Welcome, 2016! I am excited to start the new year with our annual Health and Wellness issue, packed with empowering information to help us live life to the fullest.

It’s a privilege to bring this magazine to our community each month, and that’s made possible because of each reader, advertiser, contributor and supporter. As I look forward to celebrating the fifth anniversary of our magazine in the community later this year, I am reflecting on how being involved with Natural Awakenings has changed my life, and the lives of many of our readers, for the better. It’s humbling to hear the stories of countless people around town as they share how much they love the publication and how a specific article has had a significant impact on them. I am deeply grateful to our more than 30,000 loyal readers in Southeastern Wisconsin and to the scores of business owners and practitioners that consistently embrace our mutual mission of supporting naturally healthy people living on a healthy planet. I look forward to forging rewarding relationships with many more community members in the coming years.

As I ponder the events of the past year and my wishes for the next, both personally and globally, I recall my sixth grader’s latest insight from his social studies class on world religions: “I believe a little bit from every religion; not everything, but certain parts,” he says. “It’s really just all about love, respect and knowledge.”

This is the kind of observation that blows a parent away. I can’t think of a better wish for the coming year than that we may all engage in gentle curiosity about those we perceive as different from us while universally practicing love and respect.

May this year bring love, magic and infinite possibilities to you and yours,

Gabriella Buchnik, Publisher