December 2025 Community Update!
Dear Community,
I hope you all are well! Things are good here. It has been much colder lately. We also had a nice Thanksgiving. My big kids were home from college so it was great to see them. We will be heading up north for the holidays in less than 3 weeks. December flies by!
A big shout out to our leaders who have been leading all of these real-time events and also helping with accompanying growth paths (hat tip to @annasilverberg for the new growth path on bullying). I enjoyed our milestone celebration, caught the tail end of Graham’s session, and have heard that the loneliness huddle is rocking.
One thing I love about Cupsgiving or any of the other live events we do is that you feel deeply nourished during and after them. They feel like little holiday bursts to me. I can see that in others too. In the recent past, more live events is what community members have shared with me that they’d like to see. I am very happy we are now delivering!
The word for this warm fuzzy feeling is moral elevation. I think this captures much of what we do here. If interested, do a little reading on this and let me know what you think!
Lastly, I am very thankful for all of you! Thank you for making our community warm, connected, and kind!
H
As part of our Seasons of Support (see SoulfullyAButterfly’s section below!) celebrations, I invite you all to help us build a Gratitude Wall by sharing something, or someone, you’re grateful for (here). Did a specific member support you in a listener chat? Did you discover a new song that lifted your mood? Did you manage to get out of bed on a really hard day? Did you see a really nice sunset? Come lay down some bricks!
We had our first milestones moments event on the adult side, and the reception was so good that we will be locking this in as a monthly fixture to celebrate birthdays and cupsversaries. Check out the post I linked for details and the form to submit your special day, and stay tuned to your notifications for the next one!
And for teen side, we’ll be highlighting you in the forums! Be sure to submit your birthday or cupsday if it’s coming up to the form in this post.
Have you checked out our Way of the River series yet? This series represents core values within our community and teachings that are fundamental to our understanding of ourselves and our impact on each other, and broadly the world. I highly highly recommend making this series a personal development goal of yours this month! I promise you’ll learn some very interesting things. Set your course on the river here! And if you’re confused about anything or need some help, ping me!
Happy Holidays and warmest wishes to you all, however you celebrate! Should you find yourself in need of company, our community stands ready to support you. It is our privilege to serve as your extended family, offering you a space of genuine connection and enduring comfort!
Hope
This month, we kicked off a new teen forum series called Just Wondering. It’s a fun, multi-part series with prompts for teens to share what’s been on their minds. So far, we’ve covered random thoughts, things that “live rent-free” in your head, and moments that caught your attention. There will be six prompts in total, and all teens are welcome to join here. We also had an open chat for the series and two chats on Three Good Things, where teens shared positive moments from the past week. Our ongoing list of good things is now at 140 entries, and you can add yours here
Carnegie Mellon University research recruitment is still going. Thanks to everyone who joined in. Most slots for the newbie listener category have been filled, but you can join the waiting list if you are a new listener are eligible as per the requirements listed here.
The rest of the month focused on keeping things running smoothly, including recognition programs and onboarding of trainees. Lastly, the mentor leader application is now merged with the Academy mentor application so that you can apply for either role with the same form. Apply to be a mentor or mentor leader with 7 Cups Academy here.
SoulfullyAButterfly
This month, we marked Cupsgiving via the Cupsgiving 2025: Seasons of Support event, with a variety of themes including kindness, support in action and anti-bullying awareness and support, a special therapist-led wellness workshop for International Men’s Day, and a balanced approach to Thanksgiving as a time of gratitude as well as awareness of the indigenous history behind this holiday. Shoutout to @Heather225 and @Suryansh for helping me organize this event with a mix of activities on the forums and groups.
We’ve also launched the Loneliness Huddle, a closed group open 24/7 for those who struggle with loneliness and the holidays. We look forward to creating more events and spaces where everyone can find connection and support.
@GlenM
Random question lol. If teens have a specific forum for them, how do they post on the oldie side? I’m confused hehe
@jesusredeemedme2425 Most forums are for everyone. There's a community called Teen Only Zone that is badge-locked based on age or the ATL badge for adult listeners.
There's a handful of communities that are badge-locked for various purposes, some are listener only. I'm not even sure of the exact number myself.
Ohhh that makes sense! Thank you <3
@GlenM
Hi everyone! 😊 ❤️
Many thanks for the update, as well as for all of the hard work around here, whether it be in the front of the house or the back of the house. ❤️
We sho' do have a lot of great things cookin' around here!
Moral elevation....reading that was so nice, I'm going to do it twice! 😊 I want to re read it again today to make sure I have a really good understanding of that. For me, at first blush, I was happy to have a "word" for those warm fuzzy feelings and an explanation of why we have them. It made a great deal of sense as to why some can be effective at inspiring others.
It really resonated with me and made me think of my simple thoughts of "leading by example" as well as "walking a path of authenticity". It made me consider, once again, my past thoughts of....what is that we would do if no one is watching? Is the moral compass broken or is it not? Would we still do the right thing?
