After visiting friends and family along the Danube in Southern Germany, I was very happy to return to my home here in the northeast corner of Switzerland. Fog and clouds often dominate the winter landscape along the famous river, and I rarely saw the sun in Ulm, Ingolstadt, and Regensburg.

We have had many days of sunshine and blue skies here in Waldstatt in early 2026, and when we don’t, we can easily walk up into the hills to a spot above the mist and enjoy brilliant views and beautiful fresh air. The winter light on the snow that has remained on the ground since the year started brightens everything!

I also read the news and observe what is happening around the world. For many people I know, these are particularly tense times. Relations between citizens and government in the USA are teeming with conflict. Friends who would never consider themselves activists are attending webinars to learn to be observers of ICE so they can film and document the activities of the government’s border control agency. But will they themselves be filmed if they participate? No American is unaffected by the drastic shifts taking place in the country. No one knows what will happen. The future ahead appears covered in a thick fog.

Fundamental questions arise for world citizens everywhere. Am I safe? What can I do to make their world safer and healthier? How do we improve the situation for those who lack economic means to receive proper health care and support themselves, and how can we decrease greed and egotism rampant among the rich and powerful?

These were already questions I had while living in California in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. They got me searching. Politics may have appeared less turbulent in those days, but the problems were there. We were told there were lots of bad guys in Russia, Iran, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, and most U.S. Americans were content to follow the story of America’s fight for freedom throughout the world.

I saw a chance for resolution in studies of History and political philosophy. I studied WWII in depth and continued to probe while living in Germany for a year during the ‘Cold War’. I saw border guards with big guns up close, and I saw concentration camps in Dachau and Auschwitz. The heaviness of violence, war, and poverty still hovered. Eastern Europe in 1984 offered no solutions. Socialism and communism in name provided a vision for a fairer world, but in action what I witnessed was for the most part oppression. I wondered then if we human beings are too immature, traumatized, or materialistic to ever follow through with our good ideas?

In any case, I wanted badly for the world to clear up and grow up. Evidently, I had to find some clarity and grow up myself first, a very sobering realization. This meant being capable of abandoning my own destructive, hurtful patterns. If I could face this challenge and erase my own greed and arrogance, I could one day consistently express life-enhancing qualities like generosity, compassion, patience, and forgiveness. According to my vision, one day these virtues would spread and reign in human society. Life could be a beautiful dance and not a constant battle.

Many years have passed. I have spent many of them meditating, practicing taiji and qigong, and sharing time with spiritual masters around the world. I have a long breath. But I still contemplate whether my vision is manifesting.

It is indeed, but certainly not according to any of my expectations.

Good things have happened and the world I see daily is full of vitality and many good people. I was offering a Resilience Workshop for students at the Montessori School last week in Regensburg. This was another opportunity to share a bit of the good stuff I have been able to internalize over the last forty years. The young people were 18-20 years old and very sweet and good-looking. But how could I get them to stop looking at their cell phones? How could I convince them to keep their eyes shut for a few seconds during the silence without looking around and giggling?

What I could observe after spending four hours with the group is that these busy students suffer from tremendous stress. What they lack is experience sharing a safe, quiet atmosphere. In addition, they rarely experience expressing their energy fully and freely.

I wanted them to take our time together seriously and reminded them of the sobering challenges of being an adult in the modern world. These first endeavors didn’t gain very much attention. We then discussed various ways to shift our energy around when we don’t feel well. The students made some polite efforts to be attentive, but general boredom still hovered in the air.

Only when I got them moving and breathing consciously was inner and outer connection palpable. The students rejoiced in feeling vital in body and voice. We whispered and yelled in unison. We could eventually share a satisfying feeling of serenity. It was good to know we could settle down for a few minutes. At the end of the workshop, I could sense beneficial qualities in the room: attentiveness, trust, and cooperation. And it was a revelation for the students to be allowed to jump and shout and breathe silently together, at school.

There are many things to do in life besides meditation and qigong. But stillness and movement are tools to remind us that we have tremendous power. We can move through our doubts. We can connect to the flow of life and trust. So many heavy burdens can then be lightened. So many tensions can be softened. Feeling the roots of life within and trusting a vital current of life-energy invites a quality of presence where appreciation for life fills the heart again. Emphasizing this sensibility in daily life, we tend to radiate a vibration I would call ‘life-enhancing’. And that is helpful in a world where one can hardly see the next step forward.

Being perfect is never the point. I look upon the challenges of the day and use my mind, body, and breath as best I can to not be polarized and manipulated into impatience and feelings of hate. I admire those social activists around the world who confront vulgarity and violence and offer resistance. I hope they have a long breath.

Here in Switzerland, I also hold my ground as best I can. I am not fond of long periods of fog, but when I am stuck in it, I take a good look, breathe, and can gain some inner strength and clarity. I also hope to meet you where silence is touched, where the energy is clear (in or out of the fog) and where people are discovering creative ways to live and be together in this intense and enriching flow of life. Yes, where people are dancing!