Some Predictions for 2026
I hope you’ve been having a sweet, restful and joyful holiday season. And I also understand that sometimes that’s hard to have.
In Puerto Rico we extend the celebration until Three King’s Day. The Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. So I’m still keeping the spirit for a few more days!
I am wishing you a meaningful New Year.
Here is what I see unfolding in 2026:
Less people will act like nothing is going on
Some will continue to feel powerless
Some will act
Some of this action will be wasted
Some will play at healing
Some will do the work
The real divide won’t be who sees the crisis.
But who is willing to be changed by it.
Less people will act like nothing is going on
A growing sense that something is off. That somewhere between globalized authoritarianism and the hoarding of collective wealth. Somewhere between hypnotic smartphones, artificial intelligence, climate collapse, and the loneliness epidemic of the rich world.
Somewhere, somewhere… something has gone terribly wrong.
Soon, it will no longer be possible to act as if nothing is happening.
The question is whether this awareness folds into the generalized anxiety at the heart of our self-terminating system.
Or whether it catalyzes a deeper shift in how we relate to life itself.
Some will continue to feel powerless
Even when we can no longer pretend that nothing is going on, many will continue to believe in their own powerlessness.
The metacrisis is too big. The perverse incentives too alluring. The momentum of this thing feels almost “natural.” It comes with a sense of inevitability. And lives are too precarious. People are too busy. The economic system is set. And political structures co-opted.
It takes courage to take a clear eyed view at what’s going on.
It takes something entirely different to believe you can do something about it.
Some will act
More will dare to join the millions of others who are trying to do something. From No Kings protests to long view organizing. From political creativity to non-violent direct action. From protecting brown bodies from lock up and exile to finding daring and innovative ways to resource experiments in freedom. To explore bold transformational efforts that have been ignored before.
Most of this action will be good. Even if not always effective. It will be good because it is action. And smart action is experimental. It makes room for failure. And when it does not lead to victory. It can still lead to learning.
Some of this action will be wasted
Because it will be reactive. Borne out of anxiety. Rooted in resentment. Doubling down on dead ideologies, extinct paradigms, and obsessed with the wrong measures.
Some will play at healing
These will have a sense that an inner shift is essential. But they won’t do it for real.
This is the kind of “change yourself, change the world” that stops at feel-good affirmations, thinks of self-care as a spa day, and turns therapy into lifestyle.
At its more dangerous edges, it can look like full Gwenyth Paltrow “goopification.” Or worse, like endless psychedelic peaks without engagement with the world, or the hard work of integration.
Some will do the work
There is no way to turn towards this that does not include a profound inner transformation. The magnitude of the metacrisis, its all encompassing scale, first forces us into a binary. The actuality of mass extinction. Or some sort of adaptive evolutionary leap.
This leap means growth. It implies a developmental shift in consciousness. A maturation that does not itself eliminate the threat of our self-destructive impulse. But allows us to meet the moment from a radically different perspective. A new and unexpected capacity. It becomes a way to reclaim and remember. To contend with and innovate.
And the first phase of this process demands deep healing. It means coming into our wholeness.
This kind of work doesn’t look like what most people now call healing.
Real healing is active, embodied, and uncomfortable. It happens when you move your body, clean up your diet, reconnect with nature, breathe with intention, and redirect your focus away from yourself by helping others. It’s not always gentle, and it’s rarely affirming in the ways modern therapy culture promises-but it’s honest. And it works.
It is a lot less sexy than therapy culture on tik tok. But it works. And YES! It can include therapy. And sacred medicines. Ritual. Meditation. Prayer and practices of faith.
It definitely includes others. Mutuality. Shared meals. Soups and care for the sick and the lonely. Celebration, joy and collective effervescence. Even when it’s dark. Especially when it’s dark.
It grows your acceptance and humility. Your capacity to forgive. It does not make you better than anyone. Or more judgemental.
It keeps unfolding.
And by bringing you into your body. It roots you back into the earth. By growing your capacity for discomfort, it engages you with the hardship that is unfolding. It makes you more honest. And in doing so, it grows your courage and wisdom.
There is something sober about it. It is clear eyed. It does not turn away.
It can sound bleak from a distance.
But when you live into it, in the body, in relationship, in service, it is radically liberating.
Because it begins exactly where denial ends.
And it unfolds right here upon the earth.
Exactly where we find ourselves.