01/01/2026
Welcoming 2026: Our Aspiration as a Spiritual Family
Last night, on New Year’s Eve, our community gathered for the Welcoming the New Year Ceremony. We sat together in mindfulness and presented our aspiration before our ancestors as a spiritual family.
As we step into the first day of 2026, we carry a shared intention, to come home to ourselves in each breath and step, to transform fear, violence, and separation through nonviolence and compassion, to cultivate generosity, cooperation, and simple living, and to be a refuge for one another in times of despair and division.
🌿 Our Deep Aspiration
December 31, 2025
Dear Beloved Ancestors, both Spiritual and Genetic,
We present ourselves before you at this solemn moment of the New Year to express our gratitude and deep aspiration as a spiritual family.
Though we are a young and imperfect community, we have all come with a heart to embody the practice, to generate compassion, and to serve.
Dear Ancestors, you have taught us not to forget ourselves, no matter how noble our goals, to come home to ourselves in each mindful breath and each mindful step, taking the time to enjoy the wonders of life, the moonrise, the stars, the murmurations of starlings surging and flowing across winter skies, to get the nourishment and relaxation we need for healing to take place in our body and mind. For this we are so grateful. Now we have a path, there is nothing more to fear.
Looking back at 2025 and all that we have gone through together as a planet, we see that our unhealed traumas, our fears and deep rooted belief in our separateness continue to cause much personal and planetary harm. We vow to transform the roots of war, hatred and violence, by every day generating the energy of non-violence and non-discrimination in our thinking, speaking and acting. We shall continue to challenge the boundaries of our hearts by asking ourselves, do we have enough wisdom and courage to forgive those who have hurt us? Knowing that only by releasing the grievances of the past can we move forward as a species.
Dear Ancestors, you have taught us that no amount of wealth and power can guarantee our happiness, security and peace. True security and agency lies in our power to love and to be happy, here and now, and no one can take that away from us. We vow to actively cultivate generosity and cooperation as a way to help build a new culture of simple living, sharing and mutual trust.
In the face of despair and division, we vow to always stick together, to be a refuge for each other, and to strengthen our spiritual family as a community of nonviolence, offering each other courage to turn the tide of collective consciousness toward a more peaceful and compassionate world.
Dear Ancestors, please accept our offerings of fruits, flowers, and the incense of our hearts, as a sign of our deep aspiration, respect, and love.
Now that we have a path, there is nothing more to fear.
On this first day of the year, we continue our walk, step by step, together.
Every step is an arrival.
With love and deep respect,
Your Plum Village Community
🌿 The full Aspiration Letter from our New Year Ceremony here.
plumvillage.org/articles/new-year-prayer-to-our-ancestors-2
