January Founders Corner: Being the Light: Amplifying What We Wish to See

Posted: January 12, 2026

Hello 2026! It’s here and coming in HOT (literally). If you follow the Chinese calendar at any level, you might know that this is the year of the Fire Horse, a symbol often associated with intensity, movement, courage, and raw life force. Fire can destroy, yes. At the same time, it can also illuminate, warm, and guide. Fire asks a question: What are you feeding? And more importantly, what are you amplifying? In this article, I suggest specific ways to focus this next year, with emphasis on seeking ways to “Be we want to see” on our shared earth.

Given the headlines these days, it is easy to recognize the heat in the world right now. We are surrounded by collective uncertainty and the constant pull toward outrage and despair. And yet, throughout history, and across wisdom traditions, we are reminded of the same truth: real change does not come from amplifying fear, but from replicating love and hope. So, how can we replicate love, or other heart opening states when the collective struggle seems to be burning the minute you check the daily news? The short answer is…understanding ‘choice’.

At the start of each year, I take a moment to choose a theme or word I would like to follow me through the seasons. This year, I initially thought my word would be playfulness: a reminder to soften, to create, to move with curiosity rather than pressure. However, as our family sat around the table tossing out potential themes for 2026, my son chose the word amplified. That clicked for me at an intuitive level. Amplified felt bigger, more inclusive. Playfulness lives inside it, but so do joy, creativity, courage, connection, and vitality. Amplified is not about doing more; it is about turning up what is already true and turning on a flame that lives within us. Choosing to be ‘amplified’ this year felt like stoking a fire that had the power to replicate all the values I hold most dear.

I think we can agree 2026 is very much awake – like a megaphone turned up full volume. Many challenges across the globe show obvious signs of distress. However, what each of us amplifies, differs from person to person and ultimately what we are manifesting. When we focus solely on what is broken, frightening, or unjust, we may believe we are being realistic…or even responsible. But fear, when amplified, rarely leads to transformation. Love does. Hope does. Presence does. As the poet Kahlil Gibran reminds us, we are capable of holding more than one truth at the same time: suffering and joy, grief and beauty, pain and meaning. One does not cancel out the other. It matters what frequency we are tuning into (feeling struggle and resonating with it, or feeling struggle and using it as growth). The invitation is not to deny pain, but to refuse to let it be the loudest voice in the room.

Furthermore, I invite you to consider the possibly that playfulness might be the bridge in holding both our capacity to care for ourselves while also attuning to the needs and pressures of our greater world. Play (whether physical, creative, relational, or spiritual) has a unique fire. When we play, we access the most alive parts of ourselves. Our nervous systems soften (Porges, 2011). Our imaginations open (Brown, S. L., & Vaughan, C. C. 2009). Our hearts become more available (Barbara Fredrickson, 2001/2013). In these moments, we are not bypassing reality; we are remembering our capacity to meet reality with resilience and light. Play amplifies our highest frequency, not because life is easy, but because we are grounded enough to stay open. Play is not an escape. It is a biologically supported pathway toward integration and wholeness.

Another way to be amplify is to work as ‘lighthouse”. A lighthouse does not chase ships or rescue them from the sea. It simply stands, rooted and luminous, offering guidance by being exactly what it is. In the same way, we do not need to fix everyone or absorb the weight of the world to be of service. We can be a light without rescuing. We can be a steady presence. Through joy, creativity, and playfulness, we naturally become a beacon. Our light amplified simply by being lived.

So perhaps the work this year is not to fight harder against the darkness, but to be more intentional about what we feed. To ask ourselves: What do I want to grow: in my body, my relationships, my community, and my inner world? Because what we practice spreads. What we embody sparks like fire. And what we amplify becomes contagious.

A Moment to Reflect: Your Word for the Year

Take a few quiet minutes and consider the following questions:

When do I feel most alive, grounded, or open-hearted?
What qualities are present in those moments?
If I could amplify one way of being this year, not to perfect myself, but to support my nervous system and spirit, what would it be?

Let a word or phrase arise naturally. It might feel playful, expansive, calming, or bold. There is no “right” choice, only one that resonates. You may wish to place this word somewhere visible, return to it during moments of stress, or simply let it gently orient your choices. Sometimes, clarity doesn’t come from effort, but from allowing what wants to show up to be heard.

As we enter the year of the Fire Horse, may it be a time of opening: to new possibilities, the harvesting of inner resilience, and a year of playful, meaningful, and purposeful rising from places that feel dark. 2026 is the year of breathtaking light…if we choose to seek it.

Brown, S. L., & Vaughan, C. C. (2009). Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul. Avery.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218

Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Positive emotions broaden and build. In P. Devine & A. Plant (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 47, pp. 1–53). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407236-7.00001-2

Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.

Gibran, K. (1923/2002). The prophet. Alfred A. Knopf.