I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day playing two holiday services at a Benedictine monastery in Portola Valley (Woodside Priory). The monks very graciously let me stay over night in the guest house so that I wouldn't be out on the road late at night (the first service was midnight mass). Not surprisingly, the sudden disconnect from the whirring noise of the internet and my own mind turned out to be exactly what I needed at that moment, and set the tone for a meaningful finish to 2019. The most powerful wisdom is always the simplest...