Q05

Have you had any particularly spiritual experiences this past year? How has this experience affected you? "Spiritual" can be broadly defined to include secular spiritual experiences: artistic, cultural, and so forth.

I have been really enjoying the simplicity of life. And the ways the mundane feel so spiritual. Maybe that is getting older. But the most connected to my Judaism was my daughter's Bat Mitzvah

Obsessively interested in Jewish perspectives on comedy--the Comedy of the Spheres! I'm so serious about this. Not just famous standups (though also a few of those), but Jews and our comedy in life as well as art. Goyish comedy, too! (The joke-lecture I'm writing in my head is called "Sorry I'm Laughing." I kind of want to try stand-up, but can't stand the thought of sounding like I'm trying to do stand-up. Must be some way around that...)

I missed the spiritual feeling of being in the outfield of a baseball diamond as my centering coping mechanism but I did find some great spiritual uplifting watching my daughter find her footing in speech and motor skills

I think my ability to see and feel Melissa in the beauty that G-d creates and demonstrates. I have yet to feel that way about Dr. Joshi and that makes me sad. I see Melissa in beautiful sunsets and sunrises. I see Melissa in rainbows. I see Melissa when she visits me in my dreams.

Scattering my niece, Dara's, ashes was so tender and holy. I felt her spirit over the lake in Dallas - angelic, large, complete with this life, opened and light. It was such an incredible contrast to the next day, going with my half Jewish (my side of the family) nephew who is joyfully Christian to his mega church. The pastor - on the big screen - decided this was the day he was to talk about hell and that EVERYONE will go to hell if they have not accepted Jesus. There will be no last minute reprieve. That includes (in his words) all the "Buddhists and Catholics and believers in reincarnation." I was so upset that my nephew had to hear this the day after releasing his beloved non believer sister to the water. I asked him if he believed it. He didn't want to. I told him my vision and he said, "I hope so."

I am. more connected to my faith than ever, finding closeness to G-d and people.

I cried at the newest Grand Teton visitor center. Partly because of the region’s history (especially this country’s mistreatment of indigenous people and Africans), but a lot because Yellowstone and Grand Teton are just so breathtakingly gorgeous that I was able, for a very short time, to forget about the current political state of America, the economy, the health of the planet, etc, etc. And then I see a sign put up by Orange Shitler or an altered display and it all comes back to me with a crash, like a flash flood caused by a collapsing glacier. Yup, that happened this year too

I have been going to a progressive synagogue a bit more and I find it brings me relief and solace. The theme of the High Holidays, for instance, seems to me that I and we are good enough - it's a space of acceptance and repentance and redemption. As somebody who sets impossibly high standards and hates myself for not achieving them - and gets caught up in the details of how to make results perfect instead of just handing them in - it's a message I need to hear and it makes be happier and stronger.

Psychedelic assisted therapy. I've been aiming for this for years! And it was awful. Ohh god I hated it. That's not to say it wasn't useful, but the experience itself was terrible. During the session, there was nothing spiritual about it. It was a visual and mental onslaught of nonsense I had to endure, and my professional guide didn't seem to like what I was describing when I answered her about what I was experiencing. I spiralled into "I'm not doing it right", in addition to how uncomfortable and nonsensical the actual journey was. By the time I landed back on earth, I had a breakthrough. I realised there is no doing it wrong. Doing the journey wrong would be as stupid and impossible as doing "being" wrong. What an epiphany. What followed was tears. Tears and tears and tears. Being so glad to be "back" where things made some sense, where I could feel my feelings. It was a catharsis under my eye mask. My guide seemed to be pleased. In the days and week after, insights came. So many insights, many around performing for others, obeying others, being "good", doing what's expected of me, cracking the whip on myself, my relationship (or lack of one) to my own agency, and soooooo much more. So, in the experience itself, I didn't have anything spiritual happen. But on the descent and during the openminded open window afterwards, it turned out to be very spiritual and profound after all. What lingers a month later is a sense of things being "okay". Sounds really silly and simple, but for my psyche and my nervous system, where every afternoon would crash with feeling "not okay", this is a godsend. I got to feel deep sorrow and cry so fully in the days afterward, simultaneously with a feeling of deep joy. It's probably the first time in my life where crying hasn't come with intense feelings of clenching, panic, desolation, aloneness and fear of the depth of my pain. Profound AF. I had a bit of a funeral in my mind the night after for my "before" self. I compassionately let her know I understood why she cracked the whip on me (that the whip came from my mom who didn't want it, either) and that it was okay to go. I'm hoping all the insights around feeling my emotions, getting in touch with my agency, advocating for myself in general and especially against authority, and all that "okayness" sticks around.

I think that when I started to take anti-depressants for this first time at age 43, it allowed some of the fog in my brain to lift; I have clearer and sharper thinking. It has also been easier to remove literal clutter from life, although it is an ongoing project...

I watching my mom pass away makes me more aware what it means to consciously make decisions to live a good life.

In relation to question 4, we were in Peru when the major news story about AI and the real concerns about the possibility of human extinction broke. That day we visited a llama/alpaca/vicuna farm and condor rescue. We saw women weaving beautiful, intricate tapestries with wool from the alpacas by hand. Saw them take the fuzzy fleece and make it into thread. Saw them create brilliant dyes from local vegetation. Saw them wearing different types of clothing that signified their various native communities. Saw them work with focus and some joy, though surely their backs hurt and I'm sure they don't feel joyful all the time - they may not even like these jobs. But it was all so HUMAN, such a beautiful example of what we as humans do best: carefully and respectfully take natural resources and mix them with human creativity and will to make something beautiful and new. All I could think was "what the fuck are we doing?" It was both a devastating moment and one that has shifted my motivation toward my own creative activities, made them seem more intrinsically important than they ever have before. I don't think I will ever forget these women or the intense feeling of reverence and gratitude I feel toward them. I certainly hope I don't.

holding on to hope in the face of destruction has felt wildly spiritual for me. i feel contemplative in a way i haven’t in a long while.

Getting together to sing with friends has made me happy. And just enjoying being in my own "space" (@ home) is comfortable. I like looking out the window, watching the birds, sky.

I have felt pretty spiritually depleted this year. I felt a real sense of purpose in participating in solidarity efforts to support resistance to colonization.

allowing myself self-care. visiting the friend's house in Tahoe that had an expansive, beautiful and tidy home. visiting the house in the gibbons in alameda, with beautiful expanses. adopting this mischievous kitten!

I have very much enjoyed vicariously experiencing my son's pastoral training. Listening to him talk about religious traditions and history makes me grateful for the ability to think about God and learn about theologies and ways of interpreting our experiences on this earth. It helps me to feel at peace with the world.

I have decided or felt that I just need to be thankful for the life I have. I am so lucky. What do I have to complain about? Every second I fill my brain with a thought of resentment or anger or regret is just a waste. The past lives of me are dead. What I have done in the past is dead. I only have to live forward. I control what I put in my brain. I am the sole gatekeeper of my thoughts and mental energy. Just be thankful and enjoy. Take deep breaths. No more angst.

I went to Shabbat services on a whim on a Friday night this past July, and I felt so connected to my Jewish community and faith, my spirituality, and whatever higher power there is. Particularly at the New Synagogue Project, I feel like there is so much joy and depth to our prayer that I always feel connected and moved by the experience, especially when we sing and hum. I loved the 30 minutes we spent after dinner just singing (and I’m thrilled that I had the courage to join, after so many years of feeling embarrassed about my own singing, but now realizing it too is beautiful.) Often I would just close my eyes and let the wave of sound wash over me. I have finally found my Jewish spiritual home.

Right now. I am finishing a week in the dunes for the first time in 8-10 years (?). It is less momentous and has taken me a bit more time to get present but this is always home in so many ways. I’m very sad about leaving and for the first time wonder if I will be back. I don’t know why I have this worry. It is so precious to be here.

The answer I read out at Kyle's memorial was about all the mystical experiences I've had that make me believe he still exists in spirit. This year Jamie and I had twinkle lights that turned themselves on every time I visited--and several people told me that the lights over our heads in the UU fellowship hall were blinking when Jamie and I were together there.

Nothing really spiritual happened to me. I am enjoying getting to know the cultural differences between the US and Portugal. Can't wait to be immersed!

I have to say that my Yom Kippur experience was much more spiritual than I expected this year. I didn't read in advance, or "prepare" in any way. But what I DID do was be in the moment while I was in shul, and I really felt a lot more invested in the service and that there was "something bigger than me." I was pleasantly surprised that YK went so well.

The Chagall Museum and the Matisse Chapel. Such wonderful spaces created by and for these amazing artists. Just being in the presence of the their art was uplifting and rejuvenating. Those were transcendent experiences.

Este año siento que Dios me pusó a prueba con soltar las cosas de mi vida a la que me estaba aferrando. Cosas como personas, trabajo, lugares, que independientemente que me afectaran o no, estaba aferradad y no crecía. Siento que a veces hay que entregarle todo a Él y confiar en su palabra. El nos tiene tanto que no sabemos preparado para el momento en que soltamos las cargas que llevamos y entregamos todo en sus manos. Dios tiene tantas formas de sorprendernos que ni siquiera nos podemos imaginar cuan grande es todo lo que nos espera.

Just lost a friend unexpectedly. He cofounded and lead a Bible study group at work that’s been running since the pandemic. We prayed daily during his hospitalization, and I wrestled with the loss though I never question Jesus’ plans. Grieving and growing.

I'm not sure that I have as strong a sense of what spirituality means to me as I once did or as I would like. When I left the Catholic Church, I thought I would be able to maintain my relationship with God and my faith outside of the church. But it has waned without that weekly attention and practice. I rarely pray. I suppose time in nature, especially time alone, feels spiritual. It certainly feels renewing. And I do believe it is a way to feel connected to God. I often have a strong sense of gratitude. But I'm not sure how often it actively feels spiritual. I hope to pay more attention to that in the coming year. On our Peru trip, our guides arranged for a friend who is a healer to conduct a ceremony for us. He had learned his spiritual practice from his father who had recently passed. He led a ceremony to protect us during our travels. His Mom helped him with the ceremony. It was quite moving. They spread a blanket which we sat around. The placed natural objects on the blanket. The gave us each a trio of coca leaves to hold with both of our hands, fanned out, and to smell. We each silently asked for something. I asked for my brother to be happy. The healer and his Mom came to each of us to collect our coca leaves and intentions. They spent a moment with each of us, looking at us and hugging each of us. Early in the ceremony, I thought of my Mom and cried. It was a beautiful ceremony and did feel moving and spiritual. Later that day, the healer and his mother continued the ceremony, taking the objects into the mountain and burning the plants which carried our intentions. I admired how nature was integrated into the ceremony. I was grateful for the time and sincere care they gave us and for the time to reflect on what is important to me. It all felt like a blessing.

I keep showing up for my temple. Some people appreciate it and see me. Others don't and wish they'd see less. I guess my spiritual experience is doing it anyway. Most of the time I find joy in it. Sometimes there is a tension. That if they could just contain their dislike, I could have more joy in being there.

I had a dream with my Dad in it. He was showing me some plants on the walkway. It was very brief, his appearance in my dream, and I don't recall what else I dreamt about that night. The power came in when I shared my story with my partner, and she commented that when you see someone in your dream that has died, it's their way of telling you they are okay. That was really meaningful, gave me some peace and warmed my soul.

The most moving experience was kayaking Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The water, the rocks, the wind.

Lots. In the revelatory truths of friends in trouble, in certain chord progressions without fail, in the automatic act of care given or received, in the awe of leaving the built world for the natural one. For me: this is everywhere if I want it.

Last winter, Alex and I attended a concert by Ballaké Sissoko and Derek Gripper (kora and guitar players, respectively). Neither of us had heard of them, but the concert had been heavily advertised to us, we were curious, we needed to prioritize breaks from the rigors of parenthood, etc. It was hypnotic music, performed in a church sanctuary packed full of possibly the most diverse group of people I have ever been a part of, all of us entranced. I had the thought that this must be what the kingdom of God is like.

I fully enjoyed my year of chanting the Mourners Kaddish following my father’s death. I enjoyed every day I got to go to morning minyan. There really is no reason I can’t continue to go. I stopped making time. I miss my morning minyanaires. I miss reading Torah. I look forward to reading Torah again for my wedding and I hope I will continue this practice more.

I'm at a loss for what was "spiritual" for me this past year. I traveled to Ottawa, Denver, and Buffalo but I wouldn't say I experienced "awe." I can't recall a piece of media that brought me "awe." I went to Sunday morning minyan more this past year. Maybe there's an element of the spiritual groundedness that was helpful with that?

I don't do spiritual. People always think I must be religious because of my career. The truth is I love being a part of the community, but I don't do prayer and I don't do God. The boys are learning that now too. This is the second year that I set a new expectation for HHDs. No requirement to sit in a service, but they are required to participate in the community holiday experience. And that looks different for everyone. Nobody argued about getting dressed decently and going. They were awesome. Sorting food donations, showing people to seats, entertaining younger children, straightening program guides. Learning that there are a lot of different ways to be part of something.

Some days I sit on our back patio and observe the slice of nature on display in our small yard. It may not be as majestic as the landscape in Alaska, or the expanse of the Pacific Ocean on view from Calfiornia, but it is enough to renew my belief in a Higher Being, who blesses me with another day to be grateful.

This has been the year of the cathedral - we have seen: Salisbury, Wells, Rouen, Amien (on the same day), several churches in Caen, several in and around Amsterdam. Quite enjoying being in our cathedral bibbing era and there always some spectacular moment. We went to see Our Town which I think was our main theatrical outing and there were a few amazing staging/production moments with lighting that were really transporting.

Not really. I became less spiritual this year. I fell off the derech. It’s because it seems like my prayers from last year and the year before went unanswered.

I had a conversation with a Rabbi earlier this year, trying to seek help and comfort. Her tone, perhaps not intentioned this way, came out harmful and dismissive of my needs, despite mentioning that there were elements of my then living environment that were unsafe. Not only did I not feel safe going back to that Shul, but now I feel that I am not welcome in any Shul ever again. I feel hurt by what happened, and that I'm not meant to belong.

The closest I've come to a spiritual experience this year might be when I'm floating the river. One of my absolute favorite things.

Two types of ongoing experiences provide me with a sense of transcendence and a touch of the divine. My continued study of Buddhism, including podcasts on both meditative topics and the history of Zen Buddhism, serve to ground me and center my spirit, while creating and recording music gives me a creative outlet that allows me to tap into deep emotional currents and express them in an incredibly satisfying way.

I got to sit in a 1200 year old stavekirke. It was surprisingly.

i don’t think i’ve had any experiences like this, but i have enjoyed seeing concerted and shows with people. i saw the mountain goats with chris, renee rapp with em, pcp, the beth’s, and cmat with ej.

I can't think of anything significant -- usually these experiences are more like glimmerings, fleeting moments of exultation or joy. They disappear as quickly as they come. In general though I have been grateful for the physical and mental strength I possess, which has allowed me to exert myself to help my son and mother.

This surely must be the Nick Cave concert in Brighton. It was just so utterly moving and spectacular and I felt like the tribe that was with him and around me was one I belonged in. I’m welling up just writing about it. Thank you. It really was something else.

I celebrated my 60th birthday a little early by spending the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I saw the Raphael exhibition -- truly once in a lifetime, Brancusi in Dendor, and the costume show. All were amazing. But to be able to spend a whole day from basically the opening until nearly closing in the realm of beautiful works of art (including some old favorites) was magical. To spend hours gazing upon Raphael's drawings and paintings was something so perfect -- sublime. It was one of those perfect days that you never want to end. It was sustaining and energizing and made me want to slip into that world for so much longer than just a day.

cutting up the norway maple. chainsaws are hard and scary! but electric chainsaws are not so bad. i was safe, i was careful, i was competent. new friends helped and we acted as a team. i communicated clearly. i listened to the tree and the yard and i didn’t want somebody else to cut it without caring and haul it away.

Last Thanksgiving, when I was in Santa Monica with Kenny's family, we were in the process of looking for a sofa. Kenny and I had looked at a number of stores over the week, including SOHO Home. There were some we liked. It was our last day and we had a jam packed schedule, but I felt a desire to check out Cisco Home, my old client from Kelly Bernard days. Kenny wasn't excited to add something else to our schedule though. That morning I was out back doing my mobility exercises with Susan (miraculous that she agreed to let me teach her) and we were actually doing well together. Then, near the end, I looked up, and watching over us, only a few feet away, was a huge horned owl. It was just hanging out - and the Davises had never seen an owl there - right in the yard. It was silently watching us in broad daylight. It felt like a bolt of lightening went through me; I was totally bowled over, awe struck, tears running down my cheek. I had never been that close to such a large owl in the wild. I was absolutely sure it was a spirit animal of my father making a visitation. He was there supporting me while I was trying to be myself in the presence of Susan Davis, who often has the effect of sucking out my soul. He was there reminding me that I am totally loved, admired and supported from beyond, never alone. And, he had another message - go to Cisco Home!! Follow my instinct, he was telling me. I was sure of it. So I insisted Kenny and I squeeze that into our day, and low and behold, there we found a one of a kind sofa of our dreams. A custom made sofa upholstered from a vintage Scandinavian rug, that someone had returned. We LOVED it, bought it and still love it. My dad loved it too, I'm sure of it. He was totally tickled by this one of a kind sofa and he wanted to make sure I got it. That's just the kind of thing he would have cared about, enough to send me a message from beyond. My dad, even though I only had 21 years with him, still thinks I'm fabulous and is doing his best to share his gifts with me. He still wants me to be my best self and tap into the veins of joy, movement and creativity that flow within me. Never forget!

I was moved when Michael Saei, an Iranian Muslim immigrant, conducted the Hollywood Bowl, LA Philharmonic in the U.S. National anthem. The world felt right that night as I saw it through our grandchildren’s eyes. I was also moved by the beauty and serenity of Ha Long Bay in VietNam.

I went to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks this year; at both of them I had a particularly spiritual experience, which I was not expecting. At Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic Springs, I was overcome by the beauty that exists totally outside our/a human realm: bacteria of different colors developed to live in various temperatures, and they keep doing their thing, mostly oblivious to the people coming to see them. It's a whole galaxy that's been living and dying for centuries-- and to us, it "just" looks beautiful-- we apprehend it without stepping into it; it's close and so far away.

Just the other day, Tom and Dan gave me a hand-written card expressing their appreciation for what I have done for Dan these past years. It was unexpected and made me feel warm all over. Then, I learned that my sister is coming to see me before I go to Israel. This is also unexpected and so lovely.

I felt deeply moved and connected to the planet during my two chorus concerts last year. It's very interesting to have an experience that is 1) viscerally moving, 2) intensely personal and isolating, and 3) amidst a few hundred other people also having their own profound experiences. Connecting, but also isolating at the same time.

The kitchen again and again. Most recently on Rosh Hashanah – the first piyyut after the silent Amidah I thought "this is exactly where I'm supposed to be."To the second day honor of carrying the (very heavy!) Torah with my healthy body. And later playing piano (performing!) at flower piano and being so damn happy to be playing in public.

The attention I gave to my spiritual health last year served me well this year. I've been generally calm and serene in the midst of troubled times, fully aware of all that is being wrought in the world. I've leaned into managing my thoughts for the better of myself and all around me, to good effect.

I don't feel all that spiritual. I struggle with this question every year

I continue to help facilitate the Waking Up Northern CO group and sometimes attend the WU group in Denver. I went to the San Damiano retreat in CA with Rupert Spira and have been playing with more inquiry and direct exp. I still use the WU app, and meditate regularly, but not daily. I am currently enjoying the Headless Way by Richard Lang and the talks by Douglas Harding.

