Sometimes it feels like all the world is burning up and I wonder what will be left for us and those who come after us.

A few nights ago, a grief stricken friend of mine sent images taken by someone in Turkey where the wildfires have recently ravished its beautiful landscape and is destroying so many lives, including those of animals, birds, insects, trees, and flowers. After viewing these devastating images, I had a hard time breathing; I had a hard time hoping; I felt powerless. Yet, I felt it was important to bear witness to each awful scene. Even though there was little I could do from so far away, at least I could care and I could pray.

And then I thought of…all of us…..

Inundated by images like the ones I saw…so many places…so much suffering….SO MUCH, over and over again. And we don’t want to look away, we need to confront it in order to begin to change it. Yet, if we allow those images, that bad news, that horrific tragedy, and the sheer number of awful things happening destroy our ability to hope and to act upon that hope….what good will that do anyone?

A Double Kind of Witnessing is Needed to Keep Hope Alive and to Keep Us Working Towards Healing

I realize that although it is vital not to turn away from the pain of the world and all this loss, it is also vital to appreciate the beauty that is also here with us right now. And so, I witnessed, I prayed, I contacted friends I was worried about and then today I went out in search of that beauty so I could drink it in and let it infuse me with hope…and so I could then share it with you.

I found Buttonwood Farm, a small farm in Connecticut that opens its fields of sunflowers to all for a few weeks every summer. Immersed in this field of brightness and life blooming, faces towards the sun, I could breathe again and I could hope and I could appreciate the beauty we still have right now. And, I can keep doing whatever I can to bring healing and support to this world. And so, I am sharing them with you in the hopes that the images can bring something of that hope as well….and to inspire you to go out in search of beauty for yourself and to share with others.

What I have learned:

Even as we must not turn our gaze and witness away from the tragedies that are occurring, it is also essential that we turn our faces towards what is still beautiful and good so we can continue to hope.

I invite you to contact me for sessions that touch upon how you are carrying the tragic struggles you see in the world AND, I also invite you to sessions in which you explore experiences that bring you into wonderment—those moments that infuse you with hope. Both kinds of inner work are essential to these times.