Diane Dreher

Years ago, when astronauts took the first picture of earth from other space, we saw this image of our small blue planet, glowing with life, surrounded by the darkness of space.

 

In this vision,  there were no political borders, no divisions—only one small, radiant world. Our planetary home.

 

No matter how we attempt to construct political borders and too often construct walls of fear and domination, these boundaries are only temporary, shifting with time.

 

When I was growing up, my parents had a world globe that is now obsolete, after many changes in countries in Africa and in the former Soviet Union. What remains is the earth beneath our feet, the common ground we share on this small blue planet we call home.

 

For this new year, I invite you to focus on this image, the radiant blue planet that unites us, in this brief reflection.

 

• Recall that image of our small blue planet, glowing in the darkness of space, our oceans and lands blending into patterns of harmony.
• Feel yourself one with the earth, embraced in an expanding sense of oneness that connects you with all the people, places, lands and oceans, plants, and animals in our world.
• In your personal and political life, transcending any walls and borders you may have put between yourself and others, feel yourself connected now in the universal light of oneness. 
• What do you feel as you visualize this? Focusing on your heart, take a deep mindful breath and slowly release it, taking in that feeling of oneness.

You can take this vision of oneness with you to create greater harmony in your life and new possibilities for peace in our world in the days to come.

 

I wish you joy this year.

 

Diane

_________________

 

 Photo: "The Blue Marble" is a famous photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft en route to the Moon at a distance of about 29,400 kilometres (18,300 mi). It shows Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula. Public domain.

 

Have you been missing a sense of community? If so, you're not alone.  Our former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned of an epidemic of loneliness and isolation in this country (2023). Today, many of us spend more time connecting to our electronic devices than to the people in our lives.  And the years of isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic further eroded our personal connections, leading to the alienation, polarization and political discord around us.

 

Yet we need community. Connecting with the people around us brings us a sense of home, belonging and trust in our world. A recent report by the Harvard Study of Adult Development found that strong relationships keep us healthier and happier, enabling us to live longer, more fulfilling lives (Waldinger & Schulz, 2023). And becoming part of a supportive community brings us shared resources, collective wisdom and a heartfelt sense of connection.  

 

I learned about this years ago while traveling by train through Italy. It was getting late when the people in my compartment discovered that the dining car hadn't been connected at the last station, which meant we'd go without dinner. But then, the German woman and her daughter sitting across from me offered to share their cheese and fruit. The Polish woman beside me produced salami and a jar of sparkling strawberry jam. I brought out a loaf of bread. And a young French student shared his bottle of wine. Together, we created a picnic dinner. Sharing food and stories, that night we became a community. In all my travels, I don't remember a single meal I'd eaten in a dining car, but I still recall the joy when five strangers shared an evening meal together.

 

What about you? Can you recall a time when you felt a deep, joyous sense of connection and community? It could have been recently or years ago. Just recall it now. What were you doing? Who were you with? And how did you feel? Take a moment to feel this sense of connection right now.

 

If you'd like to bring more of this joy of connection into your life, you can begin rebuilding community by reaching out with one small action at a time. You could reconnect with a loved one or close friend, join a group in your community, church or synagogue, or volunteer for a cause you believe in.

 

You could also begin practicing what psychologist Barbara Fredrickson (2013) calls "micromoments of connectivity," waving at a neighbor driving by, exchanging a kind word to a colleague or the grocery store clerk.  These small actions benefit both the giver and receiver, raising our mood, relieving stress and reducing inflammation. And they can create a positive ripple effect, building a stronger community all around us.

 

This holiday season, you can bring more of the joy of connection and community into your life and our world, one small act at a time.     

 

I wish you joy on the path.

 

References

Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Love 2.0: How our supreme emotion affects everything we feel, think, do, and become. New York, NY: Hudson Street Press.

 

Murthy, V. H. (2023). Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General's advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf

 

Waldinger, R., & Schulz, M. (2023). The good life: Lessons from the world's longest scientific study of happiness. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

 

Photo: Joe DeSousa (2015). Cheese, wine and bread in Cafe Vavin, 18 Rue Vavin, 75006 Paris.

Creative Commons Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cheese,_wine_and_bread_in_a_sidewalk_cafe_in_Paris,_June_2015.jpg

 

Welcome to winter, the darkest season of the year, when people from many traditions mark the holidays with candles to light the darkness.

