Wonder Anew began as a postcard project after I attended a silent retreat in September 2013 with Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) and took The Five Mindfulness Trainings. The retreat message was powerful: if you want to contribute to healing and to help the world, start with yourself.

I experienced and saw retreat participants face rather than flee difficult situations, thoughts, and feelings using practices such as meditation, reflection, deep listening, talking from the heart, and walking silently together.

After the retreat, by email, Thay asked people to share one way they were healing themselves and making a change. I responded, and then wondered what others were doing to heal themselves. That moment of curiosity led to Wonder Anew.

I shared with a few friends what I learned, and then crafted and shared a question with others, “What personal positive change have you made or do you want to make in your life?”

I distributed this question on self-addressed, stamped postcards in college classrooms and on the streets in Denton, Texas. Two professors at the University of North Texas invited me to present Wonder Anew to their students. An addictions counselor did Wonder Anew workshops with her groups. Some teachers saw the Wonder Anew lesson published in SchoolArts magazine.

I anonymously received responses like these, mostly from middle and high school students.

Over 1700 postcards of personal change were shared with Wonder Anew. Posted postcards remain online.

The last postcard was from artist and professor Hazel Terry. She drew an image that depicts a personal positive change as a gift to ourselves and the world.

Wonder Anew today is a listening and question-guided process to explore personal difficulty.