Sometimes the shadow is the greatest gift because when we finally see a shred of light, we know which way to go.

After my car accident, I faced a wall of pain. My body, my heart, my soul were all tied up in grief. Loss of the life I had. A full stop to the world that I knew. Choosing to honor that grief through artistic expression allowed me to begin to heal.

When feeling overwhelmed—from circumstances, feelings, or evaluating my life—I tend to recoil inward.

It is my body trying to self-regulate my nervous system, which is actually a good thing. What I learned is that sometimes the best next steps is simply visualizing myself in the life where I experience what I crave—peace, love, travel, adventure. From that first step, any small action supports that visualization and step by step I build a bridge from where I am today to the future I visualize.

“…stories present the knife of insight…the courage to stand what one sees without looking away, the fragrance of the wild soul...” They allow us to, “grieve hard, and come out of it tear-stained…. deepened, fully acknowledged and filled with new life.”

—Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes