Welcome to Sunday Journal, a chance to start your week out with short, quiet reflections and advice for life.
This effort started with a handwritten journal (a wonderful gift!) I keep for each of my children, designed to give them a sense of how to become the best version of themselves. If you find this valuable, please share it with others.
Each edition contains three sections: reflections to put into practice, an inspirational quote, and an image to contemplate.
This week, as we chart a course for what we’ll accomplish in 2026, we reflect on what success really means.
Reflection
It is all too easy to ascribe success to external measures and data points. But those are just nodes that can be checked off as achievements.
We ought to be measuring our success more deeply — in ways that can be felt as well as seen, based on how we affect hearts and minds rather than balance sheets and asset classes.
In the December 11, 1905 edition of the Emporia Gazette, Bessie Stanley wrote a column titled “Success Is Service,” part of which reads:
