A New Moon reflection on healing, awakening, and building a life rooted in intention ❇️
Volume 4, Issue 1
January 18, 2026
New Moon in Capricorn 🌑♑
Sun in Capricorn 🌞 ♑
Hello friends, and happy New Moon❣️
As we welcome the first New Moon of 2026, I invite you to take a gentle pause. Let this moment find you just as you are, with no rush or pressure—simply a chance to breathe, reflect, and start fresh in your own way.
With gratitude, I find my way back to Substack after a brief pause to enjoy the holidays, the turning of the calendar year, and time to settle more fully into the season. I am not one to leap into New Year’s resolutions, but I do value mindful reflection on the year past, paired with a gentle release of a habit, a belief, a need, or even an object that no longer serves my greater good. I believe this practice creates space for what is truly needed to support my dreams, goals, and overall well-being.
As I write to you today, I am beginning Volume 4 of this newsletter, now entering its fourth year of existence. I am deeply proud of this creation—one that was birthed from a profound need to share my grief following my daughter Sierra’s death in 2022. As I write on the About page of this newsletter: This space was born from my healing journey as a bereaved mother and has grown into a living practice of self-care, presence, and creative renewal. Each post is written from my own tides—moments of loss and wonder, surrender and emergence. My hope is that something here reminds you of your own inner wisdom.
I write and share in solidarity with other women who may recognize pieces of their own lived experience within these stories.
What has unfolded for me over the past two months, since breaking my right ankle in mid-November, has been nothing short of a profound spiritual awakening. An influx of guidance and insight has initiated a tectonic shift in how I see my life, my purpose, and my place in this moment of collective change. I carry a deep knowing that life is transforming so quickly that I may barely recognize how I lived just a few years ago.
How do I prepare for shifts of this magnitude? By allowing change to enter my life with grace, and by realigning my mindset toward thoughts that support growth rather than fear. In other words, by adapting instead of resisting.
2025 was incredibly difficult across many dimensions of my life. Enduring a cruel political regime imposing fascism on our democracy, relearning how to exist in an office environment that feels inhospitable to human emotion, while living with intense grief, physical pain manifesting in my body, financial stress rooted in a global affordability crisis, and finally ending the year with a slip and fall that resulted in a broken ankle. That injury became the final breaking point, and the moment I realized something needed to change. I came face-to-face with how little control I have over the world beyond my doorstep, and how much agency I do have over my own body and mind. That realization became my turning point.
A difficult 2025 led me down a path of persistent negative thinking, a trajectory I now recognize began after Sierra’s death in 2022, when I first felt the sharp cruelty of humanity that led to her untimely passing at just 26 years old. My days became filled with complaints: about political systems, work culture, healthcare, banking, capitalism, and about myself, replaying past decisions and perceived failures. What I didn’t realize at the time was that this pattern of thinking was feeding more pain and chaos into my life. I was unintentionally manifesting exactly what I did not need or want.
The awakening arrived the week after I broke my ankle, around Thanksgiving. I grew tired of hearing myself complain and had a simple yet profound realization: I needed to change my mindset. For several days, I questioned whether it could really be that simple. Could changing my thoughts truly shift my life toward something more purposeful, joyful, and beautiful? Was it realistic to cultivate positivity while living with the loss of my daughter? These were the questions that kept me company as I sat with my broken ankle and forced stillness.
The spiritual seeker in me responded immediately. I turned toward resources that could support this shift. A book that had lived on my reading list for years—You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay—finally called me forward. There was a two-week wait on Libby, so I placed a hold and explored the immediate recommendations, where I found Wayne Dyer’s The Power of Intention. I borrowed it and devoured it in a week.
I followed that with You Can Heal Your Life, and later revisited The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein. In the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, I immersed myself in understanding how to consciously shift my thinking to create a life rooted in creativity, kindness, love, beauty, expansiveness, abundance, and receptivity. These books arrived as exactly the words I needed to remind me that intention is powerful, and that I am capable of creating a beautiful life by believing in that power.
