Hi Community, 

Does this time of year start to feel like a lot of pressure? In the midst of all the calendared events & holiday chaos, you might also feel the weight of trying to make sense of the past 12 months and have a game plan together for the next 12.

If that feels like a lot (and if you remember every year around this time feeling like a lot), I invite you to join me in a gentler rhythm. As I narrate to you the rituals of my people, I invite you into a longer, kinder cycle of moving from one year to the next.

As a Hakka person, I’ve been taught to observe the Lunar New Year as our annual transition instead of the western January 1st. Lunar New Year is based on a lunisolar calculation–the second new moon (moon) after the winter solstice (sun). While the date shifts on the Gregorian calendar, it generally falls in late January or early February. 

There is something so poetic and balanced to me about how my ancestors arrived at this ying yang, sun-moon way of welcoming newness in arguably the most human of all time increments: the year. I say the most human because we measure our ages in years. We mark epochs in human history by years. We review & anticipate growth in years. We speak of our lifespans in years. 

And because of the weight & meaning that we humans place on “the year”, my ancestors and elders created customs that reflect how important this annual transition is. We don’t acknowledge or celebrate the new year on a single day. We prepare at least 6-8 weeks in advance and celebrate over the course of a whole month. 

For example, with Lunar New Year still 7 weeks away, at markets everywhere here in Taiwan, vendors have put out stalls overflowing with New Year’s candies and snacks. We begin to stockpile as many sweet & sticky things as we can in home to attract sweet blessings this upcoming year. My aunties have already begun sending messages through the grapevine to prepare for our New Year family gathering. Who will bring what dishes? How are we doing red envelopes this year? What new babies were born to the family? Will they be big enough to come? How can we make it warm enough for them? New Year comes slowly, intentionally, and communally for us. 

This year, Lunar New Year falls on February 10th. Does that give you some relief when thinking about year-end reflections and new year planning? You have a month & a half to ease into it, if you choose to take my invitation.

Another way that we prepare for the new year is to make our homes “new” through deep cleaning. This ritual purge helps us resist winter illness in the physical realm and mirrors the internal housekeeping that has kept my people resilient, sharp, and agile in the mental realm. In the spiritual realm, our New Year celebrations ground us in gratitude & joy-making. From wearing red, to lighting fireworks, passing out red envelopes, eating feasts, dancing with dragons, and carrying lanterns–-we take shedding the old, warding off evil, and welcoming peace & prosperity to a level that is strikingly beautiful and collective. 

Why am I narrating our Lunar New Year customs to you in this email? Because one thing about me, I'm gonna remind us there's better ways--and often those better ways aren't the ways of dominant culture. Often those better ways are in the space between ancestral knowledge, present choice, and future imaginings. Those better ways emerge from our shared stories as powerful reminders of what we already know and what we have yet to step into.

I invite you to come back to your imagination and your intuition this season. To connect with what your ancestors have left for you. To connect with what your future generations wish for from you. 

Where can you write a new way of being & doing that draws you deeper into a rooted existence? And from that earthy place, grow something that lasts & nourishes not only yourself, but all those you’re connected to?

Over the next few weeks, I'll share how I'm approaching this transition – each share is an invitation for you to move more gently toward your future too.

One way I'm shifting is creating more space for us to grow together. Starting January, I'll host monthly community calls.

Join our first free call on JANUARY 7th, 8pm EST to discuss Creative Entrepreneurship & Cracking Capitalism.

You can find out more about it here in the Community Portal. Or read the blurb & add it directly to your Google Calendar here.  I’ll share more about the discussion & offer some guiding questions in advance of the call.

Keep an eye on your inbox in the next few weeks for:

• -Reflections on my first year of business (my "R&D" & "DIY MBA" year)

• -My journey from business non-believer to creating entities that sustain historically marginalized communities & steward native land (land back & community economics)

• -2025 development plans for educational & creative projects (courses are coming!)

• -Practical lessons learned - from tech to systems to strategies (with handy templates!)

• -My non-negotiables & how next year will be different (my challenge in self-trust)

Wishing a gentle week for you and yours. You got this. Keep going.