 

This winter, we, too, can light candles of hope to bring greater light to our lives and brighten the world of darkness, discord, and division around us.

 

Hope is not just wishing things were better. It's taking action by setting a goal we can believe in, moving forward with pathways or steps toward our goal, and strengthening our agency, or motivation to keep moving forward (Snyder, 1994). Here are two hope-promoting practices from my new book, Pathways to Inner Peace (Dreher, 2025).

 

The Light of Personal Connection. We need community, supportive connections with the people around us to feel a sense of belonging and trust in our world. The sense of community has been lost to many of us in recent years. Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy (2023) warned of an epidemic of loneliness and isolation in America and this year the World Health Organization has reported an alarming rise in anxiety and depression worldwide (2025).

 

Yet each of us can cultivate community by connecting with the people in our lives. This includes not only our loved ones and close friends but what psychologist Barbara Fredrickson (2013) calls "micromoments of connectivity," a smile or kind word to people we encounter in daily life, from a neighbor, a colleague, or the grocery store clerk. These brief connections benefit both the giver and the receiver, raising our mood, relieving stress, and reducing inflammation. And these small connections can create a positive ripple effect, building greater community around us. 

 

The Light of Gratitude. Pausing to appreciate the good in our lives can improve our health and wellbeing.   Psychologist Robert Emmons (2007) has found that grateful people are healthier and happier, better able to cope with stress, more optimistic, resilient, and connected to others. Simply reflecting on three things we're grateful for at the end of the day, or counting our blessings as we drift off to sleep, can bring greater light to our lives, build our trust in a loving creator and restore our faith in life (Watkins et al., 2024).

 

I invite you to join me in these two practices to connect with the light of hope.

• Spreading the light of personal connection. By reaching out to a friend or loved one with a text, card, or call.  By making it a point to share a "micromoment of connectivity" with someone you see today. Even little connections can help light the darkness.
• Pausing for a moment of gratitude at the end of the day. Giving thanks for three good things in your life—from the natural beauty around you, to the stars sparkling overhead, connecting with a dear friend, your favorite music, a moment of inspiration, or something else. A daily gratitude practice can light up your life with hope for the days to come.

 

I wish you joy, love, and light throughout this winter season.

 

References

 

Dreher, D. (2025). Pathways to inner peace. Hollister, CA: MSI Press.

 

Emmons, R. A. (2007). Thanks! How practicing gratitude can make you happier. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

 

Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Love 2.0: How our supreme emotion affects everything we feel, think, do, and become. New York, NY: Hudson Street Press.

 

Murthy, V. H. (2023). Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General's advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf

 

Snyder, C. R. (1994). Making hope happen. New York, NY: Free Press.

 

Watkins, P., Emmons, R., Davis, D., & Frederick, M. (2024). Thanks be to God: Divine gratitude and its relationship to well-being. Religions, 15, 1246.

 

World Health Organization. (2025, Sept 2). Over a billion people living with mental health conditions. https://www.who.int/news/item/02-09-2025-over-a-billion-people-living-with-mental-health-conditions-services-require-urgent-scale-up

 

 

When I was 12, I learned in my social studies class about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. That night at dinner, I asked my parents why this happened. "We were at war with Japan," my mother said.

 

I knew that my parents' families were descended from German immigrants, "Why didn't the government put your families in internment camps?" I asked. "We were at war with Germany too." 

My mother cut me off angrily, responding, "You just don't understand."

 

Oh, but I did. I realized how dehumanizing and dangerous it is to label people we see as different, to see them as a threat.

 

My father was an Air Force pilot, and I'd met many people from different cultures on his assignments throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East. I enjoyed learning about people's different customs, different languages, and beliefs. And I also saw how we had a lot in common.

 

When we react to peoples' differences as a threat, a fear reaction shuts down our higher brain centers (LeDoux, 1996). We reduce another human being to that one quality that is "different," labeling them by race, gender, culture, age, social class, sexual orientation, occupation—and the list goes on.

 

This kind of labeling is not only disrespectful to the other person but also to ourselves, for it disconnects us from our common humanity, the underlying unity of life.

 

What's the alternative? Respect for ourselves and others, the ability to listen and learn from our differences, to expand our experience, to discover new possibilities.

 

If you'd like to expand your awareness of differences, you can join me in this brief meditative exercise.

