Welcome to Week 2 of 'Finding 101 Wonderful Things'

Still not sated? Keep counting!

Yay, you’re back! And you’re ready, I hope, to continue Finding 101 Wonderful Things about the year that just passed. This week we’ll continue to build our joy muscles and increase our capacity for resilience as we head into 2025.

Last week you received a template for the Finding 101 Wonderful Things list-building process, and you began to revisit the year that just passed, month by month.

This week you will:

✅ Create a little space for this nurturing process

✅ Review journals and photos to help build your list

✅ Discover your changes and challenges from 2024 with an audio prompt

✅ And so much more …

This course is for paid subscribers. You can upgrade now to join for just $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 plus more bonuses!

And may you be satisfied

If you feasted last week for Thanksgiving, or for any version of November’s Day of Gratitude, I hope you enjoyed your time with family and/or friends.

I did! But, I’ll be honest: Whether it’s a plate overflowing with turkey and all the fixings or the delicious veggie dinner I enjoy most nights, as soon as I’m done eating, I’m already asking: What’s for dessert?

Sometimes I gobble up a special treat I’ve been anticipating so quickly that I look down at my already-empty plate and realize I barely paused to savor it.

Sound familiar?

I know I’m not alone. Because we live in a world where striving, not satisfaction, and gaining not gratitude, are valued.

That’s why mealtime prayer has become:

“Thank you for this food, and may I be satisfied.”

Why is it sometimes so difficult to find contentment, let alone deep-seated joy, even as we are blessed with so many wonderful things each and every day:

🌈 An abundance of air to breathe,

🌈 The ease of accessing water to drink and to bathe in,

🌈 Sunshine,

🌈 Indoor heat,

🌈 Flowers that bloom even when we don’t plant and tend them!

Do-ing has its place. But accruing accomplishments and feverishly reaching for one more goody (another slice of pie, anyone?) is not only unsustainable, and unhealthy, it’s ultimately unsatisfying.

Personal experience and a decades-long study of what truly makes us happy has taught me that the real ticket to deep contentment and real joy is creating a life of meaning.

And that’s just what this little pause we are taking in these final weeks of 2024 is all about!

When we reflect on the year that just passed in search of nuggets of joy that may have slipped by almost unnoticed before—we rewire our brains to notice, amplify, and appreciate moments of gratitude and grace, generosity and connection. We learn that we have plenty of good, even on an ordinary day, or in a seemingly unremarkable year. And at last, we sigh and feel satisfied!

That’s how making our 101 Wonderful Things list help us feel satiated—even in this season of anticipation, expectation, and the frenzied amassing of experiences and stuff.

When we make our list we’re saying Thank You again and again as we take these moments to remember and relive moments of joy.

This post and mini-series are based on my books about dreams, writing, and everyday joy, including Joy in Every Moment.

Get JOY.

Speaking of gifts, Gift Subscriptions to this online publication are now available!

Reflect

How did this past week go? Was it tricky to squeeze in some time to start your 101 Wonderful Things List. I bet it was! Our schedules and our society are not set up to accommodate time for reflection. Our mentality is to look forward, always projecting ahead. Our inner chatter goes something like this: That was good—but what’s next?

Here’s the good news …