Doing the right thing many times can be so much harder than doing the wrong thing. The wrong way is really easy sometimes. Some times doing the right thing, oddly enough, has really bad consequences and it's really kind of sad. If nothing else, one sleeps well at night even if it requires a bit of suffering. *raises hand* I am not immune.
We are all human and we all make mistakes or have weak moments from time to time and with that, we can still consider our values. What are the deal breakers, where are our limits and how is it that we will bend but refuse to break?
I'll continue to believe that "you can fool some of the people, some of the time....but you can't fool all of the people, all of the time". Some don't give others enough credit and think that they might be foolish or unintelligent. Sometimes "elevation" is something that you can just feel from another. You can't always explain, you know it's real, you know it exists. You can't trap it in a bottle, you can't smell it, taste it, touch it. Once again, it's just like the wind, you see it's effects.
Happy December everyone! 😊 Santa's 🎅 🎄 workshop is in full effect, at the Hizzie of Gizzie! Weeeeeeeeeeee-weeeeeeeeee! 😊
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
@SparkyGizmo Dear Community,
I hope you’re all doing well! Things are good here, though it’s been much colder lately. Thanksgiving was lovely, and it was wonderful having my big kids home from college. We’ll be heading up north for the holidays in less than three weeks—December really does fly by!
A big shout-out to our leaders who’ve been guiding these real-time events and helping with growth paths (special thanks to @annasilverberg for the new growth path on bullying).
I wish I had read your passage before posting mine. I feel like I didn’t “interpret” what I read very well. The Wikipedia description was rather specific, but it’s the application that’s most intriguing, eh?
@CalmRosebud
Hi Rosebud! 😊 ❤️
I loved reading your interpretation of it! 😊 ❤️ What you had to say was incredibly well written and there is so much value there! I just so happen to agree with it, it's a good take away for me, personally.
I also found it to be exceptionally kind of you to provide your thoughts about it all for any of our teammates that might not enjoy clicking on links. 😊 This was a wonderful gift 🎁.
I like that you are an independent thinker. I feel like it's good to read, to interpret, to share your thoughts with out reading what others thought or how they interpreted things prior as this could cloud ones vision. I find this to be a great quality as you aren't a lemming, a mealy mouthed "yes" woman, or simply following the herd. 💡
Rest assured, no one ever deposited the truth scrolls with me so I haven't had the chance to, as of yet, but that's a really good read and I'm going to dive back into to it to read it again. It definitely has made my "want to do" list.
Doing just as you did, perhaps reading the additions of others after formulating our own thoughts, helps us all to learn and grow together, to see the different view points of others if there are ones to be had in the thread. 😊
I think your addition to this thread was spot on! 😊 And oddly enough for me, If I just so happen to join a thread, contribute to the best of my abilities and then read the thoughts of others and consider that maybe I kind of got it wrong, misunderstood........it's all good with me. 😊
Maybe being "wrong" from time to time, showing that we misunderstood and being okay with it all, apologizing, admitting it , laughing at ourselves is part of "being the example". That it's okay to admit that you don't know everything, that it's okay to be human and to not always get things right, but that at least you tried.
I can only think that doing so could possibly inspire others to try too if they might feel anxious, uncertain about contributing around here. We might not have it all together, but together, we have it all!
I appreciate you Rosebud! ❤️ Thank you for being you, thank you for all that you do for each of us across the platform and thank you for being such an amazing leader! I see you!!!! Keep rockin' the house!!!! You got this! 😊
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
😃 Smile ☄️
@SparkyGizmo thank you for sharing these thoughts! And for being a great example of moral elevation. It is in the fabric of the work we do here, across the network of people, activated in 1:1 and really amplified in groups and forum posts. Great observations!
@GlenM
❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for the community update and for all you do.
I did read about “moral elevation,” or, as stated in the wikipedia article you reference, “Elevation (emotion).” I’m aware that some users here do not click on links so I thought I would offer a summary of the article in my own words.
Elevation refers to an emotional state that is achieved by some by viewing or witnessing acts of altruism on the part of others. This moral emotion is experienced as a feeling of expansiveness and warmth on the part of the person experiencing it. This feeling motivates people to assist others, and affiliate with others. This feeling can make an individual feel optimistic and feel “lifted up” about humanity.
"Elevation is defined as an emotional response to moral beauty.” And, is posited by at least one to be the opposite of “social disgust,” something some of us may feel when reading the news these days.
There is much more information on the wikipedia page on the applicability to elevation to daily life, and possibilities for future study. Worth reading if you do click on links or are interested in finding out more.
Personally, it explains a lot about how I feel “good” when witnessing kind actions, versus feeling “bad” when reading the news.
Love and Courage,
Calm Rosebud
@CalmRosebud very glad you enjoyed the article. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I think humans love that sense of nobility naturally. And we see that all over here at Cups. It is a beautiful thing!