• First, close your eyes or shift them into a gentle downward gaze. Then breathe in, focusing on your heart, and slowly breathe out.
• As you continue breathing slowly and deeply, think of someone who is different from you—someone out of your comfort zone. 
• Is this someone from another culture? Another country? Another race?  Religion? Age? Occupation? Political party? Or some other quality that feels different to you? Breathe in as you visualize this person standing before you now.
• Then feel a radiant white light surrounding this person, surrounding you, filling you with greater curiosity, compassion, and respect.
• As you continue breathing slowly and mindfully, shift your attention to the natural world around you where  differences are part of the universal harmony of opposites, as the Tao Te Ching puts it, yin and yang--day and night, sunlight and shadow, sound and silence, earth and sky.

And the next time, you find yourself starting to judge and label someone for being different, pause for a mindful moment and see both of you surrounded by the light, connected in the deeper harmony of all that is.  

 

I wish you joy on the path.

 

Reference

 LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

 

Many of us are feeling distressed by the division and discord around us. If you've been wondering how to heal the painful political polarization, you could take a cue from the Renaissance.

 

Let me explain. When we're feeling threatened and stressed, we go into survival mode—reacting with fight, flight, or freeze (LeDoux, 1996). Our higher brain centers and creative capacity shut down to focus on the threat, and we fall into the false dilemma of either/or—us or them, win or lose. We see anyone who disagrees with us as the enemy, run away and hide, or freeze into helplessness.

 

The survival reaction can save our lives in an emergency, but most of the time it limits us. Stuck in the false dilemma, we can't use our innate creative capacity to respond with resilience, to discover new possibilities.

 

The Renaissance was one of the most creative periods in human history. Theologians began teaching that each person had been given unique strengths as a gift from God, that it was each person's duty to discover, develop, and use them to serve the Lord, fulfill their destiny, and contribute to their community.

 

When people believed that they had these personal strengths, they began to discover and use them, leading to unprecedented creative contributions to literature, science, leadership, and the arts (Dreher, 2008).

 

In our own time, positive psychologists have found that each of us has our own personal character strengths and when we discover and use them, we are happier, healthier, and more successful (Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Seligman et al., 2005). You can discover your own top character strengths by taking the free VIA character survey at https://www.viacharacter.org/.

 

You can connect with your top strengths now by looking back in your memory to a time when you felt a deep sense of joy, energy, and empowerment.

 

What were you doing—Connecting with a partner? Participating in a sport?  Creating art or music? Solving a problem? Feeling a sense of awe in nature? Or something else? Feel yourself back there now. What were you doing? What did it look like and feel like?  

 

Now focus on a personal strength you were using. Was it creativity, curiosity, love of learning, bravery, persistence, integrity, love, kindness, fairness, leadership, spirituality, appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, or something else?

 

What strength stands out for you?

 

Ask yourself, "What is one step I can take to use more of this strength in my life today?"

Imagine yourself doing this. What would it look like and feel like?

 

Now you can take the first step in using this strength. You can transcend the limiting false dilemma. By bringing your own creative gifts to the world, you can begin creating a new Renaissance within and around you.

 

I wish you joy on the path

 

References

 

Dreher, D. (2008). Your personal Renaissance. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.

 

LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

 

Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. P, (2004). Character strengths and virtues. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N, & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421.

 

Picture, Renaissance tapestry and Dante candle from Eve Solis. 

Years ago, a friend sent me a prism to hang in my window. Now each morning, dozens of tiny rainbows dance across my walls—waves of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. All these rainbows emerging from the white light—their colors blending into rainbow harmonies.

 

These days, our nation and our world are too often divided by our differences. Our colors can become polarized—red or blue, right or wrong, us or them—instead of the greater harmony of rainbow colors emerging from the same white light.

 

Today, I invite you to visualize this greater harmony.

 

• Take a deep breath to relax and slowly breathe out.
• Breathing in, breathing out, feel your shoulders relax, your mind becoming more peaceful.
• As you continue breathing slowly and deeply, imagine a rainbow before you, with its radiant colors arching over you.
• Feel the colors surround you and feel yourself becoming part of this rainbow harmony.
• As you feel the harmony around you, recognize the different parts within you blending into radiant patterns.
• See the different colors blending into greater harmonies. Realizing that we're all connected in these patterns of light.

Later today, when you go outside or just look out your window at the natural world around you, focus on nature's patterns—the bright blue sky, the green trees, bright colored flowers, and, at the end of the day, the radiant rose and golden sunset. All the colors of nature blending together into patterns of greater harmony.

