There is a saying, “Write it down, make it happen.” The start of a new year is a blank page offering us so many possibilities. It is a time to reflect on where we have been but also on where we want to go to turn our dreams for ourselves into the possible. This means more than listing a series of New Year’s resolutions that start with good intentions that are swiftly forgotten. We have the chance to begin sketching what we want to be the plot of our coming year so that whatever unexpected events might surprise us (and weren’t the years of 2020 and 2021 full of the unexpected?), we will have written a clear roadmap to help us stay the course toward our goals for personal and professional growth.
This is a 2-hour live online program via Zoom with Benedictine Oblate and retreat leader Judith Valente.
For three years now, I’ve guided a January retreat in called “Writing the Prologue to Your New Year.” Its purpose isn’t to encourage New Year’s resolutions that are as quickly abandoned as they are formed. Rather, I ask each person to flesh out how they would like to see the plot of their lives unfold in the new year. It’s a chance to envision the kind of person we want to become, to set a course, and to reflect on our priorities. The January 2024 edition is revised and includes new prompts, questions, and guides so that if you’ve participated in past offerings the 2024 edition will be different, fresh, and new! All are welcome.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR:
Judith Valente covered faith and values for many years on the national PBS-TV news program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. She is also a former staff writer for The Wall Street Journal, having worked in that paper’s Chicago and London bureaus, and is a former reporter for the National Public Radio affiliates in both Chicago and central Illinois, where she currently lives.
Judith is the author of several spirituality titles including, “How To Live: What the Rule St. Benedict Teaches Us About Happiness, Meaning and Community” and “The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed” as well as two collections of poetry, and a memoir about her time with the Benedictine sisters in Atchison Kansas, titled, “Atchison Blue: A Search for Silence, a Spiritual Home and a Living Faith.”
She is a popular speaker and retreat leader on the theme of living a more contemplative life in the secular world, and is a board member of the International Thomas Merton Society. She served previously on the board of the Chicago Cenacle.