Again, I have found the most spirituality in connection with other people. It felt divinely timed when a room came open in Yellow House as my water broke for a fourth time and my first semester of grad school came to an end. There was spirituality in laying in bed safe and cozy with the familiar sound of someone else watching sports on low in the next room. There was spirituality in much needed moments of grace from my professors and in watching the snow fall in New England for the first time in a long while and in a week long city shut down in the depths of winter. There was spirituality in watching my closest friends get married to the loves of their lives and in darkened theaters, late night train rides and more laughter than I could possibly document. There was spirituality in looking across the Charles River on Rosh Hashanah next to someone I did not know a year ago but who I have come to care about deeply. While I believe in a higher power, I also believe that so often that manifests in those who come into our lives. Today and every day I am grateful for my friends and my family and kind strangers benevolent bosses and those who will love me whom I have not met yet.

Books. Poems. Dealing with the mortality of my parents.

Finally, getting pregnant gave me some spiritual experiences. When I was in an Uber to my first in person doctors appointment for the pregnancy I was very nervous. I feel like God was telling me that they wanted me to have this baby and that gave me some comfort. Knowing that God wanted me to have a kid, that this was meant to be by a force greater than me.

I think paddling continues to be a source of enormous depth and connection for me, both with myself and in community and camaraderie with our canoe clubs. I love how it makes my body and mind feel, I love connecting with other people through it, and I love the shared project of building our canoe club.

Not deeply, no. But I've seen some glorious natural beauty, camping out under the stars.

I don’t know that I’ve had one spiritual experience. I actually feel like I’ve had many and my spiritualism has broadened in a positive way, and I am owning my feelings on how I view the world in a much more spiritual way. I also feel that it’s become much more personal for me anyway for me to better myself in my life. I think it comes through in how I view my life and it helps me to appreciate all the good around me, especially in myself and my family. I also feel especially spiritual when I think or look at my grandson and my granddaughter

My mother's brother died this year. He is the last of her generation. I feel a generalized grief over this milestone. I am aware I am the elder of our generation and what ever wisdom my family imparted to me is what will carry me on. And ... the grief has not overwhelmed me. It just is. I am aware there is another realm. I know I will one day come to understand the other realm fully. Not now. For now, I am in the land of this living.

I learned about meditation this year! I learned that clearing your mind is NOT the goal of meditation. The goal is to train your brain to return to focus when it wanders. When you do that repeatedly in meditation, it helps you when emotions are charged! That has been life changing. I also learned to have micro-moments of meditation! It has helped me learn to be less angry with others. I have a VERy long way to go, but I’m on the right path!

Visiting St. Paul. Not just the cathedral, but the city itself...especially Como park and the conservatory.

I feel like this has been a year less about spiritual experiences than spiritual moments. Nothing huge and revelatory. But many small instances of being taken aback by the sky, or a fierce moment of HOLD ONTO THIS when I hug one of my kids, or a sense memory triggered by a scent that transports me from one place to another.

As I was grieving Lola last week, I felt a strong desire for a new cat. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, or a bad thing in this process. But I recognized the feeling of wanting to displace the feeling of grief for Lola by covering it up with a new cat. I need to wait to let the grief pass through - or the temptation to cover it up pass through. Also because it's connected to the grief of my mother - as Lola came to me at the same time that my mom died.

I'd say visiting the Skirball and watching the short film about people having B'nai Mitzvahs later in life. This is something I've heavily considered for myself. I became tearful when I heard them share their experiences and imagined myself sharing my story about coming back more intentionally to Judaism.

I have listened to Pema Chodron on Audible. I love how she commutates Buddhist ways of being with a clear speaking approach with humility and with humor.

One of the most spiritual experiences of my life happened this year during my younger son’s Bar Mitzvah. While the ceremony itself was deeply meaningful, what made the experience so profound was what it revealed to me about my family, my children, and myself. As I watched him participate in the service and celebrate with our family and friends, I was overcome by how far he has come. There were years when his future felt uncertain. He struggled with mental flexibility, frustration, emotional regulation, and navigating the world around him. Like many parents, I spent countless hours worrying, advocating, supporting, and hoping. Seeing him stand before us as a confident, joyful, capable young man filled me with awe. It felt like witnessing a miracle built from thousands of small moments of perseverance. At the same time, I found myself looking at my older son and feeling a similar sense of wonder. He is no longer a child. This year, I have begun to see glimpses of the man he is becoming: his character, his values, his growing independence, and his capacity for kindness and responsibility. Watching both of my sons develop into young men has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. What made the experience particularly spiritual was that it caused me to reflect on our entire journey as a family. There was a time when our lives were defined by trauma, fear, and instability. The abuse and turmoil caused by my former husband affected all of us in ways both obvious and subtle. Standing in that sanctuary and looking at my sons, I realized how much healing has occurred. We are not merely surviving anymore. We are thriving. For perhaps the first time, I felt overwhelming pride not only in my children but also in myself. As mothers, we often focus on what we could have done better. In that moment, I allowed myself to acknowledge what I had done right. I helped create a safe, loving home. I helped my children heal. I helped them grow into thoughtful, resilient young men despite the challenges we faced. The experience left me with a profound sense of gratitude and peace. It reminded me that healing is possible, that growth often happens gradually and invisibly, and that love, support, and persistence can change the trajectory of a life. Most of all, it reminded me that while our family's story contains pain, it is no longer defined by pain. It is defined by resilience, growth, and hope.

I obeyed The Lord & started teaching the BOTM Class on the unit. He made provision & saw me through the whole experience. Even with the 1st set of donated books being "stolen" & people not wanting to donate a 2nd time. Ms. Thomas stepping in & standing in the gap was the most amazing thing! I asked God to reward her kindness, because she definitely saved me from going into debt to provide them or risk cancelling the class. I never imagined someone would come forward after the 1st donation to do even greater than the 1st, but when I tell you ONLY GOD!! It has been an amazing journey that has fueled my desire to do ministry full time. Watching these ladies change & live different lives in real time has been amazing. I also just enjoy being able to learn & grow with them. I learn new ways to be like Christ, but also show His love in situations where I didn't think naturally. God has provided in so many ways during this season, the storms actually feel worth it. Which is something I never thought I would say.

When performing on stage, it is a spiritual experience when I can channel the essence of a song through words and music to an audience. The same goes for playing sad songs during my therapy sessions, which bring me in touch with my own pain and sense of hopelessness and hope.

I find the spiritual moments I experience of late are typically on morning walks. I'll see or hear things that contrast with what I'm seeing stateside. As an example a day after a coworker told me we had so much work, and it was causing so much stress that they are going into an emergency therapist, I saw a young adult hiking up a hill wearing a tee shirt that said "I don't need therapy I'm from Costa Rica!"

The most spiritual experiences I had were during adventures. Being surrounded by nature and art and vastness at Storm King in November, recovering from my cold plunge in January, soaking in the float tank in February, the entire New Mexico experience from hikes to dunks in April. This entire year changed me, and I wish I could say I became more spiritual and more connected, but maybe I just became more aware.

I found a large cowrie type shell in my drought ridden garden. It was out of place and caught my attention as I was thinking about my sister, dead now three years. It seemed too unusual for coincidence. I looked up the meaning of the shell and found it a symbol of the goddess, a goddess akin to my sister, a Pisces who never felt like she belonged in this world. Far too modern for her, too crass, too unrefined. My mother in her jealousy and irritation with Barbara, would taunt her with, "you just think you are the Queen of Sheba!" Well, I think she was a queen, out of place in this life, she left far too soon.

The art and flowers I saw in Belgium and Holland. Whoa.

Actually, the most spiritual experience was today at kol nidre tot services at Congregation Beth Israel. I felt so connected and at home when looking around, I cried. It was deeply spiritual. I have felt so disconnected from my Jewish pride due to the strong anti Zionist and pro Palestinian sentiment and messaging in the world. I just felt seen and understood in a way I haven’t in a long time.

I love watching the sunset over the beach, or rise over the hills. I feel that my higher power is right beside me.

I had originally written about my meditation practice (which just hit two years), but that's what I wrote about last year. So I'm going to write about something else here. Over the past year I've been offering some workshops around touch. Sometimes it's just for women, sometimes it's mixed gender, and sometimes it's for couples. Last month I did a workshop that was just for women and a woman showed up who was a mother and a wife, and who took care of 10 animals. She was completely touched out, couldn't stand to be touched. By the time we were finished her experience had been so profound - she was refreshed, loving the touch she had gotten, and was inspired to switch things up with her partner and kid. I was shocked to find that she had paid me a much much higher rate than the cost of the workshop. It was great confirmation for me that what I'm doing is important and that the world needs it. :)

I have been putting a lot of energy into my spiritual journey this year (as I have for the past several years, actually). I have been studying Buddhism for a long time now. Then, within the past couple of months, I returned to my study of Progressive Christianity, and I have been finding myself becoming more committed to understanding the teachings of Jesus and the spiritual lives of the first two generations of his followers (followers of “the Way”). I also have been trying to understand the concept of Love, especially Agape Love, that is within each of us. Through the lens of early Christianity, God is Love, and exists within each of us (“The Kingdom of God is within you”). Through the lens of Buddhism, compassion and loving kindness are at the core of everyone. Buddhism and Jesus’s teachings are compatible. This is not the end 0f my spiritual journey, by any means. I still question why we need God. Love is a powerful thing, whether God is a part of it or not.

Nothing stands out. While I like to think I’m a spiritual person, I don’t have many spiritual experience.

I had more psychedelic experiences this year that took me to spiritual places, including a mushroom journey that featured a delightful encounter with the All Father. These experiences both put me in touch with my own inner wholeness and give me a blessed break from my chronic worry about the outside world.

Accompanying Stella as her life ended was a very rich spiritual experience. Everything that I learned with Judi and since came to bear. It was an extreme presence and a deep sense of gratitude that I felt. What a blessing.

My dad died in March and he came to me within hours of his passing. I have had experiences like this before, but he was so ... talkative. He practically rambled. The most significant thing he said was that he was shocked that I could "see" him, and he marveled that my life had always been like that. He didn't know I could do that. I never told him.

Have been getting more stronger in faith, I'm relying on Him more and/or going or thinking of Him first more compared to the my 1st "wtf am I gonna do" mentality. Chosen Conference last week was AMAZING. God was absolutely present and I feel calmer about some things and more fired up for others.

I tend to contemplate the mystery of the universe while walking in nature, being transported by fantastic music, or soaking up the sonic richness of a sound bath. Each helps to create some internal spaciousness that can put the drama and trauma of the day in perspective.

In early January, I went on a one week silent retreat at Kripalu in Massachusetts. It was an amazing week to disconnect from the world and go inward to listen to myself, journal, and reconnect with a part of me that I feel has been shrouded from the world and myself. This experience helped me to understand myself a bit better - and reinforced the need for me to retreat periodically. I reenter the world more centered and clear of my path.

Fostering our dog Yofi-- I went to drop him back at the shelter and he would not budge from the parking lot. I was just supposed to have him for a field trip for one afternoon... I went back and got him the next day. There was a pull between us.. he is supposed to be with me.

My thoughts circle daily through the miracles of birth and death. Nothing else seems important enough to hold my attention. Pete died. The rest of us are going to: the kids, Marveita, me, all my family and friends. My dog. I have veered off into thinking about suicide, wanting the grief to end, wanting control of the time and circumstances of my death. Maybe learning something of what is now unknowable. Cutting myself loose. I also think a lot about sex. Connected to the unsurpassable high of a person forming in my belly. Also, the sense of being 100% alive, hungry, awake, in pursuit of a something that I've only ever felt with another person. Breaking out of my bubble of solitude.

I just spent an hour answering this question and then the page reloaded and it disappeared. Now I have to try to remember everything I said. Oy! I talked about moments when I’m walking or driving through Solvang and feel lucky, even awestruck, to live here. I talked about the hills, the greenery, the deer and bunnies, the air quality, the bright stars at night, and the fact that the air is always cool in the morning and evening, even if the day has been hot. Then I said that this is going to sound stupid, but my attachment to the musical Hadestown feels like a spiritual thing. I had seen a production with some of Adi‘s friends in it a year or two ago, around the time that Aunt Sue died, and then recently I watched the film version with my dad on his big screen. How amazing that one person could be clever and creative enough to write these songs…songs that show us how the Greek myths reflect primal and universal human emotions and experiences. It’s different from any other musical or play I have ever seen. And then there’s the message that even if a story is sad, it’s important to keep telling it anyway, again and again and again. “It’s an old song, it’s an old tale, it’s a tragedy from long ago—it’s a sad song, it’s a love song, and we’re gonna sing it even so.” It’s a message that feels so relevant when I think of my father having lost my mother, and uncle Bruce having lost Sue. But we get to keep telling their stories anyway. Because they happened.

Giving birth without an epidural was amazing, as I didn't really think I was capable of doing it until it happened. I also felt so much more dependent on the people around me to help me be mentally strong, instead of mainly relying on the physical painkiller. All this is to say that this made me feel spiritually connected to other birthing parents and their support systems.

I saved this question because I felt like I didn’t have a great answer and wanted to see if something would emerge. I think I have had some spiritual experiences through live music, nature, maybe a Friday night service. These past few years (minus the stomach perf) just haven’t felt very spiritual, to be honest.

The learning I've had surrounding manifesting my heart's desires has been very spiritual. The understanding I've come to know via Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsh taught me that God DOES exit and I have all the knowledge I need to live a happy, joyful life. I just have to get out of the way,

Attending Friday night Shabbat Services Music of Kabbalat Shabbat opens the heart to the possibilities of a higher source Feel Jewish Joy

I have begun to return to the foundational questions, I suppose. Things that were critical to me forty years ago when I was young and prone to crises of faith, I suppose. With years come wisdom, and now these are important, vital questions - without the sense of impending doom and anxiety of youth! Does this necessarily compensate for arthritis? Possibly.

I'm experiencing more human connection this year than I have for the past several. It makes my heart feel lighter and more verdant.

I feel peace when I shouldn’t - while I’m chronically worried or uncertain I am certain it’s all going to be okay. I never felt this without my partner. Before I never felt at peace even when there was every reason to. Now I feel my spirit is settled, grounded, aligned.

It wasn’t really a spiritual experience. It was a therapeutic experience. I was working on a big project in England, and during that time I had a massive breakdown in therapy, to the point that we had to extend the session and make it a double session. It was really bad, but it was also a beginning. It was connected to the feeling of my previous relationship, but it went across many aspects of my life. It wasn’t just about that one relationship that ended. It was about many other aspects of my life as well.

big one: breathwork and somatic work threw me into the traumas of my grandparents. was an extreme inner / outer body experience I never knew could be felt. And then screaming, crying, hurting when the therapist pushed down on my pain: felt like i was really releasing something...... from our lineage.

Yes, my growing interest in creating art, more and more, could be defined as spiritual for sure. I long to be absorbed in art! Of many different kinds! I can't believe I was shut off from this part of myself for so long!

I have had so many people around me pass away. It has led to a great deal of reflection about our mortality, what it means to embrace life while we can, and what is the meaning of death?

I went to a number of festivals this spring and summer and found them to be very fulfilling experiences. Gathering for an intense, brief period makes it possible to attain a depth in relationships can is very hard to replicate over scattered interactions in a city.

As I grow more accustomed to my new house, I really do feel like it's pleased we're here with it. I want to make it happy that we're the ones living in and with it.

I would say I’ve been spiritually motivated to continue my work in improv and discovering different ways to play and work in the fun.

Lawd this is something I definitely could've done better with. I made some very important chunks of progress regarding my spiritual wellbeing, like oh, i don't know, getting sober, but that wasn't explicitly spiritual. I had to forgo a lot of my spirit/energy work to work on my physical and emotional hygiene, so I do feel like I missed out on a lot of growth because of other, more pressing issues i had to handle. But I also want to recognize that i couldn't even really begin to do spirit/energy work in the state that I was in, and the non-spiritual work i did was EXTREMELY important for my spiritual stuff to be healthy and nurturing at all. But I did learn a lot this year about the baseline of how i'm going to interact with this sort of thing. I actually did a tarot reading last night about this, and i pulled the reverse 9 of swords. The worst thing i can do is let my fears eat me alive and stop trying. As long as i don't give up, i'm doing something right. The spirits want me to try. They want me to learn and grow, and I can't do that without adversity. I can't do that without messing up a wee bit.

Many deaths and much sorrow. I try to keep them present in my thoughts. They haunt my heart.

I was with my father when he died. Everyone in the room gathered around him for his last 2 hours. We hugged, touched him, told him that it was okay to go. We watched as he took his final breath. I am glad that I was able to be there for the end. I hope that he did not suffer. I hope that he knew that he was surrounded by people who loved him.

I'd like to say 'yes' but no, not really. I'm accompanying my husband on his way to death, and I had thought it would be more spiritual than this. I did ask him to haunt me when he dies, I'm not sure he will given he doesn't believe in anything after death. Oh well. I keep my rosary beads, the ones my parents got in the Vatican and had blessed by the Pope, beside my bed. I sometimes go into a Chapel in the City of london and as soon as I sit down on the wooden bench, I start uncontrollably weeping. There's snot everywhere and it becomes embarassing no matter how I try to cover it up. Sometimes i wonder if this is spiritual. Afterall, what comes over me? I sometimes light a candle for a bunch of people who have died, an old friend's ma and my aunt, a family friend. But I'm unsure. Maybe this is spiritual.

Going to Services during high holidays is always a spiritual experience for me I always feel deeply moved. I always think of things differently after Services.

My spiritual practise has evolved this year, I have gone back to my old roots and had training as well. Meditation os back on my list.

I started keeping Shabbat, I.e. not using electricity on this day. Even though sometimes it’s hard, especially when not in Israel, but still precious. First time I realised that instead of looking at your phone you actually look around, can appreciate the beauty of the world Hashem created and be thankful for that.

Having a son has changed me. I thought it would all be the same, but the part of my heart I gave him echos differently. I believe I was created to bring these three beautiful souls into the world, and I can't wait to see all the amazing things they will do. The hope I feel when I look at them, and the privilege and responsibility I feel raising them - - there's no other way to explain it other than spiritual.

I saw myself reborn as a new cycle of 60 years began. I noticed what was around me, what God had put in my path and who God had put in my path and I was grateful.

Definitely less spiritual this year than previous and I hope to get that back moving forward.

Honestly I really haven't.

As in previous years, open water swimming is the main spiritual experience that brings me closer to nature, makes me feel connected with my Dad, and helps me feel a sense of wonder and gratitude that I get to see the sights of undulating plants, fish darting away into deeper waters, and the gorgeous view of the RC Harris water treatment plant from the perspective of the lake. This year, I re-attempted a 15km ultra swim at the Welland International Flatwater Centre and I did it. I had two long swim trials that went sideways with respect to fueling -- one swim where I ate too little and bonked after only 5 km, and the other where I sampled too many different carb choices and wound up expelling my guts in the very turbulent lake, which was NOT pleasant. In that trial, I wound up swimming only 9km total, so I didn't know if I'd be prepared physically to do 15km. In the end, the race course was not very well marked and I ended up swimming 13.5 km -- unintentionally. I think most of us who did the race shortcut the course because there was no fourth buoy to demark the final turn toward the dock. However, I knew I still had the physical strength and stamina to continue if I had to do a portion of a 7th loop of the 2.5km course, and my guts were FINE, thanks to an AI-informed fueling plan where the primary idea was "less is more". I felt initially disappointed that I didn't actually complete 15 km in that 5:05 span, but ultimately, race days unfold as they do, with lots of unexpected adaptations and pivots that need to be made, so once I was able to recognize that I did my best and executed a smart race, I was satisfied with my achievement, knowing I could've completed the final 1,500m within the 6-hour time frame, if needed.

The eclipse in Spain. I cried. Feeling like the world is so large and our spot in the cosmos so small. Forever in awe of the power of the sun. Totality is always worth it.

Yes, I have had more spiritual moments than I truly know what to do with. Many signs that me shifting into new spaces is the right move, lots of what feels like divine intervention

I went to Chile - the Atacama desert - to see the Milky Way at night; somehow, it made me feel closer to my dead loved ones. I felt both: insignificant and completely connected to what is out there, the emptiness, and the oneness.