 

Then pause to reflect on how all of the colors of your life blend together, and how your life blends these colors into an overarching unity where there is no discord, no division, only a greater harmony that includes us all.

 

I wish you greater joy, beauty, and harmony in the days to come.

 

These days there's so much darkness, division, and discord in our world that we can often lose hope. What we need now is the light of inspiration.

 

Ever since I read her autobiography in my teens, I've been inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt, by how she reached out with courage and compassion to touch the lives of so many people during the Depression and World War II.

 

As Adlai Stevenson said at her memorial service:

"She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness and her glow has warmed the world."

 

I invite you to connect with the light of inspiration for yourself.

 

Take a few moments now to reflect. Relax and center as you slowly breathe in and breathe out. You can put your hand on your heart if you wish.

 

As you continue breathing slowly and deeply, think of someone who inspires you. This can be someone you know, someone in history, someone whose life you encountered in a book or a movie.

 

Who is it that inspires you? See this person in your mind. Take a moment to feel their inspiration now as you connect with them in your imagination. 

 

Now ask yourself, "What do I admire most about this person?" Pause for a moment as you focus on one or two of these qualities. What were they-- courage, compassion, resourcefulness, perseverance, creativity, or something else? Recall how this person expressed these qualities.

 

Then ask yourself, "How can I bring more of these qualities into my own life?"

What can you do to bring more of these inspiring qualities into the world? Imagine yourself doing this.

 

Finally, ask yourself, "What is one small step I can take to begin?"

 

When you're ready, prepare to that that first step.

 

 

I wish you joy as you follow the light of inspiration to bring more light to the world.

 

 

A lot of us have been feeling stressed and disconnected these days. One reason we can feel this way is  that we're often not present with what we're doing. Research (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010) has found that for nearly 50% of the time most of us are doing one thing while thinking about something else. 

 

Unless we consciously focus our attention, a nonstop rush of thoughts drones on in our heads like the chatter on a talk radio station. Research reveals that a disconnected mind is a  stressed mind (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). Even when we're listening to someone else, this inner dialogue will rehearse our answers or rush us into future planning.

 

As I explain in my new book, Pathways to Inner Peace,  beneath all the incessant planning is often fear--fear of helplessness, loneliness, and losing control (Dreher, 2025). This fear can put us into a stress state, compromising our ability to focus our attention, enjoy what we're doing, think creatively, and solve our problems more effectively (LeDoux, 1996).

 

Of course, we cannot control everything in life, including the weather, the news, and other people. We can only be present and ready to respond. Yet the more present we are, the more effective is our response.

 

What about you? Have you found yourself feeling distracted and disconnected lately? If so, I invite you to take a moment now to restore your sense of presence.

 

• First take a deep, mindful breath and slowly release it. Just pausing to take a deep breath can help you feel more calm, centered, and peaceful.
• Now recall a time in your life when you felt a deep sense of presence. Were you connecting with a friend? Meditating? Experiencing the wonder of nature? Playing a musical instrument? Singing  Or something else?
• Recall how you felt, continuing to breathe slowly and mindfully.
• Now feel yourself becoming more aware of where you are right now. Feel your body connect with the surface of the chair you're sitting on.
• Feel the rhythm of your heart beat, the energy flowing through your body.
• Now open your heart to greater presence and peace of mind as you go about this day.

And remember that whenever you can catch yourself thinking about one thing while doing something else, you can pause, take a deep mindful breath, and slowly release it to return to the present moment.

 

I wish you joy on the path.   

 

References

Dreher, D. (2025). Pathways to Inner Peace. Hollister, CA: MSI Press.

LeDoux, J. (1996). The Emotional Brain. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Killingsworth, M.A., & Gilbert, D. (2010,12 November). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330, 932.

There's  so much political polarization these days. With massive cuts in government programs, economic challenges, scapegoating  immigrants, and demonizing the opposition, too many people have been blaming those with different views, seeing them as enemies. This is no way to build a healthy community.

 

Research has found that having approach goals, striving for what we want, promotes personal well-being while avoidance goals, striving to avoid what we don't want, is associated with anxiety and distress (Emmons, 2003). In our personal, professional, and public lives, having positive approach goals builds greater hope. Psychologist C.R. Snyder discovered that hope involves goals, pathways, and agency—having a positive goal we believe in, pathways or steps toward that goal, and agency, the energy and motivation to reach it (Snyder, 1994).

