Welcome to Week 1 of 'Finding 101 Wonderful Things'

As one year winds down, and I look ahead to the next, I am taking a moment to honor my decades’ long habit, beginning at age 12, of keeping a journal.

Through all those years from early adolescence to what I affectionately call late middle-age, I’ve developed a variety of rituals associated with my (mostly) daily writing practice. Some have changed over time; others have stuck around.

For example, I usually write just before bed and/or just after I wake up. I settle in propped up on pillows in bed, or sink into the embrace of the armchair in my studio. Either way, my notebook and Pilot P-700 fine point pen are at (or between) my fingertips.

I often start a new journal with a quote from a current favorite author, and I often end by reviewing the journal for:

• snippets of poems in process,

• themes and messages from my dreams,

• and I observe the arc my thoughts and life have been taking.

At the end of the year, just about now in fact, I gather up my journals from the year that just passed and do a year-end review. I revisit the intentions I set back in January, the dreams that ushered in the year and that have populated it since, and I remind myself of the challenges and joys I’ve experienced.

As I go, I keep a separate legal pad beside me, or I have my laptop open to a document labelled 101 Wonderful Things about This Year. And I begin my list.

So you see, the Finding 101 Wonderful Things practice evolved from my daily writing habit, and has grown into being more than just making a year-end list. Instead, the list has become …

💫 The catalyst for finding the blessings, beauty, and bright spots in an ordinary day, or even a challenging period, and

💫 One part of a creative and meaningful year-end review, and also

💫 It’s a resting place in a spiraling lifelong practice of journal-keeping, reflection, course-correction, and honoring of the growth and wisdom that happen along the way.

Just as keeping a travel journal helps us savor, and integrate the experience of visiting a new corner of the world, journaling and December-List-Making will help you recall, revisit, and integrate the experience of a pocket of time—one year—this year—of “your one, wild and precious life.”*

(*With a nod to Mary Oliver, whose poem The Summer Day I quoted above; a poem which, by the way, is always a welcome reminder of the soulful benefits of paying attention to small moments.)

The journey begins today! Paid subscribers will automatically receive the Finding 101 Wonderful Things mini-series with activities, journaling prompts, and inspiration that you can access and complete anytime!

Want more info about this mini-series? CLICK HERE for details.

What this year-end practice is not

I’ve said a lot about what the Finding 101 Wonderful Things process is. Here’s what it is not.

This is not an attempt to gloss over, cover up, or close your eyes to the very real difficulties from the past year.

I’ll say it again: I started my 101 Wonderful Things practice more than 30 years ago after suffering what felt like an intolerable loss. And it’s been life-changing!

Our brains are hard-wired to focus on negativity, look out for danger, and zoom in on what could go wrong. So, it’s all too easy to focus on what isn’t working, where things are not going well, and what needs improvement.

Taking time to shift our awareness to what was sweet, loving, pretty, or pretty fabulous about each day, helps counteract our habitual bias toward what we lack, lost, or missed out on.

The 10 Wonderful Things daily practice, and the annual 101 Wonderful Things list-making ritual, remind us that our disappointments, losses, and catastrophes don’t have to define us. And in the process we nurture our powers of observation, and our capacity for delight.

Let’s get started, so you can discover the benefits for yourself.

Yes, we begin today!

And by the end of this series, at the New Year, you’ll have created a list of 101 Wonderful Things about the year that just passed. Plus you’ll have completed your year-end review.

But don’t worry—

Deadlines are made to be flexible

Getting all this done by Dec. 31 is an intention not a mandate!

I aim to complete my list of 101 Wonderful Things and my Looking Back process by New Year’s Eve. Then again, not everyone celebrates the New Year on Jan. 1. So, I give myself until the Chinese New Year (which falls on Jan. 29 this year) to complete my process.

The year of the dragon is drawing to a close … enter the year of the snake! (Photo by R M on Unsplash)

This week we will:

✅ Block out time during the busy holiday weeks for this nurturing process

✅ Set up your list using the PDF Template provided

✅ Begin to look back at 2024 with an audio prompt

This course is for paid subscribers. You can upgrade now to join. ($5/per month and cancel anytime. Or subscribe for $40 for a full year, and get a free signed copy of my latest book mailed you your US Postal address).