Not really. I do think if I ever found Jesus or started believing in reincarnation, that my panic about death - and self pressure to "live more fully" would likely ease. But I can't bring myself to truly believe any of it.

Music is my Church! We went to Live Oak, High Sierra, and Milpond. I saw David Byrne at the Hollywood Bowl! Also to include is the live music events near my home. Music is uplifting and brings people together 🎶 I wish everyday felt like a music festival ❤️ My Book Club has guided me to books I would not have normally read. “Theo of Golden” touched my heart and showed me we can make a difference in someone else’s world, one little step at a time.

Trybal was spiritual and increased sense of community. Shevet Meditation retreat provided a space to reconnect to Jewish mindfulness. Walking and listening to the rain was an amazing way to slow down and ground myself for what's to come next.

I have really immersed myself in the spiritual practices of IJS. If you haven't checked it out, I HIGHLY recommend it! The daily meditation has calmed my nervous system. The weekly yoga sessions have forced me to move my body. And the classes/programming has helped me to grow spiritually, both within and outside of religion. I recall a grief circle that I participated in. I found that insightful and impactful.

Still involved in my church; since moving away from full time job, I've been able to participate in serving the Manna meal at the Cathedral on the Mondays they take place. Not sure how "spiritual" that is, though I know I have agreed before with the idea that "faith without works is dead", so doing SOME work is a way of honoring my God. I also helped Mike K. find a synagogue to go to for the High Holy Days services, so that was another work involving faith.

No, well, maybe. Though my spiritual practice has gone as well as my writing practice, I feel like our wedding was highly spiritual and very aligned. We had a handfasting ceremony and incorporated a lot of spiritual elements. I am also quite certain my granddad was at my wedding. We keep getting signs, and are forever aligned with the moon and astrological themes. So I don't feel too bad, but I definitely want to up my game spiritual wise next year.

I've felt pretty distant (maybe even more so than the past few years?) from Judaism, which has been odd. I still strongly identify as Jewish, but my practicing is close to nonexistent. Pesach is the main thing that remains, as well as Yom Kippur, though that, too, looks so different. To me, spirituality is linked so closely to religion, that I struggle to define any other experiences as spiritual. But for me, it's usually going to be nature. For example, as I write this, it is Yom Kippur, and I was just walking my dogs, a bit hungry and thirsty as expected. But, I saw an osprey fly quite low over me by the pond, then dive and though he came up empty-footed, I've never seen that process so close-up before. The part that really got me is that a few flaps after emerging from the water, the bird did a midair shake, like a dog shaking, to remove the excess water. Getting to see that intimate part of life, of how this magnificent creatures maintain themselves, moved me, and I decided to utter the "oseh ma'aseh bereishit" blessing.

I was very moved last night at the Kol Nidre service by the cello. So beautiful and heartbreaking. I heard it as starting so low and sad and then facing so many stressors, but toward the end a bit of transcendence and hope and flowering, and then back down again - but that time felt more at peace, like dying as the natural end for us all. Rabbi Alan Lew of blessed memory wrote we all fail because we all die, but surely immortality isn’t the goal.

Total eclipse at sunset Sun gate at Manchu Picchu Gordon rocks Yom Kippur Transcendence

Asking people to pray and send healing energy to my husband as we’ve faced his health crisis has opened me to a universe of loving support. We’ve been saying and sharing his mother’s Nana Catherine Dunfey’s prayer: “Thanks be to God for every hour of safekeeping, every day of good health, every joy, every love, every sharing of laughter, tears, and song, every giving and forgiving, every understanding, every success, every companionship, every new life, every miracle, every help and assistance sent to all of us throughout the years, amen.” It is so aligned in its simplicity with my Bubby Cina’s “Tanks God” uttered always no matter how bad were (earlier iterations of the sentiment in the Cat Stevens’ song Moonshadow, “And if I ever lose my hands; and if I ever lose my eyes; and if I ever lose my legs, my mouth; Did it take long to find me? I ask the faithful light”). I’m grateful for these two women of great faith who have deepened mine.

I have not felt particularly spiritual this year. I have felt sad...and though some of my grief has lifted, it continues to be tough. I did choreograph a short piece "mamacita" which was dedicated to my mother. We (our Dance On group) did an online performance and I felt proud of that. Our Dance On group brings me joy and strength

I continue to find a deep pleasure and inspiration in nature, a seed, a beam of light, a wave, a spider. My father taught me this ability to notice and record details, in the realms of nature and human made art, and marvel at them. And, I love going to High Holiday services with Mishkan in Chicago.

I found when my friends recommended that I take a Judaism 1 oh one class, the reaction and acceptance was instant. Without question or qualm my natural answer was yes. Yes I want to explore this. Some part of me can’t get over the idea that there is something in my spirit that calls forth to it. I’m not sure where it comes from or if part of my spirit is Jewish already by nature or nurture, but I cannot deny that having been an unorganized, faith person, something about the open discourse of Jews suddenly makes sense. I’m eager to know more.

I had a nice Florida visit with my son Luka. We spent our time on the beach and he was just so delighted. He did run out of the AirBnB once and went to the beach by himself, which worried me, but then a nice stranger found him and stayed with him until I arrived. These moments are scary when they happen, but I am reminded how I often depend on kindness of strangers, especially when it comes to Luka.

This year has made me feel far more connected to my Judaism. Culturally I work in a holocaust museum and that takes care of my cultural side, I feel far more connected to my Shul.

Hashem gives me interesting insight into the Torah reading so I can incorporate it in my life. I would like for that to continue

Traveling always reminds me of how many people are on this planet, each pursuing their own life, dreams, goals--and simply survival. I remember how each of us is as valid as the next, each of us as deserving to occupy this planet (though some do their best to become undeserving), and nobody should imagine that they are the center of the universe, or even the most important person on the planet.

Attending the opening of an art exhibit at a museum outside Amsterdam where the paintings of my grandfather, an early Modernist, were among those featured. It gave me an opportunity to gift some of his life's work to the public domain, where it can be enjoyed by all. I felt that I was able to share something special that was both tangible and yet intangible at the same time.

The growth of patience and reslinance under high pressure both academic and professional

Spiritual moment of feeling my terror around being stuck with Sam’s rejection and liminalness. It threw me back to my marriage and feeling so trapped and devastated. I never want to feel that way again. And if I do I want to navigate my way to be free.

My spiritual moments have been those in community with others - both in shul, in meditation/yoga, and historical sites across the world.

Seeing Joe Bonamassa again at Red Rocks was spiritual. I saw more artistic shows and concerts than usual I think.

I traveled back to Israel for the first time in nearly 10 years. It definitely impacted me on a person level, and helped remind me to see beyond the headlines and really focus on the people and humanity of all who live there and feel deep connections to the land.

Amidst all the hate I do see God's love shining through. In everyday kindnesses, people supporting each other and realizing things are hard for everyone. There is a lot of hope. It's hidden under the louder voices, but it is there. God is on the move.

Romantasy! Idk if "spiritual" is the right word, but reading this genre of has caused me to feel more embodied, somehow.

I don't think anything in particular, other than getting closer to God

The Hineinu conference was a musical and spiritual glory-fest, and it was so good it made me want to be a rabbi. Which was rather disruptive.

No major spiritual experience... Though, my vision started to get bad at the beginning of the year. I've had some insurance and fear related reasons for not getting checked out. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to not see the art that I make anymore.

The Grain Gathering. Making bagels in the early morning light. Walking in the spelt fields just noticing while the sun worked its light through the craggy Cascades. Eating so much delicious and nourishing food. Spending time with JH to make bread and to listen to his wise stories and his depth of bread making experience. Evening hearing Canadian radio while I drove from LaConner to Burlington set a state of being somewhere else. Sooo grateful and delighted by every second of it. It was the manifestation of the dream 5+ years ago of that best breadmaker in Washington will still be there ...

I've been learning a lot of Torah, especially Tanach. I love Tanach. It just brings home how messed up the old kingdoms of Israel were. The Northern kingdoms of Israel are completely gone. Their descendents aren't recognizably Jewish anymore. It brought home to me how crucial it is to pass on the Jewish identity and way of life.

I spent last year as a teacher for grade 6 on sundays for religious school at Temple. For someone who didn’t grew up Jewish (culturally or spiritually), I found this helped to feel more connected to my community in ways i wasn’t expecting. I also started attending some events at Chabad, and have really enjoyed these as well

I have had a plethora of spiritual experiences this year. A couple stand out. One has to do with death. When my youngest daughter passed away, just over 6 months ago, whenever I was talking to someone about it I would say that she died. I felt that I needed to use that word to help myself grasp the finality of it. Just recently I was watching a show where a man was talking about his daughter and he first used the word 'died.' As he continued talking he used the word 'passed.' Immediately I saw the difference between the two words. One was dark, cold as steel, heavy and brutal. The other was like a gentle, undulating breeze and that's the one I use now. She has passed into the next life. Her spirit is still alive and although I'll never see her again in this world, I know I'll see her again when I pass into the next life.

No particular spiritual experiences. I continue to find that Reform Judaism supports my views of the world, the people in it, and what I need to do. And I continue to embrace comedy and humor as essential for navigating life.

I have found that I need to live in spaces and neighbourhoods that feed my soul and my lifestyle, without that as the base I don't build relationships, go to the gym, work, enjoy cultures, or eat to my best or even to achieve my desired goals. I need a space that feeds me so I don't get locked back into isolation.

Teaching meditation Mitzvah Developing a practice Retreat

OK, holy moly, I knew I was severely depressed last year, but reading my past answer? I feel so sad for the me last year who was feeling this lost. After leaving my previous synagogue in April/May, as the high holy days were approaching, I knew I wanted to connect with my Jewish community more and start to find one. I connected with a Reform synagogue in Harrisburg, and my first exposure to the community was going to an official mikvah for the first time. It's run by the local Orthodox community, and they were absolutely welcoming to Jews of other denominations (which was not my experience in SoCal). It was beautiful. I cried before the mikvah, and during my time meditating in the water after, I sobbed. What I didn't expect was that what came out of my mouth was "thank you, thank you, thank you" over and over again. So much positive has changed in the past year, and underneath everything was immense gratitude. As someone who would describe herself as an agnostic at best, it's the closest I've felt to the divine and G-d in a long time. It was beautiful, it was special, and I love knowing that I have a place I can regularly go to when I need that spiritual renewal and to refresh myself in my faith.

While not quite spiritual, my inner life continues to be transformed this year by collapse awareness. Knowing that perhaps quite soon but certainly within my lifetime much of my comfort and a good deal of what I hold dearest will be destroyed—is *currently* being destroyed—is a heavy burden. And it's made heavier by the fact of having to hide it: to say "Great!" when people ask how I'm doing; to keep going to work helping the wheels of a dying world keep turning so I can keep my family out of the permanent underclass a little longer before we all end up there; to keep saving for a retirement I know will never come because to stop doing so would force me to acknowledge to my wife that I do not in fact share her belief that if the next election (always the next election) just turns out okay we can get back to normal and this will all be fine in the end.

i’ve been exploring more witchy stuff this year and trying to listen to my intuition. yesterday a candle flickering without wind reminded me of a bunch of important stuff. including to go to bed when i was tired but stuck on my phone

Nature and nature photography continue to be spiritual paths for me.

My grandson was conceived within a day or 2 of my dad’s passing. I’m really feeling the shifting of generations!

I don't know that I have had any spiritual experiences this year - Norway was a little over a year ago. But seeing some of the large animals that frequent our place in the mountains, and some of the amazing sunsets - that's pretty close. And seeing a volcano go off in Antigua, Guatemala was pretty profound.

No spiritual experiences as such, but I do feel refreshed and uplifted by being out in nature.

The more I lean into my work with other spiritual directors, guides and coaches, the more I see my preferred world through a Jewishly-Spiritual lens rather than a Jewishly-Denominational-Religious lens. Growing in relationships with other spiritual seekers has helped me stay focused on what matters, bringing people together on behalf of humanity.

The Cache River Bayou was an extraordinary space to find in Southern IL. It was amazing. Sphere Born’s premiere performance was transcendent. Several of the concerts with Carrie were at facilities dedicated to caring for the poor, the “other” who are ignored or imprisoned in this country. Very special people. In all cases, a feeling of light and goodness and hope all mix together internally to generate peace and love in me.

I have, but in quiet ways. Sitting with my dog in the middle of a quiet lake. Accidentally falling into said lake before May long (it was freaking cold!) The quiet moments where I get to look out at the cliffs at sunrise and sunset and just appreciate the beauty in this world. They remind me I am alive. They remind there are good experiences to be had while living.

I'm not sure I'd call it spiritual but seeing 55,000 Minnesotans come out to protest during the coldest January day that we have seen in a while. -40 windchill and -26 air temp was simply insane. And yet there we all were. Standing together shouting FUCK ICE and refusing to let them break us no matter how many horrors they had perpetrated on our neighbors. Being a marshal at No Kings in March and seeing the capital grounds slowly fill with over 200,000 people protesting the ICE invasion was incredible. I was stationed near the front of the event and to look across the ocean of people and not be able to see where they ended was something I don't think I'll ever forget.

Visit to Brandywine Museum - deeply moved by paintings of the Wyeth family Discovering Mischa Maisky/Martha Argerich video of Du Bist Die Ruh Multiple times with the groups I facilitate, feeling real connection.

Last year's refelction about the loss of a chevrusa has held true, and continues to challenge me to expand my approach and perspective on the shape and operations of spirtual community. I have joined, via Han, a community of people who also seek the holy madness in the queer way I value, which has been really positive, but is certainly still in it's caterpillar stage.

Yes! To be in the mountains and next to the mighty ocean. To watch the full moon over the water…. When I was in Leukerbad it felt like the woods and mountains were each a presence. I also stayed a couple of times at Quarr Abbey. It was unexpectedly one of my favorite experiences on my sabbatical. I realized how very difficult it is for me to forgive. I’ve decided to stop tithing to Spiritus Christi for the year and instead tithe to Quarr. They were so incredibly generous. Oh! And I went on that beautiful ayahuasca retreat though I only ever took a couple of tablespoons of the substance.

I was teaching a class on mindfulness, and it helped me to re-engage more consistently with my own practice. One day, walking in the neighborhood before my class, I saw a tree. I paused and noticed the tree. I noticed the breeze, the sound of birds, the pleasant temperature. And then again the tree... I had this deep sense of being connected to Something larger than me. I thought "What if there is a God (or Love, or Whatever We Might Call It), and I'm part of All That?" It was a sweet moment, and it has stuck with me.

The largest spiritual growth that I had this year was embracing my feminine spirit not as something that is weak, but as something that is bloody, raw, primal, and strong. The crashing of waves, the success of a lioness' hunt, the strike of lightning. The growth has influenced me to decenter men and center myself, honoring my past selves that have entrusted me to protect them and do better.

Nothing particular comes to mind. I can only say I continue to revel in the natural beauty that I am fortunate to live within. My daily walks to the lake with Zuma are the spiritual grounding I need (and I feel the absence on days we can't get there!). I find I'm paying more attention to the natural world, observing it, remarking on it, celebrating it. The blue heron that has taken up residence at the lake, expertly catching and devouring his breakfast; the double-crested cormorant drying its wings on a nearby rock. The way the yellow Evening Primroses are suddenly propagating everywhere (except my yard - #goals). The nightly serenade of the crickets, frogs and cicadas when I take Zuma for his bedtime walk; the smell of lavender that I always forget is planted in the lower garden until it catches me by surprise; the voracious bees that cover the native Cup plant. I (clearly) could go on and on - all these and more remind me of the wonders of this planet and the abundance in my little corner of the world.

My physical mobility has dramatically reduced this year, and I'm struggling with coming to terms with being disabled. It occurred to me that in recent years I expressed a desire to understand what life is like for my physically disabled wife, and that this is a "be careful what you wish for moment". Knowing that makes it harder for me to be mad at G-d during this time.

Getting to witness student artists and recognize some visionary young people is awe inspiring.

At the end of the year, I got invited to perform in a poetry show. I hadn't done that in... years... probably. And I was given a 30 minute set, which was amazing. It allowed me to reconnect with people and reminded me of what I loved so much about writing and performing. But most importantly, the host, a good friend of mine, performed a piece about selling your soul. He ended it with "if you get home tonight, and you find yourself at a crossroads, you have my permission to sell your soul for your art. But you are not allowed to sell your soul for a paycheck." And this has been ringing in my ears every night since. I feel like I'm currently locked in a mortal battle for my soul, and I'm fighting hard to win it back.

I never thought volunteering with goats at a child’s birthday party would affect me so much. The goat sanctuary I volunteer at regularly takes some of our goats to local birthday parties. On this day, I took two of our most popular goats to party. The birthday girl had several friends, one of whom was terrified of the goats. He was a quiet boy, smaller than the others his age, and he dodged the goats every chance he got. I spent the duration of the party with him, progressing from zero contact to regular petting to sitting in a chair with a goat in his lap. It was so rewarding to see him grow and be brave and get something out of the experience. And then, the real reward hit. The little boy went to play with others, leaving me alone with his mother. She shared that that day was the first day he’s been out of the house in nearly a year. Diagnosed with leukemia, much of his last year had been very isolated. Being part of his journey back into the community in and seeing him thrive felt so good.

The recent selichot at the kotel. Very powerful when tens of thousands of Jews come together to plead with their father and creator. Also going into Lebanon on an attack for the first time. You really feel your mortality and understand for the first time that you’re completely reliant on G-d in that moment. I could also add reading the book One Day in October. It really hits a deep part of your psyche to read about the horrors people went through on that day and the heroism that occurred.

My experiences with ketamine lead me to believe there is another realm parallel or overlapping ours. Some of these events have been dysphoric, making me question my beliefs regarding death.

I have connected with myself through hypnosis in different ways. I think it really contributed to my healing. Also have been really blocked in terms of making art, I did force myself to sit down and make something for Zahra not long ago after months and months of telling myself I need to accept imperfection and just experiment. I also started going to church every morning during winter. Not to pray to Jesus per se, but I did feel a lot of release, love and joy in my chest sitting there, talking with the universe, with loved ones who have passed. Going every morning gave me a routine to start the day moving my body and spending some time with myself, with the higher power and the unseen. I think it was my stepping stone to the biggest changes in my health, mental and physical. In fact, I know it was.

I followed through from last year's wish and went to an Aya retreat the very start this year and I'm really glad I did. The Aya people were immediately all lovely. Being automatically accepted and loved and taken care of is such a blessing. I needed it so much- I was at very low point and they were much more varied and intelligent than I expected. I thought they'd be very woo woo but not at all. I had a terrible ear infection that the doctor gave me several different things for and was not working. It was giving me terrible pain. She offered me morphine for it but I would've normally taken the painkiller cause it was killing me but because I was going on the retreat and I was restricting various types of food and no alcohol and that I didn't want to screw up my system for the Aya so I didn't take the pain medicine and the first maybe for 4 1/2 hours of the Aya experience was excruciating because it was giving me all sorts of audio hallucinations and every music was terrible pain for me. And I was thinking fuck spent all this money on this supposedly spiritual retreat and it's profoundly physical and shitty. Yes I was literally shitting, or purging as they call it. But it wasn't until the next day that I realised the ear infection was gone. Also it was a very trippy, 'mushroom' kind of experience. And then the second day experience was also quite mushroom trippy. I really connected with a lovely guy called Jaspert. Lots of mutual attraction, and I hadn't remotely expected to feel like that.I was nice to be liked in that way, and for a while after I had bit of a school girl crush on him. 6 months later I spoke to Joe (retreat leader) and he gave me Jaspert's phone number, so I texted and thanked him for the great conversations we had. So it was nice to be able to do that. I was physically exhausted at the end, but so glad. There was deep snow and it was hard to get home by train, and I was helping Dorothea from the retreat on the train too. She was a bit crazy and annoying, but that was also kinda funny. When I got home, Russ made delicious parsnip soup. After the retreat I went to seven vibes journey which was an event in Amsterdam with a lot of meditation style music that we listened to during the Aya retreat. It was €70 a ticket Mike came with me but it was pretty much the sort of lame squat party vibe. Everything was really expensive but I saw some great African talking drum drumming and that made the evening for me. They were fabulous. It was worth it for that but I wouldn't go again. A big part of my spiritual life this year has been weekly meditations at 8:30 on Wednesday my favourite meditation teacher Maria has left for a time. I don't know if she'll be back and we've got Peter instead he's got a cockatoo that squarks but I'm gonna continue with it. I think it does me a lot of good. Also the structure of being there every week and putting everything aside that proves that I can do that and it gives me a great deal of satisfaction every week.