 

In my own life, when I experienced disconnection and anxiety from recent challenges, including the Covid, pandemic, career transitions, and political uncertainty, I chose an approach goal: developing a greater sense of connection. My search led me to discover nine powerful pathways to greater connection and peace of mind, practiced through centuries of spiritual tradition and supported by the latest scientific research. I've described them in my new book, Pathways to Inner Peace, discovering greater joy and connection in the process.

 

What about you? Has something been troubling you in any area of your life? If so, I invite you to join me in this hope practice based on research I did with my friend and colleague Dave Feldman (Feldman & Dreher, 2012).

      

• First, ask yourself what's been troubling you in any area of your life—from the personal to the political.
• Take a slow, deep breath and release it, as you ask yourself "What is the opposite of this?" "How would I like it to be?" This is your goal. Now write it down.
• Now ask yourself, "What is one small step  I could take toward this goal?" Write it down.
• Then ask yourself what might get in the way, a roadblock for this step. Write down this roadblock beneath the step.
• Next, think of an alternate step you could take if you encounter this roadblock and write it down beneath the roadblock.
• Do this for two more steps--think of a step, a roadblock, and an alternate step and write them down.
• Now take a few moments to close your eyes and imagine yourself taking each step, confronting each roadblock and taking each alternate step, feeling positive momentum as you move toward your goal.
• Then see feel yourself achieving your goal. Breathe in as you feel yourself doing this. Then slowly breathe out, feeling greater hope and a new sense of possibility.

When you are ready, gently open your eyes and prepare to take your first step.

 

I wish you joy on the path.

 

References

Dreher, D. (2025). Pathways to inner peace. Hollister, CA: MSI Press.

 

Emmons, R. (2003). Personal goals, life meaning, and virtue: Wellsprings of a positive life. In C. L. M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.) Flourishing (pp. 105-128). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Society.

 

Feldman, D. B. and Dreher, D. E. (2012). Can hope be changed in 90 minutes? Testing the efficacy of a single-session goal-pursuit intervention for college students.  Journal of Happiness Studies, 13, 745-759, DOI: 10.1007/s10902-011-9292-4.

 

Snyder, C. R. (1994). The psychology of hope. New York, NY: The Free Press.

In our challenging world today, the news and social media too often focus on our problems, and this can bring us constant worry, fear and anxiety, undermining our hope. 

 

Years ago, a wise woman called Peace Pilgrim said that "instead of stressing the bad things which I am against, I stress the good things which I am for. Those who choose the negative approach dwell on what is wrong, resorting to judgment and criticism" (1981, p. 26).

 

By focusing on what we don't want, we can become stuck in negativity. Reacting, condemning, attacking, we can be dragged into darkness, division, fear, anger, and resentment. This reaction can trap us in chronic stress, compromising our health and blocking our ability to think clearly.

 

By focusing on what we do want, we can move from being reactive to being creative, activating the power of hope. History shows this lesson well. In November, 1932, during the dark days of the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president. By the inauguration, 13 million people were out of work and almost every bank was closed. While former President Herbert Hoover had focused on the problems of the Depression, President Roosevelt focused on possibilities, proposing bold new solutions. In his first hundred days, he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to being recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and those in danger of losing their homes and farms. He established the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Works Progress Administration, the Civil Conservation Corps, and other innovative programs, renewing our nation's hope.

 

You too, can build your hope by looking beyond problems to focus on what you do want.

 

• First, take a long, deep breath and slowly release it, asking yourself what's been troubling you in any area of your life—from the personal to the political.
• Take another slow, deep, breath to release any tension.
• Then ask yourself "What is the opposite of this?" "How would I like it to be?" Then visualize what it would look like and feel like.
• Breathe in that vision of possibility, feeling a new sense of joy and possibility as you slowly breathe out.
• Then  ask yourself, "What is one small step I could take to move toward this new possibility?" Is there someone you could talk to? Somewhere you could find out more information? Some small action you could take?

When you are ready, prepare to take this first step, moving forward with a new sense of hope.

 

I wish you joy on the path.

 

____________________________

Reference

 

Peace Pilgrim. (1981). Steps Toward Inner Peace. Shelton, CT: Friends of Peace Pilgrim. For more information on Peace Pilgrim, see https://www.peacepilgrim.org/