Very recently, I learned a fun anecdote about my mother:
About ten or so years ago, she and my father went to see a show on Broadway. (my whole family is big musical theater nerds.)
My mother was sickly and in a wheelchair, and so when the show was over, my father left to get the car from a number of blocks away and pick her up right in front of the theater. She was slow and didn’t feel secure enough to navigate the streets of Times Square in her clunky motorized wheelchair at 11pm.
My mother waited in the lobby theater for him, as the rest of the audience ignored her and quickly filed past her to get home or go out. She was finally all alone in the lobby, nervous & a little afraid as she sat there in her wheelchair.
About two minutes later, a man and woman walked out of the main theater, looking in a rush to leave. But they saw my mother all alone, and went over to her, asked if she was ok, and said they weren’t going to leave until my father got there.
When my father finally got to the theater (traffic in NYC is tough), the man and woman said goodbye to my mother & quick left without even saying hello to my dad.
My father looked at my mother and said, “Was that who I think it was?!?”
It was Robert DeNiro!
He and his date had arrived at the Broadway show after the lights went down, and waited at the end until everyone left so that they could avoid being spotted by too many people in a crowd.
But no matter how famous or busy he was, he still stopped to do an act of kindness for someone who really needed it.
Small acts make a big difference.
To strangers. To loved ones.
It’s easy to forget this.
But we can make a difference in all the ways that we show up.
And we can certainly also make a difference by doing our sacred work in the world.
That’s why I keep this treasured piece of art that a client made for me a number of years ago on my desk, so I can see it every single day:
Small acts. Big acts. I really believe we have more power than we even know.
2025 was a year where so many people (& transformational practitioners) got stuck in a sort of fear or shock…at all of the tough stuff happening in the world. (There has been a lot!).
Let’s make 2026 the year where, no matter what happens in the world, we are there for each other, we show up to make a difference, we do what we can – big & small – for ourselves and for others.
Thank you for being a part of this newsletter community.
If you’re here (& you’ve read this far!), I know you are the type of person who cares deeply about the world and is here to make a difference.
I honor you for that, and please know: you matter very much.
Wishing you a meaningful, abundant, and impactful 2026.