I think that the closest to spiritual experiences I have had this year have been creating Jewish solidarity events in support of peace in Palestine. At our solidarity Sukkot last year, the moment where Muayad and I read out all the names of the refugee camps for Palestinians around the world, and reading out the prayer for the Ushpizin had us in tears. That moment of healing was transformative. And then after the awful massacre of Jewish people on Bondi Beach at Chanukah, we held a solidarity vigil, attended by so many of our friends in the Free Palestine movement. I think of every time I hear that quote from Rabbi Tarfon, that it is not our job to finish healing the world but nor are we free to desist from it — even when I'm weary (the work is plentiful and the master of the house is insistent) this quote gives me strength to keep working towards peace and justice.

I always struggle to answer this question because I'm not religious. I guess the closest thing I can get to it is that a Luna Moth laid her eggs on my fake tree. There wasn't a food source anywhere near by, so I knew all of the caterpillars would die. It was really sad, so I decided to learn everything I could and try and save them. I managed to help 12 Luna Moths become happy healthy adults and released them back into the wild. Everyday, I got to sit down and watch them grow. When they got to a certain size, you could hear the caterpillars chewing the leaves. It was rhythmic and mesmerizing in a way. For a few months, I had my own little nature soundtrack in my office. I miss them, but seeing them grow up and fly away was the best thing ever.

The Amina meditation circles have been very soothing.

I think the only thing worth mentioning is the recognition of the practice of fasting. I have realized it’s mostly about acknowledging the challenges of the day and not giving up when it’s hard. And realizing I am doing it to feel the pain and struggle that others have to endure.

I have had wonderfully spiritual experiences joining the Torah study group at my synagogue on Saturday mornings. I only go every other week, or when I don't have the kids, but there are such lessons in the Torah and in the commentary. Whether or not I believe in The One or in a way that I can define what "believe" means, I believe Torah and Jewish texts have relevance and lesson for our every day lives today and there is joy and beauty and discipline in studying them on a regular basis. I have cried in the Chevrah Torah group, I have been happy and celebrated, I have learned so much about me and my people. I am so so glad that I do this and make it a priority.

Presence of Mark in support of me. Times that I have channeled him with Kristin and Robin.

There is something spiritual about the relief that comes from getting a negative cancer test.

Following the death of my husband, I re-read Eben Alexander’s book “Proof of Heaven.” It was very comforting to me as I am now sure we will be together again.

honestly, it felt good to be at Rosh Hashanah services. "Courage" makes me tear up reliably. And I chose "Courage" and "Curiosity" as my middot for the year.

I started attended morning minyan whenever I can (or whenever I remember). It is a beautiful, peaceful way to start the day. It gave me a place to send prayers to Dave and Nancy and Amalya and Evan. It's a lovely community of people who are so supportive and welcoming. I'm glad I came to them. In true Av fashion, I had to hold the joyous - the wedding - with the tragic - Dave's decline and death. I learned that people who die on or near Rosh Hashanah might be tzadiks. David was certainly a righteous man. Flawed, mostly to his own detriment, but generous, loving, kind and righteous/

Walking hundreds of miles through the North Carolina and Virginia, driving thousands of miles to Banff and all through the Rocky Mountains. The earth is the true church and I was free to worship her for months this year. It leveled up my spirit. I am operating on a different tier now, as an artist and as a human.

I had an odd expericance the day of my mother's first yahrtzeit this year. I was so tired I may have been delerious but as I was laying down for an afternoon nap I felt my mother's spirit floating directly above me. Behind my eyes I saw a constant changing form, unconnected features of my mothers faces over the ages I knew her. The aquiline nose, the close set dark eyes, the rounded shape of her jaw. It felt as though her spirit had somehow been expressed in those features during her lifetime and were now returning to visit me with those same unconnected features.

Because of the depth of my past learning, the spiritual breakthroughs are less impactful but no less meaningful. The one that comes to mind is the humility and empathy I have experienced as I became President of my Congregation’s Brotherhood.

It was extremely spiritual that I found the rental where I stayed during five months of my pregnancy. I was slow to leave the bad situation I was in because I was fearful that I wouldn’t land someplace acceptable to me. I was clear within myself that what I felt I needed was something fully furnished, very beautiful, allowing me to be alone, and allowing my dog while also being affordable. I knew it was a big ask, and I reconciled the fact that it was probably unlikely but once I took the plunge, it’s exactly where I ended up. It blows my mind as proof that a loving higher power can make things work out beyond my wildest dreams if I just take the right action with courage and faith.

I was hiking with my husband in the French alps. I saw black butterflies everywhere, which has come to symbolize my deceased mother. I thought, wow - she’s alive here. I knew she had lived near the alps in Italy when she was about 19. After our hike I pulled a map and realized we were right on the boarder. I contacted the man who was her boyfriend 50 years ago. He simply said, “we’ll meet you tomorrow. It’s only 20 minutes away.” And that was it, I met him for the first time, we shared fondue, he invited us to visit his home any time.

Having my son diagnosed with ADHD and ODD, finally. I knew in the back of my mind as a parent. That’s what he had since I have a bit of an education in it. Now that he has been diagnosed and has been on medication, there’s been a significant change for the better at school and with others, we are working on getting his behavior change at home, but I’ll take everything else as a win.

I have felt very moved by the kindness of strangers - like when the lovely Greek man gave us free hot drinks when we took shelter from the torrential rain. I have also felt a lot of connection to art, especially when we saw Fun Home in Manchester. I just couldn't stop crying because of the resonance I was feeling.

It took me a couple days to decide what to write about here. And hopefully this doesn't sound like a cop out. But the most spiritual experience in my life at present, is watching my son play, or tell me a story. Or eat. Basically just watching my son be a 4.5 year old. I understand what people say about having kids now, all the cliches about not knowing love like this, or not understanding life until your child was born. Or that it's like your heart is walking around outside of your body. It really is true, it's like that. So I get the most pure joy out of witnessing him experience life. We rode my bike (with him on the back) to the zoo a lot this summer, and spending the morning at the zoo with him is such a fun time. Or being on the bike with him. Tonight, laying with him while he falls asleep, he flops his arm over across my chest, just to know that I'm still there. Sometimes I feel like he's a very old soul. Don't get me wrong, all of this is incredibly hard. Being a mom is hard, being a single mom is hard. But there are moments that are simply spectacular that make it all ok.

being weak and at the mercy of others left me with a power outside of myself. Physical recovery was a spiritual event, I learneed more about trust

Honestly, more and more little moments I'm finding vaguely spiritual or meaningful. When I'm existing thinking about the world, often the beauty of the world, and my place in it. Running on the beach in Hull at sunset. Climbing huge boulders in Joshua Tree. The other day I drove by a sign that said "people at work" and remembered how they changed it from "men at work", which made me cry a bit just thinking about how humanity is always trying to get better.

Having turned 80, I think I am redirected to being in support of others. My mission seem to have changed to sharing my experiences and wisdom. I have begun to recognize that I am one of those old people, but not just an old person, but with much to share for the benefit of others.

Daily! The Creator is carrying me, encouraging me, showing me new ideas, guiding me down new paths, opening up trains of thought and windows into dreams. I felt it profoundly after both MUSE and UNTAMED and I feel it after almost every class I teach with the adults. I feel it right now as I'm on break choreographing Waltz of the Flowers, just now in the room I was struck with the thought that what had just happened was so pretty we should keep doing it rather than do what I had planned -- it was the voice of the creator! I feel a profound closeness. I want to share this with more people, to find a way to open up this access for others.

I fell in love, which is definitely a spiritual experience. Falling in love this time was different than any time before. I don't remember the experience of feeling so giddy and thinking about the other person so much. For the first time, I had this thought of "oh, this is what love songs are about. This is where movies come from. This is what people are talking about." It was exhilarating. I wonder why it felt different this time. I've been in love before, but I don't remember it feeling quite so exciting. I think that I let myself be more open, and I shared more of myself, and that did allow us to connect more deeply and fully. I felt more connected not just to him, but I felt like I was feeling a fuller range of human emotions, which made me feel more connected to humanity and to everyone who has been in love at some point.

Blowing the shofar is exceedingly spiritual for me. It makes me feel closer to God and to the Jewish community.

I don't think I've had any spiritual experiences this year.

I've started meditating. I don't know if it's about spirituality as much as just trying to quiet my chaotic thoughts so I can focus on the necessary and maintain some kind of equilibrium. But it's made a profound difference in my mood, interactions, and even my worldview. I believe I was always empathetic person, but my sense of connection to others has grown a lot.

I have had an awakening and a return to Judaism, and an attempt understand my spiritual path and correct my defects, especially through practicing Mussar. I have been inspired by Rabbi Alan Lew’s (z/l) book, “This is real and you are completely unprepared: the Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation “. It was on my shelf for some years, and I had never read it. But now I have, and it has been wonderful. In Chapter 8, Rabbi Lew wrote, “There are many ways to tell the story of how God called me back to Judaism, so whenever I tell this story, I tell it a little differently. The truth is, God had to call out to me many times….” I also am rereading “Jewish Literacy” by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. It is also so meaningful to me, and I see more in it this time than before.

My cousin was able to reunite us for Passover. Our families spent many Passovers together growing up. As families changed adding in-laws, people moving away for jobs etc., our holidays changed. All of us had such a great time reminiscing and creating new traditions that her son and daughter-in-law want to continue.

Sinking into being an elder, being of service, and living more towards self-acceptance than self-criticism.

I have been really leaning to the philosophy and the idea of the unexamined life. This made me think that work is much more important to me than I originally thought it helps give me purpose. Not sure if I wanna retire and be aimless.

I know spiritual doesn’t mean being on the Worship Team, having a regular quiet time, praying constantly, giving your tithe. However, I know all the things make up spiritual practices. Holy Spirit isn’t in any of that then it’s just empty practices. I have always struggled with these concepts. We’re asked to do good works, but our salvation isn’t based on them, or our love, or God’s love for us. This year, I hope to listen to the Holy Spirit more and be obedient according to his direction, not according to the guilt I feel for not doing enough.

For years my answer to this question has been "eh, maybe but not really" in a very wishy-washy way. I can't say I've had anything new, but I'm coming around more to the idea of being a little more woo-woo. I still struggle to separate the positive (in my mind) aspects of religion and spirituality from the negative teachings of guilt and shame that seem to show up in organized religion. BUT I think there's a spirituality and inner goodness in common humanity that I really would like to explore more... and also maybe it would bring me more peace? I don't know if it's spiritual or an inner peace/kindness, but I do think there's a correlation between those who genuinely feel close to God (however we choose to describe this) and peace. I don't really know what this looks like right now, but I'm trying to be more open to possibilities. Separately, I keep forgetting that for me live theatre is basically a spiritual experience. I rarely feel more alive and connected than when I'm witnessing a performance.

Not really. Although I feel more secure than I ever have with my faith.

My year has lacked a sense of spirituality, unfortunately. Holidays in spaces that don't reflect my values and routine Shabbatot in our old community left me searching for more meaning. I hope to find it this year, in a new place with new people.

I think signing Emily and Zach's ketubah and preparing to officiate Olivia and Mitchell's wedding has been rather spiritual for me. These are two sets of people who want me to be a part of what binds them together forever. It's powerful and humbling at the same time, and it has really solidified some of what I'm looking for in my relationship, too. Of course, meeting Mark at Z&E's wedding was special, although I don't think I'd call it spiritual haha

You know, I think I should create a notebook to track this stuff throughout the year. I am finding that all memories flee my mind because we are talking about such a long period of time (relative to day-to-day). I can track decades but not a year 😂. After several days thought, I keep coming back to trees. Trees. Trees and plants. I am constantly connected to animals and feel a spiritual presence as I talk to my animal family, the crows, the squirrels, the jays. This year the trees have reminded me of their magnificence. Mo and I are reading Wish Tree, so that may be illuminating m experience as well. Anyway… nothing short of miraculous.

I did! I connected with my "inner child," which turns out to be my inner children - there are a bunch, in a really powerful, profound way for the first time ever. I've understood the concept intellectually, but hadn't seen or felt it in any real way that felt particularly helpful. Through some of the Nicole Sachs work for chronic pain, I started to actually see, feel and connect with some school-aged children (who I think of as my grandchildren), young adults (who I think of as my children), middle-aged women (who I think of as my friends and sister). I know they are all me! I felt incredible, visceral love for them and a desire to soothe and care for them. It led me to feel so much more self-compassion and appreciation and a real desire to be less rigid, judgmental and demanding of myself. I was able to talk to them and say "I'm here and I'm a very capable adult and I've got you. You are safe and loved." It's not easy to maintain, but I'm trying to stay conscious of them and to check in regularly and gently ask how they are and what they need from me. It's been super comforting and healing.

I ended up on the board of my synagogue this year. I had no aspirations for that position but the previous chair of my committee was moving to Chicago and asked if I would be the new chair. He didn't tell me about the 27 high holiday calls I would have to make to congregants! I have a busy day ahead of me between that and Shabbat Shuvah.

We have a spiritually creative community in the Arts community of our city, thank God for them. They are a loving bunch of friends who think of others and not themselves most of the time. My husband and I also started "Prayers and Poems" at our house and have made efforts to host a children's virtues class in our yard, and also a half hour of prayers for student requests at the school where I teach.

Not really, I am not a "spiritual" person. I have always found comfort, solace and meaning in nature and the beauty of everyday life. Being diagnosed with cancer has prompted me to focus more on fulfilling goals that I had postponed because I was always taking care of others.

I am in IB Film this year and it is so fun! I feel so excited to do work it's scary. But beyond that, and more spiritually, I have attended Compline at church and find the silence short and comforting. I hope there is a time were I can always choose to have a quiet day alone and not feel guilty about it. I think I deserve it...

I think going to Australia and getting tickets for Quarterfinals at the Australian Open was one of the best things I've done in my life to "treat myself". I have never had the money or time to travel in the earlier iteration of my life and it was so amazing to feel like I could do something that big. Now, going to Wimbledon, Roland Garros, and the US Open are on my bucket list of things to do for vacation/travel.

same as last year: Gratitude and awe at how much I have to be grateful for has been pretty sustaining. Concerns, anxieties, unskillful actions and responses don't disappear, but overarching gratitude is there. additionally amusement as my awareness of the fleeting nature of life motivates me to try to use all the saved things and relish the objects that i enjoyed collecting over the decades, especially while knowing that it is all like a soap bubble, a flash of lightning and will evaporate tomorrow or in a few decades. also that the only achievements that matter is helping others.

I have had some rainy hikes in The woods that were pretty special. With J.

When my children were born, there was a short period surrounding each of their births that I can only describe as sacred. A new person had entered our world and it was the most spiritual experience of my life. I experienced it again this year in the moments surrounding my husband’s death. A soul, the soul of the good man I spent my life with, was leaving our world — and again, it was sacred. A life starts, a life ends and it is the meaning of life itself.

Every day I wake I start with my gratitude prayer. That sets my life in motion.

I wrote a very intense play that allowed me to forgive my mother. I didn't realize I needed to hear the words out loud. I feel lighter and at peace.

Certain moments with my baby. Attempting to breastfeed him late one night and looking out the window at the night sky. Rocking him while feeding him, looking into his huge bright eyes and seeing a profound innocence, trust, and love. Once, holding him while he was a newborn and still looked like a skinny old man, reflecting about how, one day, at the end of his life, he might be in an institution, a nurse giving him a sponge bath, and no one would be there who remembered that he looked just the same as a little baby, and how I couldn't be there to hold him in his final moments. But love goes on. It goes on and on and on, and I hope my little one always feels loved.

Nothing I want to share, but there have been one specific and one general.

Just came off the trail in the Sierras. It was arduous, not necessarily spiritual. But it makes one understand the power of nature and the wild. The earth will survive us, even if we dont. And I find that comforting.

I read a book about spirit guides and angels called Ask Your Guides by Sonia Choquette, and I led a discussion group about the book. I am learning how to receive this help from beyond, and it makes life very special!

earlier this year there was a blood moon lunar eclipse. I did a ritual where I drew/wrote/sketched the things that I wanted to release in the world on one side of the paper, and what I was welcoming in on the other. I listened to music and then took it to the sink to burn it. It turned into a huge flame that I dropped into water, which created a black sludge. As I flushed it down the toilet, I realized that I "never wanted to eat from this bowl again" The next morning, I looked at the bowl trying to decide what to do with it: smash it? give it away? As I considered this, I reached into the cubby above the sink and thought to myself "Something is going to happen" and at that moment, one of my pewter kiddush cups came tumbling off the shelf and shattered the bowl into three pieces. The way it broke, it appeared as if there were a heart in the negative space. I thought to myself - open heartedness! It was a wonderful experience of learning how to trust myself again after a difficult year of change.

I'll take a psychological lens to this. I started therapy amid a time of significant stress--performance managing for the first time while pregnant with my second, and experiencing a strained relationship with my mother. I met several times with a nice young therapist in April and May and decided to focus on the latter. Doing so provided me a safe space for emotional venting / offloading and helped me build or reignite muscles and motivation and accountability for more active inner reflection, even when I paused therapy to prepare for the birth of my second child. The act of journaling or drawing to process big emotions, for instance--especially when my pregnant/postpartum body couldn't release the stress in my usual run outside. I'm realizing I really have to keep this up for the rest of my life and it will also benefit me significantly at work. Maybe when I return to work I can start a weekly journal, using Friday afternoons to process things I did or learned that week or to mull over problems I'm chewing on, and to set intentions and priorities for the following week.

i went to high holidays for the first time in a couple years! except it wasn’t quite spiritual. my mom kept passing nancy rubber ducks, abby started eating an apple, my mom was called to the bimah for a reading but was nowhere to be found (outside socializing and talking with someone abt their new kittens), reuben kept pulling out candies, abby walked to the car and brought her mom back cheese, grandma was perfect, it was chaos!

Nothing is going to surpass what last year was, sharing my faith with Dad. That's still the high water mark. This year, the closest thing is something that hasn't happened yet, next weekend we're doing a family dedication and dedicating Madison Grace to Christ. That's going to be a big deal, and I'm hopeful it's a step on her own path toward loving the Lord. Beyond that, I don't have one specific moment, but being a dad has created a whole new sense of purpose and a new lens for how we think through everything. That in itself has felt spiritual.

During reconciliation at church, God told me to make a specific art piece. Luckily, He didn't give me a time frame, so I'm working on it very slowly.

In November and December, I went through a very dark period. We were cleaning out our house and redecorating, and I realized that my dream of moving into our own home and keeping the duplex for income only was likely not possible. With the loss of that dream, I internalized a deeper regret for some of the decisions in my life and the sadness of how impressionable I was by those around me. It was hard for me to look at photos of myself as a younger woman and feel sad that I felt so bad about myself when I was now seeing how cute I was. I typically hate December as it brings up feelings of regret for life passing me by but this was different. I cried so much, it was hard to control all the feelings. I went back to therapy and started seeing a new psychiatrist. It took a couple of months to feel like myself again and by March I had a new job that gave me the title and salary I deserve. It really felt like a spiritual experience as I started to question my purpose in the world and what did I need to do to take back control of my life. Now I can reflect on that time with grace and compassion and grateful that I did what I needed to get back to myself.

