Fifteen years ago, I had a dream for a business called Happy Healing. I had just walked through the first season of healing years of childhood trauma and was astounded to discover the joy throughout the process. I was surrounded by people who were reluctant to walk their own path of healing, scared of what they would find, and I was eager to help inspire their own journey. I’m sure I annoyed others with my poking and prodding. In the end, I think the only person in that season who I convinced to enter a season of healing was an ex-boyfriend (after we broke up).
Five years ago, the dream became far more specific. I began dreaming of taking five grieving women on a Tuscan retreat. The concept was/still is that I would meet with the individuals prior to, during, and after the retreat, creating a unique retreat experience for each person in one of the most beautiful places in the world. It would be a kind of “Eat, Pray, Love” moment, but I’d be their guide, and they’d heal with other women alongside them.
At some point along the way, I think I stopped trying to inspire others to take their own intentional journey of healing, and I instead started being overwhelmingly inspired by seeing other people dramatically heal.
The common thread that has been with me during these decades is this idea that people are reluctant to walk a path of healing. Perhaps, one day, we will all make it to the dream Tuscan retreat and experience the pinnacle of healing: feeling the deepest of sorrows in the same breath as the highest heights of joy.
When I speak with people about their intention—and perhaps reluctance—there is almost a breathlessness to the way they speak about it. It’s as if they can’t fathom what would be unleashed as they experience the depth of their emotions: “When will it end?”
If you need inspiration to start your own journey, here are two characteristics I notice in those who grow radically as they walk courageously through a time of grief:
- They overcome the fear of what might lurk on the other side of your emotions.
- They believe that a certain type of growth can and will happen as they decide to grieve intentionally.
What growth do you think might be possible as you walk into a season of healing?
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What is your greatest fear keeping you from taking that first step?
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Who is your inspiration for this leg of your own journey?
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