Daily Meditation for January 23, 2026

Here is a wisdom statement from the Buddhist tradition: “Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.” We saw examples of this on 9/11 when an employee might have been too sick to go to work in the World Trade Center and was blessed to miss that terrible event. Other hidden blessings might be: learning a painful truth about ourselves during an unhappy experience and being motivated to improve; appreciating someone for the first time who stood by us; or being forced to develop new skills. When thinking about painful experiences, it is easy to blame others, to polish up good excuses, to feel sorry for oneself, or to be angry. How much better to find the hidden blessing within it! Have you learned something new? Is there something you need to do differently? In what way are you stronger?

By Mary Jackle, OSB