No, and that's something I'd like to encourage more in the coming year. I miss being in a communal atmosphere where the "spiritual" is multiplied. That said, there are small instances of coincidences that I encounter every day: a name that keeps coming up, a sound or movement to break me out of an unhelpful negative loop... I consider these little moments a little spiritual, and I'm here for them, without reading too much into them.

One particularly upsetting moment was when I realised that I had lost my Grandma's ring. I already knew it was too loose, and I also felt it in my heart that it was gone forever, unlike the times before when it appeared on the floor in my own home. And yet, I also felt a strange sense that the universe would replace that piece of sentimental jewellery with something else - like I didn't need that anchor to her anymore because she was telling me a new chapter was about to begin and I was going to be just fine on my own.

I read the book ‘Heart of a Stranger’ by Angela Buchdahl and found the author’s sensibility very relatable. Her descriptions and points of view appear to align with mine. It has been good to read a book that I found myself nodding in much agreement and appreciation to her stories and reflections connected to her teaching and learning. I have also felt numerous times over this past year how much value I place on relationships. I have had some quality times spent with different friends. I have rekindled a friendship with my friend Steve Gustaveson and we try to meet regularly. This makes me very happy. I communicate nearly every month with my friends Rees, Jim, and Doug. These three have been highly influential in my life and give me a different kind of spiritual connection. I think having time to reflect on who and what is important to me has been notable this past year.

A good friend, Bob Hughes, dies suddenly and unexpectedly. It may me ultra-aware of the fragility of life. Although Bob was 85, he seemed in great health and had no known health issues. Suddenly an aortic dissection killed him - while he was in the hospital trying to identify the source of chest pains. He died while in a CT scanner. This event affected me. I am sad and upset about my friend's death. I am now focused on just how fragile life can be and just how unimportant plans may be.

No. And it occurs to me that I don't really want to do these questions anymore. I have been doing it for the past how many year? Seven? Eight? And I don't really know why or what it helps. Ruben: no

Returning to the Field Museum for member night for the first time since Jean died was a profound experience for me. I cried. I laughed. I rejoiced at the gift that she was and determined to keep her curiosity, kindness, wit alive in my own life.

I particularly enjoyed going to Japan. I really liked the culture there. I wish I had spent more time! I don’t think I’ve been somewhere that felt like home with such a big cultural difference. Made me think that I might find nests in a lot of different places.

Blech. I don’t answer this question.

Being back in hospitals brought back a lot.

My spiritual experience this year has been the deconstruction and resurgence of self and identity after everything I loved and was attached to was taken from me at once. It wasn’t one experience, but many over time - a journey. I was in the darkest of places a year ago, and through resilience and determination I have come out the other side as a motherfucking glitter rainbow. I feel close to the veil of death and mortality now, like my existence is more than this plane, this experience, and none of these day to day things matter. It’s an illusion I see through - all the concepts - marriage, motherhood, career, woman - I am a blank slate, life is a game and I get to create it as I please. I am shedding a lot. All of the narratives I create about myself and the world. It’s hard, I still grip them tightly, but I’m learning to let go. The universe forced me to. And I am grateful for the wisdom.

Really loving and appreciating Marco and our little family. Also the nature all around us, thankful for living in Hawaii. Trying to be in the moment when I can, but that's a huge struggle.

The closest thing was seeing Springsteen in April on his No Kings tour. He did some of my non-obvious favorites (Wrecking Ball, My City of Ruins, Because the Night) and some of my obvious favorites (41 Shots, Badlands, Born to Run, Tenth Avenue Freezeout). I found everything about it cathartic—from the tribute to tribute to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and everyone killed in Minneapolis to singing the chorus of Badlands in a room full of people. It was a good reminder that hope's not lost.

A good many preconceived ideas crumbled around me when something truly shitty I did years ago was pointed out to me. At the time I didn't give it a second thought. I "knew" I was justified. But I was flat out wrong, and it deeply hurt someone I love. Ten years later they had the courage to tell me. I am grateful that I was able to hear it, own my past behavior, apologize, and begin the process of rebuilding trust and our relationship. It's not entirely clear to me that I would have been able to do that at the time. The ten years of missing out on that relationship, and of living through and witnessing other broken relationships undoubtedly gave me insight that allowed for this growth. And again, I'm profoundly grateful for the renewal of the relationship and for the growth itself.

It is America’s 250th birthday, and we’ve been behaving so badly the past few years that i was dreading the amount of jingoistic false patriotism I was sure was going to be everywhere—the “we’re No. 1” kind. Then in May, we went to a Rhiannon Giddens concert called The Hidden Soundtrack of America. It was all folk and indigenous music made by people from different cultures—many of them oppressed or struggling, and it reminded me of what I love about the spirit of the people here. We just need to keep fighting to be the country we want to believe we are.

Many small moments as I "sense" into people and things, and I see spirit as an integral part of how I live. Over December and January when I was in California caring for Mom and finding her ongoing care, I followed a group of Buddhist Monks on a Walk for Peace. At first I thought it was a form of activism until I heard the lead Monk talking about how we find peace withinn ourselves. I followed them and came to an understanding with myself about being peace, not blaming the world that it is not out there. And that allowed me to notice when things align and I could connect with peace outside myself. And connect with love that is flowing around everywhere. It's so not cool to be caring and give love, but I'm there.

Yesterday I cradled my cat in my arms — cupped my hand to support her head, laying listless against me. I wept, choking on tears, but I was there, holding her, caressing her the way she loved best as she passed. For sixteen years I have protected her, cared for her, petted and cosseted her, looking to her first on waking and last on sleeping. I have run my fingers through her satin, sundapple fur, and thought: You are forever responsible for what you have tamed. I love you and hold you in my hands, every part of you more precious than anything I've owned. I held her as she breathed her last, held her as the last breaths escaped as gasps that rocked her tiny body. You are forever responsible for what you have tamed, and in the end, grief is always the price you pay for love.

Again - it is about being in nature. We went to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. We saw the Badlands and the Black Hills, went into the Wind Caves. One night we saw the Badlands bathed in the light of the setting sun. So beautiful and peaceful. God is everywhere -we just have to see.

I have not. I am currently in a moment of exploration as part of teshuvah, and connected to the fact that I am coming up on my 50th birthday. It is opening up some questions for me about how to make my life larger - how to be more connected to people, the natural world, and purpose, and how to be more curious, adventurous, and open to risk and discovery.

This past year, I have found spirituality in quieter and more personal ways. I have felt myself wanting to return to painting, although I have also noticed a hesitation around starting because I am afraid of not doing it well or ruining what I imagine it could be. That has made me reflect on how my perfectionism can sometimes keep me from creating at all. At the same time, I have been exploring food more intentionally and reading more than I have in years. Both have become deeply sensory and almost therapeutic experiences for me. Cooking, tasting, reading, and being absorbed in a story have given me ways to slow down, be present, and experience beauty and creativity without needing to accomplish anything. I think this year has helped me understand spirituality less as a single profound moment and more as creating space for curiosity, creativity, pleasure, and care for myself.

When I was swimming in Rarotonga and saw eagle rays, that felt really moving. Seeing humpback whales from the beach was the same "awe" feeling. I haven't been outside in the mountains enough this past year to have had my usual feeling of spiritual connection to the land. Plans for the coming summer will fix this - Milford, Abel Tasman, Matukituki.

I’ve decided not to let my asshole Cousin ruin my holiday of Rosh Hashanah. I felt very deceived by him and it ruined the holiday for me for years. I know he recently had a bicycle accident which was pretty severe. I told him long ago that there would be a reckoning. I don’t wish harm to people that do bad things, but I do see it unfold. I know the more you give the more you get. But don’t give to get. And I love my dog. I guess a dog communicator told me that my dog found me to heal from past life. I think this is for the dog cause he is a big scary dog. That was big and scared and now he’s a confident goofball.

On the drive north from Normandy to Pas-de-Calais, we stopped to visit the cathedrals at Rouen and Amiens. Amiens impressed me more - particularly the Piranese depth to the facade and the change in atmosphere when we first entered. There was singing in progress, piped throught the vertical speakers, which made it feel very close and vivid. It was crystal clear, beautiful, in French, and had a magical calming effect. It felt like a holy place, full of wonder and awe. The effect doesn't last long. It doesn't make me religious. But I appreciate being able to experience it. Not every church or cathedral we visit has that atmosphere: the three churches we visited in Amsterdam (Broeker Kerk in Broek in Waterland, Oude Kerk, and Nieuwe Kerk) were all lacking this spiritual quality. They had been stripped by iconoclasts, reformed, and become community spaces or art galleries. The majesty of Wells Cathedral was also somewhat spoiled by a giant inflatable dragon in the nave. I also had a spiritual experience at Bernières-sur-Mer (part of Juno Beach) in Normandy. This was the first beach we visited on the Normandy coast and it gave me the chills to think of the Canadian infantry storming the beach. It was sombre and low-key. There were Canadian flags everywhere. It has increased my interest in the Second World War, and D-Day and the Battle of Normandy in particular. I've been reading more about it since then and will continue to scratch that itch for some time to come. I've inherited Moira's pacifism; but I'm fascinated by the human stories that come out of war history.

My "spiritual" experiences this year have evolved around sound. Beautiful sound. Tibetan bowl course, crystal bowl course and then a sound immersion show. Special and just resonates. Helping and definitely assisting me to be more in the moment and cherish the moments. Getting so much better at it. Want it to continue to grow and expand and want to use it to assist others in my studio.

Not at all, other than perhaps noticing the beauty of nature and sunshine more than I have in years. Noticing the flowers and birds and bees and wind in the trees and patterns of the rain falling. It calms me, grounds me and makes me feel more connected to reality.

I've been getting more into prayer this year. I usually try to meditate at least once a day but lately I've been feeling a need to get closer to God and I want to pray more. I want to understand more through prayer.

9/16/26: Eh...basically the same as what I said last year. I can't even remember if I went to any regular Shabbat services at a synagogue at all in the past year. I of course joined my family for Rosh Hashanah and will be doing so for Yom Kippur, and I did still attend Trybal Gatherings (and unfortunately got badly sick immediately afterwards again), and I have attended as many desirable young Jewish professional events that I could in the past year, but as far any truly "spiritual" experiences...I don't think so, no.

A small, perfect spiritual experience comes to mind: Listening to Keith Jarrett play Over the Rainbow, La Scala rendition. There are so many excellent recordings of him playing that song in different places over decades. But this version, which played at random one night when we were looking for piano music to sleep by, opened a perfect portal between standing on earth and being surrounded by the promise of heaven. I'm listening to it now as I write this, with my eyes closed. My heart changes rhythm, opens and turns toward the sky. I breathe in and feel the air rush into my shoulders... and my brain is clearly acting as an antenna for something larger than me. I am still as in the still small voice of God. It is a lullaby and a symphony, a tour de force of the sound of everything happening all at once - something I have always said that I could hear. This makes sense of that for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngl1lA2T3ac I sometimes wish that recording didn't include the applause at the end. But then again, there are cries of Bravo to be heard that are also in that same, perfect pitch of God embodied.

If I think of spiritual as having a moment where I felt a deep, powerful connection to something larger than myself, or a moment that changed how I see the world, I think much of the time I spend in Sanibel, floating in the Gulf of Mexico, each August, is definitely spiritual. I spend entire days floating, feeling the sand with my toes and picking up large (live) sea creatures to look at them (and put them back), watching pelicans skimming the water and diving for fish, and watching storms roll in all day from further out in the Gulf. It's the most peaceful I feel all year, and the most one with nature and with the universe. I do also love gazing at the stars in the winter sky from my backyard. I feel my own smallness and significance at the same time.

Seeing the little boy at the Grey Fox music festival was pretty wild back in July. It kind of felt like seeing myself as a kid. He was riding his little bike around stopping at different booths just having fun on his own. He seemed independent, but also social, and adventurous. It felt a bit out-of-body and spiritual for me oddly. The other big moment was celebrating my ten year anniversary with maya in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. It was pretty special to get that time while Helena was at lake burton at the YMCA camp and Solomon watched Misha. We had so much fun staying at Under Canvas. The scenery was beautiful and the hype about Yellowstone was warranted. I was constantly in awe with the “big sky” and when we stumbled upon that random Umphre’s McGee show in the woods it felt pretty special. I would say it was one of the more special moments and poignant experiences over the last year and the moment was extended really over the whole period of time that we got to travel, get to know each other all over again, without the distraction of the normal house keeping activities and child pickup and regular activities.

this past year i have relized that i want to create actual change and that i do not believe in anything of higher power alough i respect everyone who does.

On the tails of my answer to question 4, AI has reminded me of the inherent importance in the question, "what does it mean to be human?" This feels spiritual in and of itself.

When we went with Eli to spain and denmark. Then london at the end - Denmark was something. It woke me up to what a healthy society could be like. And the art - it was extraordinary. The Sophie Calle exhibit at teh Louisiana - I cried at teh installation of people seeing teh sea for the first time. Humans are so tender. We just want the same thing. I sound like a kid - but. I am left wondering if we all want the same thing - why is it so hard

There's nothing like being a Jewish professional who plans events for other Jewish professionals to kill your spirituality. That coupled with having a toddler and abysmal childcare in shul means I almost never make or feel like making time to pray. I find spirituality in music. I got to organize and run the women's megillah reading again this year on Purim, and I love it, but it's so much work to pull off.

I will say I have been more open to spiritual experiences this year. I'm really trying to be open to smaller spiritual moments. One particularly powerful was seeing the blessing of an old friend through what felt like happenstance or divine intervention.

A few days ago I watched the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once, and weirdly, it helped me make sense of the contradictions of this time in history. A whole lot is going wrong in the world, and it's hard not to feel like humanity is collapsing. I feel so powerless and scared all the time, and there is such a contrast between the horrors "outside" and the happy little life I'm trying so hard to build and expand. A small voice inside me keeps asking me if anything even matters, it's all going to come crashing down anyway. I don't have a solution, but I know I want to continue to try and make kindness my leading contribuition to both my individual and our collective world, and to treasure those "few specks of time where anything actually makes any sense".

I found a way to get over regrets: make a concrete plan to do the thing I regret never having done. The more I think about it, the less spiritual that sounds. But the effect was astonishing. Decades of jealousy and sour grapes were erased.

The realization that my days, our days are numbered…I knew it before. This year it became more visceral.

Yes, silence and stillness in my heart. Pure acceptance and unconditional love for self. On a deeper level than I've ever imagined of experiencing. The spiritual experience of falling in love with (non)self in a pure sense.

The death of my mother, being with her when she took her last breath, was so special. Saying modah ani the following morning, thanking God for returning my breath to me, was amazing and brought me closer to God

I am infatuated with a feral cat who comes to visit me. Sometimes they come twice a day, and sometimes not for two days. Last winter, I was very worried about them and found out that there are about ten who hang out at a large house up the street, where they have been neutered and are fed. I didn’t know this at the time, but am slowly learning about them. I am obsessed with this cat, and speak to them and tell them how much I love them. It is crazy, but I think the fact that this creature can survive outside is so impressive; it gives me hope for this sad world.

Why yes I have and ugh did we have to secularize this has "spirit" in its essence not already been secularized I feel like soup my eyes are blurred. My sister just reminded me that we were home in Portland for Yom Kippur something that I didn't remember and know only do vaguely because I remember running into Elias and having a surprisingly pleasant interaction. She reminded me of how during our services, which I always feel spiritually touched all over by, was particularly touching. Rabbi Benjamin gave a Dvar on prostration, which inspired the congregation to all gather on the bima and lower ourselves to the ground draping our tallit over us. It felt holy in it's utter distinctiveness, doing something with our bodies that we wouldn't otherwise very close to each other. My most potent spiritual moments are in groups where we are moving our bodies in new ways close to one another.

I’ve pretty much had *only spiritual experiences this year. The work I’ve been doing with the Primordial Light Realm and the teachings of Rabbi Dr. Zvi Ish-Shalom since last December has been so profound that I am filled every day with delight, ease, and awe at how it is to be living inside the Light that is living in me, as me — and as you.

Experiences at Chochmat, Harbin, and to some extent what I learned about the "swamp witches" and how they prophesied our relationships. Collectively, these experiences have made me more curious about Judaism and Torah/Bible-grounded tradition (love their bumpiness), and also more agnostic and wary about the limits of my own knowledge.

My spiritual experience from the past year was with the help of psychedelics. I was very intentional about the medicine that I was putting in my body and my goal was to break down the barriers that have prevented me from being more expansive. The journey itself was painful because it required so much grieving and after, day by day, slowly but surely, I could finally take the necessary action to choose expansiveness.

Connecting with the fairly intact & healthy tropical ocean ecosystem during a swimming trip in remote eastern Indonesia. The personal physical challenge (a lot of challenging swimming each day for seven days) only enhanced the wonder of being immersed (ha!) in this special place. The feelings of peacefulness and hopefulness for our planet (in spite of all the evidence to the contrary) continue to linger nine months later.

When my kid sister got married and my wife interacted with my sisters whom she’s had ongoing issues with for years, it brought on a sense of peace that felt spiritual. I don’t know how much I’d processed the stress and anxiety about their back and forth bickering. I couldn’t even mention talking to my sisters without my wife saying “they’re bitches” or questioning my loyalty to her since they’re “so awful” to her. Seeing them laugh together and have fun and dance brought me to tears with a feeling of genuine peace.

This has been the year of spiritual experiences for me. I have been having the best experiences of my life. On February 10, I had a throat chakra opening and immediately following that, I mean, minutes later, I saw a huge, bright, white light beaming at me surrounded by light blue, deep blue and gold. I asked who it was. "CHRIST." was the answer, followed by the message "Anointed: Speaker of Divine Truth." I wept and prayed in gratitude and vowed to live up to it. I prayed for help and support and the words to speak. It has brought me so much purpose and shifted how I do things, even the smallest things. I vow to be a conduit of God's unconditional love to everyone. I feel peace and I feel protection. Without a doubt I believe in the power of prayer, intention and commanding in LOVE. There is so much more to existence than what we perceive in the 3D world. Energy is the most real thing there is. Everything is energy and that energy of everything vibrates at a unique frequency. Managing my own frequency and energy has been so liberating. It's so simple! I point my consciousness toward what I want and that frequency resonates with matching frequency. I truly feel that I am a creator - I am made in God's image and God is the Creator!

I can't think of one in particular, but I am more and more in my "voice" as a singer particularly in synagogue, and that feels like the clearest route of transmission between me and the best version of myself, between me and the Divine, between me and community.

The night my father entered hospice, the doctor examined him and said he was in critical condition and only had a short time to live. So, I contacted Jesse and we put together a ritual for him. That was a spiritual experience. Each of us, said goodbye to him with Jesse on the phone. We thanked him for everything. We sang some of "Suzanne" to him and I used a Leonard Cohen quote. I have come to think of Leonard Cohen as my father's favorite theologian. It was a time when I felt close to my father and close to G-d.

Unfortunately I have not had anything spiritual this year. I have had a lot of emotional moments but to me that is not the same can not be viewed the same way. I think that once I get back to a stable footing with my life, a spirtual life may come back in order to allow for experiences to happen.

Spiritual experiences require solitude. An Alzheimer's caregiver has no solitude.

I have not experienced anything big in a spiritual way, but I am always thankful for small moments of bliss that let me present. Slow quiet mornings, music, connecting with loved ones and friends, nature. The universe did not shake me to my core this year, but instead gently showed up in the most mundane ways.

We went to Sedona and visited some vortexes. Hubby thought they were a hoax, but then felt them. Our air BNB had amazing views of the red mountains so each day was super spiritual. Continued Comic Con and Camp Envy. Also, experienced Illuminate in Australia. Lying down in a church, watching the creation of the universe was very spiritual.

I have completely deconstructed from my past beliefs. I don't think that I have any faith based beliefs anymore, which is hard because my entire family is immersed in their faith (my former faith). I believe that people need connection between each other.