This is not a book review, and I won’t dive into the specifics of their teachings. You can likely infer the flavor from the titles alone—yes, delightfully woo-woo. I share this because I now deeply believe that I can change the trajectory of my life through intentional thought and belief. I have done this work before, with tangible results including finding and purchasing the home I now live in just five years ago. Losing Sierra, however, shook me to my core and pulled me off course.
I am also grounded in realism. Life moves in cycles of expansion and contraction, light and darkness, gain and loss. What I seek now is a balance between these opposing forces, an acceptance that I am deeply embedded in a world shaped by circumstances beyond my control. Part of this work is learning to live within that truth.
The power of intention requires daily commitment. We are living in a rapidly shifting and often tumultuous moment in history, yet I believe I can choose how I engage with it—by noticing and redirecting negative thoughts, by changing how I show up in my communities, and by reshaping how I interpret the world around me. Moment by moment, living in the present and releasing the past, I am actively creating the future I long for while contributing more positively to the lives I touch. I truly believe it can be this simple if I remain devoted to the practice.
And that devotion is exactly what this awakening has restored in me. I am off to a meaningful start this year, rooted in new habits that are already producing noticeable shifts. And I am only just beginning.
I removed my walking boot on January 2, and my ankle is healing beautifully. I am walking well, rebuilding strength and mobility, and continuing physical therapy for sciatic pain and SI joint dysfunction, which is now about 98% resolved. I feel stronger each day and remain committed to cultivating a healthy, resilient body for life.
There are also changes unfolding at my workplace. An organizational restructuring has opened new opportunities for growth, along with a cost-of-living increase. My FSA is replenished, allowing me to invest in my self-care and well-being. We’ve made thoughtful financial decisions that feel supportive and sustainable, easing a great deal of stress.
I am intentionally surrounding myself with beauty, art and music that remind me how beauty can emerge from tragedy. Already this year, we’ve immersed ourselves in local arts experiences: Mozart’s Jupiter, Shostakovich No. 11 at Severance Music Center with the extraordinary Cleveland Orchestra. At the Cleveland Museum of Art, we attended a stunning performance by the Seoul Trio and an a cappella concert by Tarta Relena. This access to the arts—something we’ve placed at the heart of our lives—continues to remind me of humanity’s capacity to create meaning, tenderness, and beauty with intention.
I remind myself daily how fortunate I am to live this life. Gratitude weaves together with positive thinking and intention to form a powerful elixir—one that nourishes joy, resilience, and reverence. This is what I am consciously creating in 2026. I am manifesting what is sacred, what is life-giving, and what brings the kind of joy that is my birthright.
That’s not too much to ask for, is it? What changes are you calling into your life this year? How are you supporting yourself to manifest these changes? If you are comfortable, feel free to share in the comments below, or direct message me for a more private connection.
May this New Moon meet you with clarity and compassion. May you feel supported as you release what no longer serves and welcome what longs to grow. May your intentions be gentle, grounded, and guided by your deepest wisdom.
With love and gratitude,
Jennifer 💫💖💫
A Three-Minute Micro Practice for Negative Thinking 💗
Begin by settling into a comfortable position, allowing your body to rest on the surface beneath you. If it feels safe, softly close your eyes or lower your gaze.
Take one slow, intentional breath in through your nose…
and a full breath out through your mouth.
Now, simply notice the landscape of your thoughts.
No need to change anything yet.
Just observe—what is moving through the mind right now?
If you notice a negative thought, such as self-criticism, worry, fear, or judgment—see if you can gently name it.
You might silently say: thinking, or worrying, or old story.
There is no need to argue with the thought or push it away.
Instead, imagine placing it on a leaf and letting it float down a slow-moving stream.
Bring your attention back to the breath.
Feel the inhale arriving.
Feel the exhale releasing.
Now ask yourself, softly and kindly:
Is this thought supporting my well-being in this moment?
If the answer is no, offer yourself a small shift.
