Agency
Welcome to my monthly newsletter, Attunement!
Each month we “tune into” a theme related to mindfulness and
explore a creative practice and tune based on this theme!
Happy New Year 2026! This month of January we’re TUNING INTO the frequency of:
Agency.
Humanity’s future may depend upon strengthening our agency.
-The Mindfulness Initiative
For the past few years around this time, I’ve chosen a Word of the Year—a single word to act as a guidepost for the months ahead. I’m still sitting with what my 2026 word will be. But as I’ve been reflecting, I realized something:
The act of choosing a word is itself a practice of agency. It’s a moment where I pause, listen in, and align with what I might call my mindful—or higher—self. Not the part of me that’s reacting, rushing, or people-pleasing, but the part that can choose intentionally.
Agency is the capacity to act with intention—to shape our lives through conscious choices rather than habit or reactivity.
In a powerful paper titled Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times, The Mindfulness Initiative names mindfulness as a key way we strengthen this capacity. They point to several core skills that mindfulness helps us cultivate, including the ability to:
Notice where our attention goes—and choose where to place it
Reflect on our thoughts rather than being ruled by them
Respond to emotions with care and clarity instead of reacting on autopilot
When we practice mindfulness (and this can look like many things—not just formal meditation), we’re training ourselves to pause, attune, and act in alignment with our values. Over time, this process builds resilience, discernment, and a deeper sense of authorship (a.k.a. agency) over our lives.
In these uncertain times our country and our world are facing, it's important to remind ourselves that even though we may not be able to control all aspects of our circumstances, we can still choose how we meet them.
As Viktor Frankl wrote in his book Man's Search For Ultimate Meaning:
The last of the human freedoms: to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
It's my hope, as you step into this new year, that mindfulness helps you stay attuned to yourself—so that even amidst the chaos, uncertainty, and challenges of life, you can sense your own capacity to listen in, to choose skillfully, and to act with intention.
If you'd like some personalized support on your journey towards agency and intentional living, consider scheduling a 1:1 Mindfulness Coaching session with me (in-person at The Be Sanctuary or virtual). Email me at katy@katyoberlecreative.com to get started.
Creative Mindfulness Practice: Agency in Action
1. Pause and notice. Stop what you’re doing right now. Take three slow breaths, letting your attention gently settle on the physical sensations of breathing.
2. Bring to mind a situation in some aspect of your life where you’re feeling stuck, reactive, overwhelmed, or "on autopilot". Notice with curiosity what arises in your body and mind.
3. Ask yourself:
What is my habitual response here?
What impulse usually drives me?
4. Choose one intentional response you could take in this situation. Let this intention settle into your awareness.
5. Choose one value to carry forward into the above situation to help reinforce your intention to act mindfully—for example, courage, kindness, family, integrity. You might want to write this value down on a sticky note and put it in your car, on your desk at work, or on your fridge to serve as a reminder.
Consider how this exercise might help you mindfully practice agency.
JANUARY Events:
FEATURED MUSIC:
This Month’s Tune 🎵:
Each month I share a tune that resonates with the newsletter theme.
For this month’s theme of AGENCY, I've chosen India Arie's song "I Choose".
The song reflects agency as something that grows out of mindfulness, compassion for oneself, and the courage to live in alignment with what truly matters.
Listen below on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAYUXoPMIRE
Wishing you a month of mindful agency,