I have had many spiritual experiences this year. Many of them have come through deep intimacy with another, my heart cracked open. I think the most spiritually intimate moments I have had have been with myself on the dance floor, though. It’s truly my favorite thing to connect to the divine this way!

Here we go again, talking about my mikvah. There’s so many parts of it that felt like coming home. It’s so hard to put into words. I think the best part, honestly, was afterwards. All the people in my life, Jewish and not, together and celebrating my journey. I’m happy I did my mikvah the way I did. It’s not traditional, I suppose, to invite people to the beach to watch the actual immersion, but I think that’s okay. Tradition is great, and I love being part of a people with 5,000 year long traditions, but I also love being able to come together and create new traditions. I don’t think any part of my conversion has been traditional, but I took the journey that brought me back to Mt Sinai, and I think that’s what mattered the most. Also it was nice seeing everyone I love come together and mesh so well. Chicago friends and family blending perfectly with my Mississippi family. Taylor and Ry laughing with Ezra and Brigid made me feel so complete. Sharing Shabbat with people who had never experienced it meant the world to me. If I could live in that moment forever, I would.

As in previous years, my experience of natural beauty is what evokes my spiritualty. In December we spent a week in UK's Lake District and in August we spent a week in the small town of Todmorden, which lies in a valley on the western side of the Pennines. The frequent rain and even more frequent misting create a verdant landscape over which sheep graze. Although, as mountains the Pennines are modest, they present a remarkable, hikeable, topological palate.

This year, I "let go" of a lot of things that weighed me down. The relationship with my son & daughter[ -in-law will not improve because I want it to -- they have shown that they do not want a relationship with us. So I have let them make that choice. If they decide they want to join us in the future I will welcome them with open arms. But for now, I am comfortable with how things stand. I also lightened up on some of the "future projects" I had a running list of projects -- but now I don't feel like taking them on. Letting them go was a good thing for me; I was able to declutter a lot of physical stuff that weighed me down.

Living in an area that is so beautiful, I’ve had many spiritual moments. I can’t help believe that this beauty has been created for a reason. However the flip side of that is wondering how the darkness that is happening in Palestine could live alongside this.

This year has been really average. Go to work, come home, make dinner, exercise, relax on weekends. They say the farmer’s sigh is his prayer. I feel every day I put in this year was my best effort for that day. I guess I prayed daily. Waiting for, preparing for, imagining NYC has been my heart focus this year. I guess that’s really been my prayer.

Finding an answer took contemplation. In April we went to California, including a trip through the Mojave Desert to Mammoth Mountain. While Andrew skied, Craig learned, I road the lift to the top of the Mountain. At an elevation of more than 10,000 feet I was as high as I’d ever been with my feet on the ground. To say the view was amazing was an understatement. As I marveled in the glory, at least once I thought of what G-d sees from his vantage point pin heaven. Truly incredible. It was a sight to behind, and I am grateful for that opportunity.

Right after the cease fire with Iran, we last minute decided to fly early, which meant the next morning. When we went into town and discussed what to do that day, as it was meant to be a date day - all I wanted was to go to the Kotel, a place that I almost never want to go. At that moment it felt like the thing I needed. I am not sure what I received that day, but something brought me there.

I may have had shifts in how I think about spirituality. I'm thinking of it now more as a whole-body experience rather than just "the mind." Surely, this has always been true. But I read something or listened to a podcast about this, and it prompted me to go deeper. Also, the idea that you can feel and experience spirituality anytime, all the time. If you have a spirit, nefesh, breath (spir- like "respiration"), which we all do while we are alive, then we are spiritual all the time. I believe it was this year that I learned all living cells produce measurable light. And I believe that we are able to perceive this, even if we can't "see" it per se, because we have a lot of language around this: "she lights up a room," "the light went out of his eyes," etc. This language is ancient, long before the technology that could sense that light. The technology is us. We have been sensing it this entire time. I do think there is something wrong with my light, perhaps. It might not be as bright as before. But I don't know. Maybe I just struggle sometimes. I am still here, still breathing, still producing light. Hineni. And there is still spirituality in a service, in a shared experience. Just days ago, at RH Day 2, in a converted grade school gym, I had a moment where I looked around the room, and marveled at how incredible it was that everyone in the room was reciting the same Hebrew words at the same time. That we just know those prayers, and we form them with our breaths and chests simultaneously. I will say, that felt spiritual; there was something in the collective act. It was the fact that we all know the prayers in different ways, and they mean different things to each person present, and yet we come together to say those specific words at that specific time. Our collective breaths mingling. That was awe-inspiring. And it did feel spiritual.

Yes, my whole experience being in Israel this summer with Birthright Israel (volunteer) felt deeply spiritual, but one specific day stands out to me: the day we visited the Kotel. My anxiety had been increasing in the months leading up to the trip, and it continued at times throughout the trip. When I stood at the Western Wall, one of the things I prayed for was help with my anxiety, to feel less anxious and to find more peace. What happened next is something I will never forget. As soon as we left the Kotel, a man was standing there handing out cards to everyone who passed by. When I looked at the card he gave me, I couldn’t believe what was on it: an anti-anxiety prayer. It felt like one of those moments when you get exactly the sign you need at exactly the right time. Whether it was coincidence or something more, I chose to see it as a reminder that my prayers were heard and that I wasn’t alone. It deepened my faith in Hashem and made my experience at the Kotel and my entire journey in Israel even more meaningful.

It's been an especially unspiritual year. At most, there have been small moments of feeling connected to something bigger or of feeling sudden clarity.

這是個非典型的靈性體驗，在朋友的單身派對中，收到了朋友給我的形容詞：淘氣、俏皮。我的感受是我想要活在一個人人有童心的世界，從我開始！

My conversations with the river were very helpful. I would not have been able to handle this year without the river and the trees supporting me. Even though it was small and smelly near our house, the river is at least 18,000 years old and their perspective was so helpful to my puny human problems. Especially when I was asked to hold grief for a child in my class. The river listened and the river allowed keening and the river let there be a sacred container to help with that, although ultimately I should never have been asked to hold it all alone.

Choosing myself by choosing to leave my spouse. I knew this was coming. It became impossible to ignore. I have tried so hard, and I know this is how I operate. I try and try and, at some point, I am simply done. There is no more, and there is no confusion. Just heart wrenching clarity that I need to end it. How is that spiritual? I guess it's just the deep and certain knowing. The absolute clarity that I cannot bear this and be true to myself.

I’ve come to the strong realisation that I won’t have any more kids. My 3rd is the last one. And that’s beautiful and spiritual in some ways. Our family is complete. No more babies. I’m sad in some ways that means we won’t have another, I won’t be a Mum to another boy. But I also see we are at our limit. And that we have and are enough. I also hosted a very low key Rosh Hashanah for the first time instead of going all out. It was way more chilled and lovely so I enjoyed it much more. That was a revelation!

I think it was powerful to go to some of the places in France... particularly Chartres which ended up being more difficult to get to than expected. Having read about it as a child (especially its druidic origins) and then getting to travel there for real...it felt important to me.

Short answer: nothing earth shaking. The spiritual experiences have been tiny moments. Looking at the night sky when walking the dogs at 4 am. Listening to my son learning to sound out letters, getting tiny tiny kisses from my other son, watching my daughter score her first run in a baseball game. My husband's gentle, playful way with them. The magic of a school of fish leaping around a little girl. Baking helpers who get paid in frozen blueberries and spoons dripping batter.

I find that everyday is a spiritual experience. So many things happen in my life that just make me feel that the Divine is here. I don't understand the mystery of life and all the darkness but I do know that the more we share love with each other and love ourselves the better life is for everyone.

I guess you could say I’m in a spiritual slump. I attend services weekly and I’m reading all the books, but I don’t feel very connected. At tashlich, I may have come the closest I’ve had in a while to a feeling of connectedness to something beyond myself. It was a blip, but it was there.

Occasionally, when I'm photographing a Cathedral, I'm lost in a sense of awe at the building Also sometimes when I'm chanting I feel at one with the universe.

My spiritual experiences this year were not taken from provocative sermon or from standing in front of a breathtaking landmark. This year I found myself overcome with sadness and longing at the recitation of a poem by Renee Goode. I cried this year on the couch during the scene in the testament when June reunites with her mother in Alaska. I miss my mother. I sobbed in the front seat of my car when I opened my phone and heard my best friend singing to me in a voicemail and I missed her call. Loneliness is a spiritual experience, loneliness having a profound effect on my soul.

The most spiritual thing I can think of is the hike I did with my sons on Mount Rainer. It was so beautiful up there, being so high above the surrounding mountains and land, and it was wondering doing it with my sons. I loved the feeling of connection to nature and the earth. At the same time, there was so much less snow as when I was last there about 35 years ago that I can't help feeling grief for what humans are doing to the earth.

I have developed a strong relationship with a person this year. I think friendships like this are spiritual. They don’t come around often. I’m very thankful for it, and not taking it for granted.

One recent spiritual experience was going to this orthodox Rosh Hashanah dinner with Lori. The rabbi stressed this opportunity to create a new Me and I’ve been thinking a lot about this project of 535 people coordinating a date and time to go into the congressional offices. This may have affected me to become more of a political activist and less of a contractor in the coming year.

I think swimming in water is always a spiritual experience, especially when I’m alone. I loved swimming at seward park alone at Asha’s party, swimming at the columbia river, green river gorge, and during the full moon off the T dock with Pardes, Liv, and Zoe. Another spiritual moment for me was the death and grief exhibit at the museo nacional de antropología in cdmx last year and learning about how picked flowers remains have been found on premodern burial sites of ancient people - that maybe we are not so different and that we have been grieving and celebrating in the same ways for a long time

Ja, die heb ik paar keer gehad en herinner ik me nog. Het heeft me dichter bij Hashem baroech Hoe gebracht en mijn gedrag op punten veranderd.

My cousin, a lover of Israel and fishing, had just passed away. I was in Portugal on a tourist boat viewing the cliffs of the Algarve. While we were out, the background music started playing "Baruch Atah Adonai" "Baruch Haba Yerushalaim". I looked up and saw a lone man, high atop a cliff, fishing!! Did his line really reach down to the water?! I felt reassured that there was something beyond death.

One of the most spiritual experiences I’ve had this past year has been returning to the clarinet after many decades away from it. I first played when I was young and even made first chair in junior high, but eventually the clarinet disappeared from my life. In September 2026, I decided to pick it up again and began taking lessons. There is something surprisingly moving about making music on an instrument that was such a familiar part of my childhood. My fingers remember some things, my brain remembers others, and the rest seems to have been filed away in a very inaccessible part of my memory. I’m essentially getting reacquainted with an old friend who apparently expects me to remember where all the notes are. What makes the experience feel spiritual to me isn’t that I’m approaching it as a religious experience. It’s the feeling of reconnecting with a part of myself that had been dormant for decades. There is something wonderful about discovering that an old interest can still spark curiosity and excitement when you return to it much later. It has also reminded me that not everything we do has to serve a practical purpose. I don’t need the clarinet to advance my career, accomplish a particular goal, or prove anything. Sometimes I can simply learn something because I want to, struggle with it, laugh when I make a terrible sound, and try again. That has affected me more than I expected. It has made me more open to following curiosity for its own sake—and to the possibility that some parts of ourselves are not finished just because we haven’t visited them in a very long time.

I had my Mom, Nana and grandpa visit me in my dreams. They all passed on but in my dream we were together having a good time. I woke up feeling happy like I got to visit with them. They were my world and it was nice to get to see them even if it was just a dream.

I’ve been on a few retreats and conferences where I’ve given myself permission to open up and make genuine connections. I’m proud of myself to opening up and follow through with my action plan to do it. It’s been a spiritual journey especially the send it retreat in Lake Tahoe where I’m at tonight writing this.

I think a lot about spirituality, now that its a "required" part of the palliative care assessment. We ask "what gives you strength in difficult times?" What gave me strength this year was weekly therapy -- every single time, I felt seen and slightly less tangled than before. I cry pretty much every time, which is my main way of knowing whether my spirit has been touched.

During a Shabbat service at a WRJ Atlantic district convention several years ago in King of Prussia, I was moved seeing Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell with her book to her chest and eyes closed during a singing part of the service that she was leading. I was so moved that I remember this. I found myself in that position this past year, both in the congregation and while on the bima.

I had hoped visiting Bhutan would bring me some of the transformative experience I had in Nepal. It didn't. But perhaps that was the point. I learned to live with my physical limitations as I grow older, and am grateful for the spiritual gifts and grace that continue to come my way.

a waiter at a mountain hut gave me a hug after staying crouched next to me until my panic attack subsided on my 1st ever solo trip. the kindness of strangers hit me like never before. that wherever i go, i'm not alone. it was almost a year ago and i think about it often. thank you irakli.

I visited the Kotel during Selichot last year, to pray for the release of the hostages. There were no spiritual fireworks in the experience - I felt like I was screaming into a void. But a few weeks later, they were all home.

My spiritual experiences this year have been moments of collective effervescence--at concerts when everyone is singing along and you can lose yourself in the joy; and at my friends' weddings, when everyone is happy and overwhelmed by two people's love for each other

I don't know if I'd call it "spiritual", exactly, but I came to the realization that I need to see art in person the way I need food. Seeing art nourishes my spirit, so I guess I'd say it is spiritual. I realized this when I went to London last December, while in the midst of a crisis with my mother, whose decline into dementia was occupying all my conscious mind. By spending about 8 days going to art museums (and eating good food, too) I was able to cleanse my mind and spirit enough that I could return home and complete what I had to do. I had such a wonderful time, and what stood out to me was work that I have liked before, but this time really pushed me to see differently, and that was the Turner-Constable show at the Tate Britain. I saw the paint itself in a way that I never had. What a life.

Spiritual wise, I have had the discernment to actually forgive, follow high holidays, read Torah/tanakh keep shabbat.

I had a dream not long after my cherished sister died last year. A big car pulled up and there, in the back seat, were my mother and sister grinning and waving. Surprise! So maybe that’s my future chariot — happy me, if it is.

New church with my wife and son, Mill City. The worship is amazing. The lead singer on stage is not just performing, she's connecting with God.

I think my most "spiritual" experience(s) over the past year probably had to have come experiencing the beauty we saw in Alaska. From the moment we got our first glimpse of Denali, to the spouting humpbacks, to the stunning coolness of complete daylight at almost midnight, I found myself taking stock, reflecting on this beauty and even left speechless as I considered just how small we really are in the vastness of our world. I wrote a song about the experience called "Denali," and used the line "I know I'm just a speck in a universe so grand...when I've just seen the tallest mountain in our land." And I think it speaks strongly to those feelings.

I’ve begun to explore voodoo as research for a book I’m writing, while also exploring Hindu stories for a novel I’m editing. While I haven’t felt spiritually moved, academically and creatively I’m learning lots.

Landing in this house in May was profoundly remarkable. It showed up, it happened, and there it was. It simply came to me. I just followed. Looking out on trees, a quietude. The furniture looking wonderful in this setting. Andrew coming and helping and being with me on the 3rd anniversary of Joe's death. I felt the hand of Joe in it all. The perfection. The ease. And here I am. Just today, a glorious fall day, I was taking out the recycling. A piece of paper fell out, I recognized Joe's handwriting. Picked it up. It said: "welcome my love, to a new chapter. Hold on, here we go! Love always and in all ways, Jozu" I stood in silence, moved, tears brimming, looked up at the towering Doug firs, a hummingbird flew high high high above the trees. Later a tiny Pacific tree frog on the yard debris can, stayed with me while I worked in the yard. I felt Joe telling me, I am here, I am here, I am here.

I don't think I'm ever going to experience spirituality outside of my appreciation for art (literature, painting, music -- all of it). Music especially brings out whatever I have that is closest to what you might call spirituality.

Ongoing tea practice is my spiritual anchor. It always brings me something: laughter with friends, insight in my own emotions, grounding during turmoil, a recurring practice that gives a rhythm to my days, a connection with my beloved Yunnan.

I think the closest I get is sitting with my mom, letting go of trying to talk to her, and just trying to be there with her, hearing her, navigating this surreal time with her, being with the woman she is, not looking for the woman/mother she was. I guess I'm finding synagogue spiritual also.

Actually learning that my brother was declining and having my nieces tell my sister and me not to wait until August to visit was spiritual in an opposite kind of way. Spiritual to me generally means uplifting and meaningful. And although the visit was meaningful, it certainly wasn't uplifting. In fact, I came home and said I need help--help imagining my brother's death and my own death. They got inextricably linked while I visiting. I needed help understanding my sister and learning how to better communicate with her. I started work with a therapist and am taking classes in philosophy and spirituality. My brother hasn't passed but he's not doing well. I am still stable as I have been for over 18 months. But yet I can't help but see myself in his decline. And that rocks my world.

My most spiritual moments this past year were mostly artistic! Another great fall trip to NYC, featuring Art, Maybe Happy Ending, Just in Time, Ragtime, and Little Bear Ridge Road, as well as a hilarious off-Broadway production of "Spelling Bee!" Great visual art at the Whitney and MOMA, culinary arts at 11 Madison Park (including a kitchen visit!) and Hangawi. More personally, JFed pulled off Sondheim's "Company," as I enjoyed playing Paul (Amy's groom), and Karen stole the show as Joanne! We even helped Ian & Lucian to some art, as we enjoyed a members' preview of the new LACMA Geffen Gallleries building.

No. I haven't. All I can remember about this past year is pain, stress, fights with my best friend who thinks she has the right to run my life whether I ask he to or not!! The ONLY spiritual thing I can think of, and it is NOT positive, is wondering if this friendship of close to 50 years, is just not worth it any more! I feel so lost, so cut off from my real self, that I feel dead inside. This is just too painful, to answer these questions. I feel like a failure. I have been grieving for a close friend since 2020. That was at the height of the pandemic. He didnt die from Covid. But because of the lockdown there was no funeral, no shiva, no closure of any kind. My grieving has turned into severe depression and physical.pain. I've stopped taking care of myself. My apt. is a mess. I havent been to shul in all this time, which is TOTALLY not like me! I feel abandoned, by people and by Gd. I can't pray. Rosh Hashanah was supposed to be my breakout moment, but because of severe physical pain I never made it out. I was going to meet my friends for tashlich, but never made it out. If rage can be called a spiritual experience, then Ive had plenty of that. It frequently spills over onto other people, then I fell horrible guilt. This is question #5. So far my answers have been completely negative, and I feel there is no hope, or joy, or happiness out there for me. 50 years ago I had a very nearly successful suicide attempt. I promised my friend z"l, I wouldnt try it again. But oh, it is so tempting!!!! And my answers haven't changed that much since last year. How pathetic is that???

The Monica Bill Barnes lunch dance series at the NY Public Library was incredible and moving. I loved the storytelling, especially of the woman who had mobility issues - watching her dance and explore her maps. I cried.

Standing in Lake Ontario the week before Rosh Hashanah. I realized how much time I spent worrying about the near future or wishing I was in the farther future. There is so much beauty in the present if I make the time to find it and let G-d find me.

G-d seems to be mostly silent this year. I'm waiting.

When I was camping with my friends and boyfriend this summer the conditions were terrible. It was smoky, hot, and despite being in the desert there were clouds! Our goal was to watch the meteor shower and it seemed like we would not have any luck which was a great disappointment as I wanted to share this special phenomenon with my friends and partner. They all went to sleep. I tried to sleep and accept the fact that this just wasn’t going to be the year. I had to go to the bathroom around midnight and to my surprise I noticed the clouds had cleared. So I decided to take a walk near the river and away from the lights of the campground to try once more to see the shooting stars. Alas there was an EDM concert in the distance which was reflecting off the clouds to the north and other lights causing a distraction. Still it was a beautiful night with a warm breeze. Even in this sense of defeat it felt powerful to connect to nature in a sort of resilient solitude. I wouldn’t allow these different conditions to steal my joy, my groundedness. I walked back to the campsite, peacefully accepting this year’s stargazing would be a bust. I saw how beautiful the stars were at this lonely hour when everyone had given up looking. I decided - why not try another thirty minutes? I laid out on the picnic blanket we had left out, and just took it all in. It had been a magical night sharing the desert, great food, and heartfelt laughs with my loved ones. As my eyes started to glaze over I finally saw that streak of light. The long tail of the meteor had finally greeted me at the moment when I had come to terms with accepting the happiness I could find just from the whole experience of the adventure. My heart was so full. The meteor felt like a healthy reminder that patience will reward those who persist. But if we are to persist it sure helps to do so with gratitude, community, and love.

I've thought a lot about this while grappling with personal and public losses this year. Watching a soul leave someone's body is an intense reckoning with the unknown and my aspirations for after death. I think I'm more open to "spiritual" experiences I cannot explain with science, certainly not organized religion either. Maybe time makes me more attuned to the world around me and the interconnected was of it all. And the preciousness of it. Everything is temporary.

I don't think that I have had a spiritual experience this year as much as a realization of what is really going on around me. I think that I have finally realized that people really don't trust me. I don't believe that I ever gave them a reason to not trust me. I never outright lied to anyone or misled anyone. I guess I need to attract a better quality of person into my life.

Getting a 30th anniversary blessing at our temple was surprisingly spiritual and moving to me

Being in nature has been the most spiritual thing for me. This was especially true just this past weekend when we stayed on a farm Airbnb!

I continue to perform taharah, a ritual in which we say prayers as we wash, dress, and place deceased congregant members in their casket prior to burial. Doing this is always a deeply grounding and spiritual experience.

Every day is a spiritual experience from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep. God, or whatever God is (everything/universe/light/The Divine), leads me exactly where I am supposed to be. Opportunities, lessons, people...I am being led. Don't get me wrong, I take action, I make goals, I strive for more and make things happen. But when the hard decisions come, I turn it over to God and then take the next right action.

Spiritual ? Well, yes. the tiny blue-tipped feather was an answer to my pleading to a G-d I've lost belief in: "God give me a sign! give me a feather. I'm in a forest, I hear birds, surely this is an easy one???" But no feather as I walked around the acreage, searching the ground. Finally, sitting with my sweater over my knees, I see a tiny feather. Technically, it wasn't from the forest, but from my down jacket, which I did not have with me. A tiny, 1/2" brown feather tipped with irridescent blue. So. I think that's spiritual.

I hadn't thought of this as a spiritual experience, but during the summer, one of my family members was constantly arguing with me, and I, fed up, one day muttered that "I was always wrong". I didn't really say it very loudly, but my 6 year old granddaughter heard me and said "Bubbie, you're never wrong when I love you." That made my heart overflow! I had been feeling unappreciated, but the sincerity of my granddchild really uplifted me.

Uncle John died and I just kept going. Went to work. Didn't really do anything to slow down. But the strange thing was, the day after he died, I kept hearing this voice over and over. And it was saying: I wish I had loved you better. Maybe that was just me wishing he had. Because I felt so let down by him. How me often did things that made me feel invisible. Unheard. Judged. And I was trying so hard during the time I was around him a lot. Trying to break into a new city. Trying to build a career. All while living in the most expensive city in America. And it was overwhelming and really challenging. And I wanted him and my aunt to feel like a safe space. And it just wasn't that. When I would arrive they'd argue in front of me and then try to get me to take sides. They'd tear into each other about the food they cooked and critique it kinda brutally. And then talk at me. Never listen to me. Sometimes I'd be there for hours before they'd even stop to ask how I was or show any interest in me. I felt like I was an audience member, rather than a participate in any conversation. And I did reach out a few times before he passed. But wouldn't get a response. So I do wish he had loved me better. But I can find peace with it all. We're not perfect as people. I did love him dearly.

Every day is a spiritual experience. I am so fortunate.

I’m still thinking about, experiencing/reliving, being with my mom during hospice. I went through a particularly difficult series of surgeries this year and they connect us: they are BRCA and breast cancer related and that’s a ties that binds us forever. I envisioned her before anesthesia before every surgery and it helped calm me down.

I have bought me two dresses so I can attend church sonewhere but U am dragging my feet in hemming them up. My brother, who has cancer, my sister-in-law, and I are healing and miracle believing Christians. We are believing for a miracle healing for my brother. My brother said God told him he would have to suffer some things but that he would be healed here on earth and that it would be no mistaking that it is a miracle from God. We are hanging onto that and will do so until my brother takes his last breath but we are praying God will shorten the time of his suffering. It has not been easy abd iur fauth is being tested at times but what we do know is that Satan is a liar and there is no truth in him. We want God's will to done. I have faith and I pray some for my brother and my son and his family but I continue to not be dedicated and draw closer to God . That is my desire.

I think I am actively seeing the moments I called soap bubbles in time--those moments of deep gratitude and appreciation for the universe, the earth, my own existence, the fragility of it all, and--always--my family. I truly believe we are coming on very hard times and one of things necessary to survive what comes is that sense of awe, wonder, and curiosity. So it isn't one experience. It is making my life into that experience, both in holy and ordinary time and space.

Definitely the safari in Kenya can be described as spiritual. It really puts things into perspective when you realize how small each of us really is. And to have had the chance to travel there with good friends was just amazing. Our Rabbi celebrated a milestone in his rabbinate and I had the opportunity to interview him and write a story for one of our local newspapers. To have had his undivided attention for 90 minutes and to learn more about his journey was very meaningful to me.

I've started climbing more technical mountains, with more exposed routes, this summer, and it's made me think more about my own mortality. (It may be that getting older has helped with this as well.) I find myself in situations where I know that if I step wrong, or lose my grip or footing, I will likely fall to my death. It's completely terrifying, but it's also pleasantly focusing; I have myself, the limits of my body, and the limits of the mountain, and if I move slowly and carefully, I'll be fine. This proximity to death has also led me to think more about the possibility of my death, and while it's definitely something I'd like to avoid, I've realized that it's worthwhile to me to be in these situations where I could die. To use the cliche, they make me feel more alive. I want to live the kind of life where I do interesting, exciting, challenging things, and if I fall to my death because of that, then so it goes.

I have had many moments of awe whilst watching birds. I may even have clapped my hands from time to time.

Attending the book promotion of Eli Sharabi. In the midst of finding my bearings between news from Israel, belonging to my people, and my political subscriptions to equality, human rights and justice - it was so good to be in the presence of someone who endured the worst torture as a hostage in Gaza, yet didn’t succumb to hate. I don’t want hate to define me is what I felt liberating.

While my answer from last year pretty much still holds true, I can add that I do feel something transcendent when listening to Hebrew being chanted. That is why I listen to the minyan every morning. If I let me self listen, I go to a different mental space. On Rosh Hashanah this year I did not follow in the Machzor, I just let the chanting flow into me, trying not to get too lost so I would stand and sit appropriately.

I haven't had any flashy spiritual experiences this year, subsumed as I've been in family life and work. But I still believe that parenting is a spiritual experience. There are moments of transcendent joy sometimes lately with Jules at age four / five - playing outside in the in the backyard together, running around till we fall down in the grass laughing, for a moment I feel blessedly like a little kid myself again. And then there are all the other moments where he humbles me, makes me realize I know nothing, that I have never been more vulnerable, never more painfully aware of my own human frailty. We toggle between these two from minute to minute. I would like the support of a spiritual practice as I navigate these interesting times though. It's such a hard time to be Jewish in this post October 7th world, and I want to lean into Judaism as a source of solace. I'm really excited about the adult beit mitzvah class - I hope it happens. And I'm excited for Jules to start religious school. I hope it gives him the strong, steady spiritual foundation I longed for when I was a child

I spent time with a friend who was in treatment for stage 4 cancer. She asked me to play piano duets with her and we enjoyed a number of sessions together before she sadly succumbed to the disease. I‘m so happy that I was able to spend this time with her doing something that we both loved.

I went to sleep away camp and made clay stuff and I went to cultural festivals and got lollipops and hot dogs and I made a few art pieces and got stickers!

Yes. Several. One was at mom's unveiling. The whole family stood together on a beautiful spring day. We sang, read poetry and shared stories. I felt clean and serene and very very happy. Another came when I finally connected the God of 12 step programs to the God I feel in my heart. I felt I needed to name this God of mine, a spirituality who lives in all things, who I bring into existence by my godly actions. I call that presence NESHAMA, BREATH.

My spiritual experiences ran from conversations with Mike (my mentee), to moments on the porch with clear cool air looking at the park across the street, to weeping on Felicia Curry’s shoulder after her Nina Simone cabaret. It proves to me that you never know when one may happen, or why. I just want to always be open to them.

I've allowed my closed-off spirituality to reopen. As I age and face my own mortality, I know that there is more out there than just cosmic dust. I have never not believed in HaShem, although I was angry with Him when my 1st husband died 29 years ago, when we were both still young. That's when I shut down some of my spirituality. Never stopped going to shul or lighting candles. Now that I'm experiencing the angst of a mother with an ill adult daughter, my spiritual self is open to the Universe and trying to pull the healings needed for her.

I had the opportunity to spend time in Paris in October. We spent a week, and got to explore the city. We visited the D'Orsay - a fabulous museum that is filled with impressionist art that I love. There was a moment that brought tears to my eyes. I walked into a room, and there I saw Danseuses Bleues, by Degas. My father immediately came to mind. When I was young, he had bought me a gift of prints of the Degas' ballet set, and the Danseuses Bleues was one of those. When I saw the original, I saw the whole set, hanging on my wall. My dad came to my mind, I knew he was standing next to me, looking at those paintings and bringing me a sweet memory.

One of the most meaningful spiritual experiences I’ve had this past year was becoming part of IJC at the beginning of the year and joining the community for prayers and services. It was quite different from the synagogues I had attended for many years. Sitting together regardless of gender, being able to follow parts of the prayers in English and actually understand and reflect on their meaning, and being in an environment where people’s identities were simply accepted made me experience Jewish spirituality in a different way. I realised that spirituality, for me, is not only about tradition or following a particular form of worship. It is also about understanding what I am saying, feeling connected to the people around me, and being able to bring my whole self into that space without having to explain or hide any part of who I am. That experience has made me feel more connected to my Jewish identity, but also freer in the way I understand and experience it.

Small “miracles”? Many. Transcendent ones? I don’t put a lot of stock in that narcissistic seeker stuff, often enabled by foreign substances. Some of those small ones? Our meal at Timberyard in Edinburgh, Maine with the boys; Playing drums and singing “IOU”; Frederick Exley’s “A Fan’s Notes”; Woolf’s “To the Lighthouse” Belle and Sebastian’s “If You’re Feeling Sinister” section of their show at the Masonic, Wilco at Forest Hills (and all the pals in NYC)/ Queens; Eephus, Blue Moon, Sound of Falling, Il Posto (films). Frankly who needs drugs and Burning Man...

“Can you feel the SPIRIT? Can you feel the SPIRIT now???” All those (was it 8) Bruce shows on the US Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour. What a coming together of energy and recommitment to our Democracy. One man standing up the the corrupt, felonious bigot who occupies the White House. Springsteen was there when we needed him after 911 and he did it again.

I want a spiritual experience. My dad’s dying. I’m dying. My marriage is dead. Please please send me a spiritual experience!

I've had small moments of transcendence, but few and far between. I really miss those moments, and I feel like they are often associated with flow states for me. I don't often get into flow states anymore, because it's hard to concentrate for any length of time. Is that because my aging brain doesn't do that as well, or I just get fewer opportunities to exercise that? I'm not sure.

Just returned from bringing our younger son to the airport, after he visited here for 2 weeks. We had a lot of fun and rich experiences together: going to a jazz festival, going to a crafts fair, visiting with other family members, shooting a "horror movie" short that he wrote, staged, and directed in 3 days (he, my husband, and I were the actors). Maybe not the traditional definition of spiritual, but being able to share that time with him (we typically only see him once or twice a year) was definitely soul nourishing!

On a dock on an island in northern Ontario, I saw the August lunar eclipse on a midnight that straddled my best friend's birthday and my own: sky overflowing with stars, including the Milky Way, and the bright, bright moon (even with only 2% unshadowed). Truly, I have no words to describe the experience, which is still bright and vivid in my mind's eye. Now I understand why people once worshipped the moon, sun, and stars.

No spirituality to report. Still waiting for that experience!

I have. I walked into a labyrinth and got the message to commit, to stay, and to stop trying to move into the next life. I was not done with this life. When walking the labyrinth I found a rock with my name on it. Very powerful. Left the rock in the center of the labyrinth.

Connecting to another side of Judaism I did not know about. Discovering Swedish Jewish traditions has really made me experience a different side of Judaism. A bit less guilty, a bit more modern, more about bringing people together wether they are very religious or not. Religion is not just texts and traditions. It is also meeting people, building friendships with them based on trust and share experiences.

В моей жизни в прошлом году было несколько ситуаций, которые мне нужно было пережить. Мне было критически сложно. Это были такие ситуации, когда мне могла бы помочь моя семья, но я не хотела моих близких лишний раз тревожить. Я читала молитву Шма Исраэль. И я справлялась.

I don't think so! Not really?? but really always like being at JVP services.

I finished my first original digital painting piece this year and felt both inspired and relieved. I learned a lot about my own creative process, and it helped me to realize that it’s more important to enjoy the process of making things than obsessing over the perfect piece.

As I've navigated life with Stage Four cancer - even writing those words is jarring - I've found greater comfort in my faith. It's a quiet faith to be sure but it comforts me, reassures me and strengthens me.

I am doing a lot of spiritual community building. I'm creating lots of new friends and kindling old one friendships.

Spirituality has a big role in my daily life, both the more secular experiences and the inner most immaterial ones. It's very fresh in my mind the retreat I attended (and helped organise) with fellow spiritual counsellors this past weekend. We had very interesting sessions, some also very intense. I was deeply touched by the Family Constellation session where I could sense "something" really happened on the subtler planes. And I could witness some effects as early as yesterday and today.

I was driving my car, having a day where everything was going wrong. I said in desperation, why is everything so terrible? And I saw across the street, a young man in a wheelchair, all crooked. And in my head I heard, why dont you thank every day for having, legs, eyes, a car, a job?

No. I miss my floating time in Aruba two years ago. That was a connection to the universe. I am so exhausted. I haven’t had a break. It’s hard to feel spiritual

I have spiritual experiences every day where I feel connected with, challenged or guided. I generally don’t question where it comes from but I try to understand what it means and but I’m to learn from it.

I don’t feel a religious spiritual connection often, so this is secular. Being at Zohran’s rally the Sunday before the Election Day was spiritual. We heard from so many movement leaders and fighters for equity and justice and religious leaders. Seeing all of us caring for equality and decent living situations in our city made me have hope for the first time in years.

I had a great spiritual experience in Aspen during Meditation Prayer. It was very moving and full of gratitude. I also had a spiritual experience reading Self-Portrait by David Whyte.

A grade school classmate sent me a photo of a necklace I bought for her in 1983, when we were likely 12 years old.  She was the first girl for whom I ever had romantic feelings.  The relationship did not really go anywhere - just a couple of parent-chaperoned dates - but she obviously kept the necklace.  Her husband noticed it in her jewelry box and asked about it.  When she sent me that message, I had to swallow hard and sit down.    I did not remember the necklace, per se, but the spiritual part of the story is how small acts - either kind or not - or verbal interactions can have a lasting effect on another person.  It is so important to keep doing "one right thing to the next right thing" because you never know what you say/do that will stick with the other person(s).

Abruptly, a very close pal of a decade has reacted to a health emergency and will head back to the northeast. The speed of his decision was a disappointment. He is one of the most spiritual people I have ever known closely, and his loss from my daily spiritual life will be palpable.

wow. okay. i literally said this out loud - was that last night? or was it in fact this morning? yes. i left too much/not enough, my constant inner barometer, in the woods this year. i did. i dont know how but i really did. and from there... ive become more present, and better able to observe my thoughts versus identify them as my self.

I feel like I go through seasons. Sometimes I feel very connected to my faith and to God and Jesus. Other times, I feel like I'm just phoning it in and not spending as much time in prayer and missing more Masses than I should. I kind of feel like I'm in the latter right now. However I will say that last December at confession the priest told me to ask Jesus and Mary to help me not to use the Lord's name in vain. Since then I have been adding that little tag onto my morning prayers. I'm definiely not "cured" of it, but I do feel like I do it much less. Their intervention has definitely helped in a noticeable way.

I realized that heaven and hell cannot exist? Basis is that I would properly belong in neither.

I have had many and wild dreams . I ask for my spirit guides to guide me al the time

Two very different experiences: 1) On stage (not at parties, but at concerts), the dread and sadness of the world rolls off of me, and I feel the joy of sharing the music with an audience. In these times, this escape has been very healing. 2) Falling asleep has been a spiritual experience for me. After years of insomnia, to be able to turn the lights off (admittedly late at night) and drift to sleep without fear of struggling with an uncooperative conscious brain rates with the most miraculous moments of my life.

When my daughters came to visit for the first time in decades, Michelle suggested we go to Friday night services at our old family temple - Adat Elonim - in Thousand Oaks. We we a bit saddened and nervous when we arrived to see all the security guards and fences "protecting" the building. Once inside, NO one recognized us - it had been over 20 years, but our memories were still very sharp even though no one knew who we were. The beautiful portrait of our rabbi was delegated to a dark corner of the conference room - and the tree that had been on the wall with all our family commerative leaves was no where to be found. It was as if we'd been erased from the place and for me I found it very difficult to be in the place... UNTIL the very end of the service we we all stood together to sing Hinei Ma Tov - emotions tears and memories of the Bat Mitzvahs (mine included) my parents, family and friends who had been part of our lives for so long and knowing that 2 minutes of togehter time with my daughters was something I won't experience again. The other event occurred at my parent's graves - with putting stones instead of flowers - Kim turned what could have been a sad event into a really FUNNY one with the stones - so many for my dad cause he "liked to party" BIG ones for my mom so she wouldn't be jealous. I could just imagine the other family visitors seeing all those stones and thinking just how "popular" my parents must have been! Jewish events have different meanings - traditions I never knew growing up - passed on to my kids - and eventually to theirs, more so with Michelle's family with Barak being much more religious than anyone of us - with all the horror of the world SO against us, it's such a wonderful feeling to know that WE WILL LIVE ON!!

I think all sense of spirituality has died for me. I didn't feel God anywhere. If there is a God, she isn't in this house and I've been almost nowhere else.

No not so much. I’ve seen some good art

I don't think I have had any.

Still no I try to feel Lenny with me but nothing special had nightmares about him for a long time and those were horrible. Took medicine to stop that now he’s in my dreams. It’s not bad anymore as close as I get to something spiritual sometimes when the dogs laying against me in the middle of the night and I’m barely awake or barely asleep, I don’t know which I forget. It’s a dog and it feels like Lenny leaning against me and there’s this moment of pure love and joy and that’s close to spiritual.

I have felt the shekinah move through me like liquid gold.

Besides the weekly inspiration of my pastors sermons, this has not been an especially spiritual year. Odd. I’m open to it!

I met an old man dying on cancer. We only could talk to each other 3 times bevor he passed away. Yet there was an unbelievably strong connection between us, deep understanding, that we could not express with words. I'm incredibly thankful for having shared just few moments of his life. Every time I see clouds I will smile thinking of him...

Learning how to do sprang, something that my ancestors certainly did, was a link to my past. One that goes past written documents and straight into the sort of thing that is just done. Women and men sat with a frame, made of a tree branch perhaps, and wound yarn and made bags or sashes or hair nets, using the very similar gestures.