Perhaps a more supportive phrase, such as:
I am safe right now. I am doing the best I can. This moment is enough.
Let that kinder thought settle into the body, even if only briefly.
Take one more gentle breath in…
and a long breath out.
As you move back into your day, remember:
You are not your thoughts.
You are the awareness that notices them—and that awareness gives you choice.
The Planets🪐
- New moon in Capricorn today, January 18, 2026 🌑 ♑
- The Sun in Capricorn moves into Aquarius on January 19, 2026 ♑ ➡️ ♒
- Mercury in Capricorn moves into Aquarius on January 20, 2026 ♑ ➡️ ♒
- CAZIMI! 🌞 Mercury is conjunct the Sun in Aquarius on January 21, 2026 ♒
- Mars in Capricorn moves into Aquarius on January 23, 2026♑➡️♒
- CAZIMI! 🌞 Pluto is conjunct the Sun in Aquarius on January 23, 2026 ♒
- Waxing half-moon in Taurus on January 25, 2026 🌓 ♉
- 👀 Neptune in Pisces moves into Aries on January 26, 2026 ♓➡️ ♈
- Full moon in Leo on February 1, 2026 🌝 ♌
🌄 Sunrise in Cleveland today: 7:48 AM
🌇 Sunset in Cleveland today: 5:24 PM
🌆 Moonrise in Cleveland today: 8:02 AM
🌃 Moonset in Cleveland today: 5:30 PM
New moon in Capricorn intentions: I release outdated beliefs and patterns that no longer support my becoming, allowing new foundations to form with clarity, courage, and grace. I welcome awakening as a steady unfolding rather than a sudden demand, trusting that each small shift is reshaping my life from the ground up. I commit to honoring the quiet guidance rising within me, trusting the wisdom of my body, intuition, and lived experience. I allow awakening to guide me toward a more authentic way of living, knowing that true transformation begins at the foundation and unfolds in its own sacred time.
Current Offerings 💚
For current paid subscribers, the Midweek Mindfulness Break returns this week. These mindfulness practices are uploaded to the YouTube playlist every Wednesday, offering a peaceful pause each week to recharge, reset, and connect with your inner wisdom.
I’m thrilled to include my entire meditation practice library on YouTube as a special bonus for my paid Tides of Being Substack subscribers.
When you choose to support Tides of Being as a paid subscriber, you step into the inner circle of practice — a deeper current of connection and presence.
✔️ Full access to my private meditation library on YouTube (100+ practices for every season of your soul)
✔️ The quiet joy of sustaining independent, heart-led creative work
✔️ Your support helps me continue creating meaningful, soulful content and affirms the belief that mindful voices matter.
Join the circle❣️
Become part of a growing community of women remembering how to slow down, live, create, and awaken — together. 🌿
🌊 Join the Tides: Want to receive my newsletter directly in your inbox?
Subscribe in the way that feels right for you:
➡️Free Subscription for regular moon letters and meditations
➡️Paid Subscription to deepen your practice and access the full meditation library
No matter how you join, you are part of this living, breathing circle of being. 🌺
🌿 Free Subscribers Receive:
✔️ Two long-form newsletters each month (New + Full Moon)
✔️ A monthly guided meditation inspired by the seasons and stars
✔️ Invitations to special live meditations
My writing will always be open to those who need it. Come as you are. 🌸
🔥 Paid Subscribers Receive:
When you choose to support Tides of Being as a paid subscriber, you step into the inner circle of practice — a deeper current of connection and presence.
✔️ Full access to my private meditation library on YouTube (100+ practices for every season of your soul)
✔️ The quiet joy of sustaining independent, heart-led creative work
Your support helps me continue creating meaningful, soulful content and affirms the belief that mindful voices matter.
✨ Paid Subscriptions: $108/year or $12/month
❓ Not quite ready to subscribe?
✔️ Visit my YouTube channel for free content and experience how these practices can meet you right where you are.
✔️ Visit my Substack page or Newsletter page to explore my offerings.
