new environment, by observing the nudges, the inspiration, the confirmations that I am walking my path and what I desire for the person I am now.

Your spiritual practice is the awareness of your inner life, including your emotions and your physical sensations, that is in dialogue with the world around you. To take note, to observe, to be present and to be aware that you are always receiving the whisper, the nudge, the signs of guidance.

What is most beautiful and salient for me, is that in our magnificently diverse country, in our relentlessly secular society, where religious and spiritual traditions are relegated to the sidelines, there is still a joining at the spiritual level, whether we are aware or not, for all of us because of these traditions.

We find ourselves, as a collective, re-envisioning the work environment, culture, and structure. The mass resignations seem to imply a power to the people rising, at least personal choice is garnering greater strength. I feel this is a huge step forward in reclaiming our worth, our power, and our free will.

As much as I’ve tried to keep away from the political fray these past ten years, I cannot but be acutely aware of the anger and the fear that divides our nation. With the recent elections, I felt hope in the cycle of elections and the calm that followed.

The rate of suicides on elite college campuses acutely mirrors what is happening in our society at large. This is an epidemic of great tragic proportions. It is a call to pivot from where we are and to support and nurture our children’s spiritual needs and longing.