Several: -The passing of my brother at home - i was present for his last breath at 3:30 am, sling with his wife and son. -The birth of our first grandchild and the recovery of our daughter from a serious illness requiring chest surgery when she was 5 weeks post partum. -The dream i had which i shared with my rabbi followed by her taking me to a mikvah where the 3 immersions covered 3 upcoming huge life transitions: 1) my brothers impending passing 2) birth of our grandchild 3) retiring my medical practice

In the last couple months, Sarah has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Up until now, I always felt I had a good grasp on the idea of death; that it wouldn't change my approach. Before this point, I would still selfishly get caught up in myself from time to time and daydream on how my passing would impact others. Since Sarah's news, my focus has really shifted away from such inward focus and repositioned myself as a source of stability to her and our children. Surprisingly, the shift hasn't come at a cost. It feels like a natural evolution. All the while, I feel more confident in my agnostic views. Sarah's cancer has further cemented my thinking. At a minimum, if God or a supernatural being is behind our existence, our actions do not give joy or disappointment to the Creator. Nature's constant balancing act is neither evil nor good; and randomness is not vindictive. Rather, if kindness and empathy are the offspring of love and if love is the only visible gift from a Creator (because, after all, what drives a person to be kind?), then my only encounters of God is through the generous acts of our friends. All the more, if tumultuous moments provide definitive opportunities for kindness to be offered, then Nature's balance can be seen in a more kindhearted light. The flip side, however, is just the opposite: if tumultuous moments lead to further isolation and despair then the balancing act is even more cruel and unbearable. So, if there's any proof in a kind and just God, it is in faces of our friends and neighbors when we lessen the burden for another, and the "how" becomes more akin to miracles than a supernatural manifestation of God's goodness. Whenever possible, generous acts and 2nd chances are the toolkit for humanity's salvation. Shame can motivate, but cannot not fully break the chain. As I continue to articulate this thinking, I feel less weight on my shoulders. My limited time on Earth becomes more precious to do whatever it takes to further lighten the load and increase my appreciation for this life I've been given.

Nope. Nothing has made my heart soar. Except watching Joshua Bell conduct. That was beyond beautiful.

I did find this year’s Rosh Hashanah spiritual. The words from the rabbi and Batya and the singing

This happened last Yom Kippur, but my rabbi gave an amazing sermon about Jewish identity and since then i have started eating as kosher as possible when months before that i was in France eating non-kosher meats and fish. I don’t do that any more

This year I started studying Mussar. It has resulted in my connection to God and to nature being much more bright and vibrant. Every day I take a moment for Hineni

2026 has been very much about my body, which I hate, because I'd rather be having spiritual experiences and not sensate ones. That said, of course the physical can be spiritual. I've told ghost stories a bit this year, and I like telling people about my ghosts. Spirit to me is connection, and I've been feeling really disconnected. So it's been a trickle this year. I hope the spirit flows next year.

The year has felt like so much of a blur that it's hard to poinpoint -- but the creative process, in which I've engaged writing new songs and deciding that a play is complete enough to be "finished" is always highly spiritual. I believe that creativity is the closest that any of us comes to the divine. Additionally, watching my son marry his long-time girlfriend in a ceremony that was completely their own was magical.

I had the extreme honor of being present for the Midwest premiere of Bruce Campbell's latest movie, Ernie & Emma, at the Redford Theatre in Detroit. To be there with his friends and family also in attendance was truly memorable and rather poignant given the subject matter of the film and the news that Bruce had been diagnosed with treatable, but not curable, cancer.

Spending several days in Xian, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Few hrs before my mother's funeral I woke up at 4 am with an urgency to check the opening g if her grave to ensure all was ok, everyone thought I was crazy,when I arrive to the Plot they had opened the wrong one, next to it and thanks as I was there 3 hrs before they had time to fix it. I felt my mother's voice was behind it .

I completed my 80th year this May. I am now 80 years old! I have noticed a shift in my perspective of the world and my place in it. I am experiencing a subtle anxiety about...everything. This anxiety flows through the cells of my body. I am noticing that "nothing matters" and "everything matters" from a deepening place within me. I am watching everything, focusing on more details of life, of color and form, of breath and body, and am slowing down. Spiritually: I have moved deeply into the 10 oxherding pictures and am celebrating how this ancient pictorial informs my own life (and, definitely, what I am teaching at this time). I am more interested in life and death and love. Love as freedom -- opening everything, courageous in vulternability. Death as inevitable and surprising, and that I remember as I can my ancestors who survived and persevered and gave me this gift! Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude! and Life as such a beautiful gift that I immerse myself in it every day and give gratitude to all of nature and the cosmos. I am slowly moving into creating more space in my life to clean out everything I no longer need. This requires to now scour the surface to get to the gleaming brilliance of my own essential nature. And shine that into the world.

In my meditation practice I have focused on equanimity in meditation and life. I try to take life as it is rather than how I want it to be. And it feels like I’m doing it most days!

I find myself particularly moved by Jewish music using minor chords. I am also very much moved by that heard in churches or other Christian settings such as "How Great Thou Art" and "Amazing Grace." The words in praise of God are powerful.

Visited by several passed family

Making connections with people through conversations deeply affects my spirituality. I also gave a dvar Torah in a service where my son was reading Torah. I felt spiritually uplifted, not only because we led together, but because my family were all there and we did it in our community and for our community.

I try to grasp my spiritual experiences as they fly by, and they often take the form of being caught by moments of beauty. That beauty is often natural and local: a particularly spectacular - or subtle - sunset or cloud formation; the light on the foothills; flowers or foliage; vistas; and so on and on. I work at being grateful and acknowledging my privilege - I know that’s a trendy and possibly PC thing to do, but I also feel that is real. I have so much and have had so much luck in my life, and I don’t want to take it for granted. This summer we went to the region around Moab. It was a crash course in natural beauty and contrast, and it refilled my well of Southwest scenery. Every view was its own font of spirituality.

Feeling my mother’s presence in an ancient sacred site in Gotland was very spiritual for me. It felt unearthly and natural - she was simply there - both with me and inherently. She reminded me that I know who I am and whose I am.

I was in a cathedral in Casablanca, and being there, admiring the architecture and the light coming in, made me cry uncontrollably. Even though I was having an amazing weekend and feeling great, somehow being there made me very emotional. I’m not very religious, but I do pray a lot lately. I feel it brings me hope, even though I don’t per se believe in it.

Spiritually, I think I've realized that I need a Jewish community, though my life as it is right now (living and travelling between 2 places) makes creating that connection challenging at best, seemingly impossible at worst. There's been a deep part of me that has pulled back from theatre this year too, which I have to say has a lot to do with my feelings about the wokeness and anti-semitism in that community. So it's been a real year of spiritual homelessness for me, something I've found very difficult. I'm beginning therapy at the end of September with a new therapist, something that fills me both with excitement and anxiety. Will this work? Will it be a place where I can connect with my higher self? Will it be a place where I can process the feelings of disconnection and despair that have characterized this last year? Partly, it's easier for me to focus on the negative. I've started re-writing a full-length play this year, one that I felt was missing my unique voice because of the rigors and expectations of graduate school. I should be proud of that. But I'm struggling to find that pride. I won't lie, I could really use a tribe right now.

Not really, apart from the fact that I am now writing a book about me and my uncle. It’s a fictional story of a young girl with two uninterested parents who is harmed by a monster who lives in the walls of her bedroom.

No revelations. Instead, an overall feeling to not worry about whether what I do is effective or not, just keep doing the right thing anyway

Oh wow! My whole life is an ongoing spiritual experience. Some lovely. Some fall into the category of "Another Fing growth experience" :)

Seeing the endless interaction of the clouds and the mountains and the ocean. How it quietly, strongly, brings me to now and sizes my problems and place in the world.

Having less faith and knowing im blessed in some areas but areas I need more help in its like God turns away 🥺

I go to synagogue more often, I have made a few more friends. I am enjoying living life, but I am on a trackr trial. F*** Ca****. Life is worth living. I also found myself and like myself.

Close to God when in nature or reading my bible

That’s a good question. I don’t think I’ve have had a lot of huge spiritual breakthroughs. I would say I’ve a had quite a bit of small moments that have built over time to a greater sense of moral and spiritual clarity. if that makes sense. Sonetimes I’ve had moments of this kind when in synagogue and after walking around the upper west side at night. I feel brief moments of beautiful clarity. I get this sense a lot at night when I’m reading a beautiful poem under a lamp and trying to focus on what it means. I would also that in the opposite sense I’ve had a lot of moments of spiritual despair and isolation especially when I broke my knee and was at home alone for six weeks.

I fell in love with a pillbug. I know that it sounds utterly bizarre, but I have no other way to describe what happened. I was walking down a path on the campus of the University of Edinburgh and I saw a small gray oval pillbug crawling along by my feet, and I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of love for that bug and for all of the creatures in the world. I can't explain it, but it was a wonderful feeling of openness and connection and I want to keep carrying it with me.

I'm struggling to feel God's presence in my life

Las cartas de tarot que he sacado reflejan bastante bien el estado en el que me encuentro al momento. Esto representa para mí una conexión con algo que no sé definir. El papá de Fernando falleció y pude asistir al velorio porque el día y el lugar resultaron muy adecuados para mí. Esto lo interpreté como que era mi derecho estar en la despedida aunque ni Blanquita ni sus dos hijos pensaron en mí. Fernando sí me dijo, lo cual agradezco. Fue un evento doloroso porque vi que ya no era parte de esa familia como llegué a serlo para ellos. Pero era mi derecho de estar ahí.

I have spiritual moments in every service -- but they are unpredictable, they come and go. I sometimes feel a deep sense of the Divine when I am meeting with congregants. The watery places remain deeply spiritual for me, as well. And a high point was the return of the pelicans in the spring!

Sitting the core retreat with Thomas Huebl 9/2-9/9 and experiencing the glittering world in the dew drops on the morning grass, the glittering in my body sensations, light on the forest floor. Growing the world within my system, feeling how fully I am alive. God lives between us, even Joel and I when we are angry at each other, between me and Inka, Sue, Dad, Tom, Maya, Zev....each precious interaction is energized by God.

I’ve become a bit of a pagan over the years, finding spiritual solace in nature. Walking, hiking and bicycling provide relief from willful chaos brought upon us by zealots of every religious and political stripe. When walking along the river or hiking in nearby foothills prayers of gratitude come easily. It’s when I come home and open the paper or turn on the tube that any human connection to divinity disappears.

I have had anti spiritual epiphanies if you will. Moments where my distrust of organised religion and attempts to step away from it felt clear and crystalline. It occurs to me as a mental health delusional patient that all 'prophets ' and holy men are delusional just with charisma or a retelling of their story further down in history which paints them perfect for the establishment who adopts and often alters their message

The spiritual highlight of my year was the day my daughter became a Bat Mitzvah. Singing alongside her, passing the Torah to her through the generations, watching her chant Torah with joy (and my son volunteer to read torah!), listening to my daughter's beautiful dvar torah, and honoring some of the people who mean the world to us moved me in ways I cannot describe.

One of the sessions at the Jewish music conference I attended was a very spiritual experience. We learned four prayer/songs, each given a particular intention. When the intention resonated, we were invited into the center of the circle to be blessed, with others singing the prayers from the outside of the circle. It was very spiritual to bless others and to be blessed myself.

Jesus comes to me at night and opens my heart and I feel I am the light of love. Writing this helps me to feel what it was like. Once I had a healing for my body. I say that you Divine for coming to me and yes I asked that Jesus comes.

Yes. The Universe charged me with the task of being envoy for Gaiåcracy, governance according to the distributed intelligence of our Gaia matrix. I am doing my best!

It's an election year and that means working the polls. I love working the polls. It's a long, challenging day. But I get to revel in the light of democracy and serve my community and it makes me feel good. So far, I've only worked the primary this year. The general is in a few months and I hope I do a better job. But I got to spend an entire day working together with people who have different backgrounds and political beliefs and we have a genuinely good time while helping my government to once again execute a free and fair election. The sheer scale of that task is astounding and I love the little piece I get to contribute.

I really appreciated being a link in Chip’s journey to Judaism and it absolutely touched me with memories of my own experience and rekindled my curiosity about our faith. My trip to Tanzania was certainly a spiritual experience - seeing the cycle of life and reflecting on my balance it in was wonderful. My opportunity to pray in a mosque with other women in Istanbul was a very special and very spiritual moment as well.

Beth El’s annual Shabbaton at Camp Newman, especially the Shabbat morning hike to the top of the ridge. Being in a natural setting and away from electronic devices for 36 hours helps me to reconnect with what I value most. I especially love sharing the shabbaton experiences with our multi-generational community—seeing the young parents with their children and the teens with their peers gives me hope for the future of Jewish traditions. .

I'm not sure I have. I got my Tarot cards back out but have not been using them. I looked into joining a synagogue but at the last minute got spooked, I guess. Or didn't want it badly enough. For the first time in...god, eight years?...I didn't host a seder (although we did have a mini-seder at home with the kids). I actually think if I could find a better spiritual practice it might go a long way to settling my soul a bit more here in this new place. An antidote to all the driving and the "rustic charm" and the suburban sprawl, this feeling I have of being out of step with my surroundings. (Though--perhaps the closest I have come--are moments in nature. The time I went for a hike with the kids and we waded through a stream and I just sat and watched them play in the water for 30 minutes. The time we hiked through the fall leaves; there was a waterfall, but the foliage was the point. Or the snow, the thick blankets of snow and going out in it to get more wood for the fire. Those have been my snatches of spirituality this year.)

I'd say one of the nicest experiences I've had in the past year was teaching the littles at church how to ring the chimes. They've had such fun ringing and we've shared our prayer requests with each other and I've really seen the face of Jesus in those kiddos.

Yes, watching my mother-in-law, Louise, transition from life to death was an experience I had never had previously. It was a peaceful and graceful transition that I will always remember.

I don’t recall having too many, if any, grounding moments this year. I usually answer this question by reflecting on a moment where I felt alone and at peace or connected or earthed. This year has been quite the turbulent one and there was probably more grounding needed. But there is one thing that I reflect that does ground me and that’s when I watch Izzy sleep. When I watch her chest rise and fall, when I see her front paws twitch, or her mouth make a lapping motion while she’s deep asleep. I try to calm my breath so it’s not to disturb her. And if she’s doing that while I can also watch Alwyn watch into the distance, it fills my heart with just a pure warmth and joy that this is my family. I feel so blessed that these are the creatures I get to share my life with. So at the moment, my family is what’s grounding me.

I have been thinking quite a bit about the time after death or witnessing and experiencing suffering. I feel that there is something sacred about anything that causes positive regard for other beings. I feel strongly that you can know someone or something for even a small amount of time and still honor that you care about them. There are many myths about how long you need to know someone or that animals do not matter. It is very spiritual to have any connection whatsoever.

Probably not. Spirituality is a personal journey toward life's purpose and inner connection, often separated from the formal dogmas and structured community of organized religion. When I have made excellent books, or done excellent calligraphy, or teach a well planned class ... I am as spiritual as I get.

I’ve always considered myself a little bit psychic just in a spiritual way nothing like I have powers or something like that but I feel like therapy helped me a lot with controlling my emotions and with my own boundaries and perspective and proportions that a lot of it came in a spiritual way, not because that’s what I was taught, but I think that’s kind of my nature and I feel a lot more connected to myself and kind of the environment, and what I believe in also politically and morally, and I’m connected to myself a lot more and what I believe in and I just feel a lot more based in my thoughts .

Att ha börjat markera sabbaten hemma. Det har gett mig mer mening, en känsla av tillhörighet och välbehövlig mental återhämtning.

Getting to lead Shabbat services again was always a good feeling. Also, when our son had surgery, I read תהילים, which calmed me. It was what I needed at that point.

I’ve had many spiritual experiences over this past year and they have shaped my life by giving me direction, comfort, encouragement, information, foresight, healing…I am thankful for my spiritual experiences!

Finding a praying mantis once again in front of our house on a day when I was feeling down was a very spiritual experience.

I’ve found it hard to connect with music since becoming disabled and this year I fell in love with multiple albums in a way that I used to fall in love with and play an album on repeat, and it felt spiritual, the way I could sink into music again. One was Olivia Dean’s most recent album and the other was Hayley Williams’ new album, which is a fucking masterpiece. Super recently, I’m enjoying the unfiltered love and grief in Sara Bareilles’ new album Good Grief, and watching her model loving and grieving so publicly and openly feels like witnessing an important spiritual experience.

Being at the Queer Yeshiva intensive. Through nature, community, and prayer, I felt very spiritually connected. I also wild swam at the Arbroath Cliffs and felt deep spiritual wonderment at creation.

IDK about spiritual, but my retirement parties were all pretty great. I felt loved. Then, my extended time in Belgrade and Budapest were really nice, filled with beauty every day.

Similarly to last year, ensuring Nature plays a big role in my daily life is a key component to a peaceful life. I will continue this path.

I feel like most years, my answer would be abundant and I love answering this one. For some reason this last year, I feel like I have been more sidetracked during Morning Minyan, stopped my daily Daf Yomi practice after 4+ years, haven’t been reading the books beside my bed or done my normal prep for the High Holidays. I would like to make more space for this. I do feel like my kids are both immersed in this and interesting to see Asher’s spiritual path really igniting. I am looking forward to being at Ikar for Yom Kippur and feeling more of that. I have been holding a lot this last year or two and I am also looking forward to the Ikar Shabbaton in May and really prioritizing having that time in nature, hitbodedut, not being distracted and I think I really need to commit to a daily practice again of meditation, reading one of my page-a-day Jewish books. I have been going to yoga more regularly and that has been positive and also the daily walking routine in Spain for 3 weeks absolutely felt transformative albeit not necessarily spiritual.

Nothing special spiritually this year. I’m grateful for my family’s good health & thrilled my children are all happily married. My spirits are low & Im sad. Hope this year everyone stays healthy safe & happy & Gd protects them all. Hope mom will be ok.

Cuddling my kids, singing in services, singing along with Moshav or Batya Levine, reading Everett Fox's translation of the Torah.

Reading from the Torah for the very first time as the conclusion of my adult b’mitzvah program. It felt so right and good to do so, and being blessed by my whole community was something distinctly heartwarming. Standing arm and arm with my fellow students and feeling the soft resonant chime in my soul of “you are exactly where you need to be” was a deeply meaningful experience.

I've had a robin visit me in my garden all throughout the summer. It sits on my balustrade near my window for ages. I often chat to it. I like to think it's my late sister in law, grandma or recent friend who passed away - all popped by to say hello. I've not seen it for a month or so but the kids enjoyed looking out for it too. Gave us all a smile + we felt the love 🧡

I think it's the fact that I prayed to God for a good partner. I told him that I completely put my destiny in his hands, that I trust him. I wanted some kind and caring and loving, I was so tired after all the disappointing boys I encountered. And then I found him :)

Going through the hospice care with my father-in-law and seeing how death is just the part of life in this natural state. This experience has affected me in how I need to continue my physical presence on this earth. Live with gratitude and humility knowing that our actions make a difference and legacy for the world to come. NOT our material value.

Hearing the “Habanera” during a performance of Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Metropolitan Opera. The aria has stuck around since I first heard it in Rome back in 2022. Becoming a creative anchor for my writing and poems. So, to hear it sung felt like a spiritual experience.

This year has been less a new awakening and more a deepening of last year's. Last year I understood that I am not my thoughts, that my true self and my egoic self are different things. This year that has grown into a fuller sense of connection. I have come to genuinely believe we are all connected to every living thing, because at root we are all the same matter, molecules and atoms. My sentience and my physical form are the universe's way of expressing itself as me, for a while. What has surprised me is where that showed up. For much of this year I have carried a heavy guilt and shame about putting weight back on, and about eating to avoid feelings I do not want to face. The shift has been being able to see even that struggle as part of the same expression, rather than a failing of "me" or my ego. It does not fix anything on its own, and I know I still have to face what sits underneath the eating. But holding it as the universe moving through me, instead of as proof that I am broken, has let me carry it more lightly. That feels like real ground gained.

The Hockney exhibition at the Serpentine Galleries

I have had many profound and deeply moving experiences this year. I tend not to highlight anything as being "spiritual"