Like a River

by Lindsay Roznowski, LPC

This past year, I read John O’Donohue’s poem “Fluent” for the first time, and it hit me right in the chest—simple, poignant, and beautiful. It goes like this:

I would love to live

Like a river flows,

Carried by the surprise

Of its own unfolding. 

These words spoke to me for a number of different reasons—the nature-inspired aspirations; the themes of fluidity, change, and personal growth; the release of control and the acceptance of what is; the focus on curiosity and surprise, and the wild loyalty to remain present in each sacred moment. The natural world has such gifts to offer.

With the beginning of 2026 upon us, I reflected on how this poem — and the image of the river — can be a reminder and guide for how I move through the next twelve months. Many of us have created goals or resolutions for the new year, informed by how we thought 2025 went. So how can I be more like a river? Adult life can get us tangled up — so many concerns take us out of the moment and into our heads. Whether it be work, paying bills, health issues, or navigating relationships, the mental gymnastics of trying to decode “what to do” can keep us in our heads, searching for some sense of control. In Brene Brown’s book, Atlas of the Heart, she posits that when we feel like things are uncertain or too much, we go to the following places in our heads: stress, overwhelm, anxiety, worry, avoidance, dread, and fear. Being in our heads excessively — and flooded with these intense emotions — can rob us of the present moment. When we allow these thoughts and fears to dominate our energy, our thoughts can become quite toxic and create disconnection with ourselves and our loved ones. 

Consider the image of a river. Even when leaves, branches, and debris drop into it, it doesn’t stagnate but instead continues to flow. It doesn’t wonder why the leaves are there or what to do with them. It continues to be a river, to flow, to move downhill, around bends, towards the ocean. 

So as we break out our new 2026 calendars, let’s ask ourselves: “How can I be more like a river?” Here are some additional thoughts for reflection as you begin the year: 

• How can I allow myself more flow?
• How can I use movement and breath to become more present in each moment?
• How can I more intentionally welcome the unexpected turns of life’s new moments?
• How can I embrace changes as a process of evolution and do the good work to get unstuck from old patterns? 
• How can I release some control and attachment to what I think my path should look like and embrace the beauty of what it actually is? 

Wishing you happiness, presence, and flow in 2026.

Lindsay Roznowski, LPC, specializes in supporting children, teens, and adults in navigating life stressors, finding ease from anxiety, and tapping into their strengths and innate resilience. She integrates mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, positive psychology, nature-informed therapy, and a yoga training background to co-create conditions for optimal healing and well-being. She offers walk-and-talk therapy sessions in the outdoors to those interested. Starting in Spring 2026, she’ll also be offering seasonal nature-inspired therapeutic workshops — so stay tuned! To learn more, see her website at bloomwellnesscounseling.com and contact her at lindsay@bloomwellnesscounseling.com or 215-326-9665. 

The Hope of Renewal

by Elizabeth Campbell, MS, LPC, RPT-S

        “And in the spring, I shed my skin, and it blows away with the changing winds”.  

        — Florence + The Machine

        “The wound is the place the light enters you.”  — Rumi

I may be one of the few individuals that feels this way, but I love winter.  I love playing in the snow, hot tea, a warm fire, and hiking when the woods are empty, quiet, and crisp.  I love it so much that I felt a bit grumpy when the weather started to warm.  As a Highly Sensitive Person, change is challenging and I wasn’t ready yet.  Until the flowers bloomed.  

Every day I find myself amazed by the miracle of the world coming to life again.  I say this fully knowing how cheesy this sounds.  But gosh darn it if I am not smiling at a new flowering tree the next day.  

Part of my joy and appreciation for this rebirth of nature is the hope that it brings.  As I said before, I like the dark and cold of the winter.  The juxtaposition of a warm fire and twinkling holiday lights reminds me that light is present even in the darkest of times.  As a trauma therapist (and a human), I have seen so much darkness.  You can become acclimated to it, even expect it.  Something about this spring lit up the clarity inside me that as we hold space for and appreciate the darkness, we make room for all of the light to come in.  

I see this hope when I support people in EMDR therapy for trauma.  As they move into their pain, so often the other side is compassion, clarity, calm, or perspective.  It is a renewal of the spirit.  

As we move through this renewal and get closer to the fun, sun, and light of summer, I invite you to pause.  Perhaps there was a moment in your life in which a single bud or a glimmer of light started to shine in on your pain.  So often we don’t even notice that first blossom until the flowers are all around us.  Pausing in this first moment of transition may allow even greater gratitude for the full, lush growth and light of summer.  The fullness of opening to all of the light and the joy.

Elizabeth Campbell is a Licensed Profession Counselor, Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, and EMDR Consultant in Training who provides empowerment and strength-based support to individuals in personal growth and change.  She specializes in play therapy with children, supporting Highly Sensitivity, and IFS-informed EMDR for all ages. She provides supervision and consultation for licensure as well as EMDR and play therapy certification.   If you would like to connect with Elizabeth, reach out at elizabeth@elizabethcampbellcounseling.com or 610-757-8163 or learn more at www.elizabethcampbellcounseling.com

Spring into Growth

by Therese Daniels, LPC, CNIT (Certified Nature Informed Therapist)

We have been conditioned by society to set new goals in January, the start of a new year. Start fresh, stop doing this, start doing that, get to the gym. While in theory this may seem like a good idea, it goes against our roots, against Mother Nature. Bears hibernate, trees, plants, and vegetables delay growth. Nature rests in the Winter and maybe we should too. 

Spring is the season of planting and growing. Many people lose motivation pretty quickly for those goals they set at the start of January. An article in Time magazine states that as many as 80% of people fail to keep their resolutions by February and only 8% of people stick with them the entire year. But think about how you feel in the Spring. When that first sunny day hits, the temperature is above 55 degrees (which feels hot because our bodies have adapted to the cold) and you want to rip off those socks and break out the flip flops and let your toes breathe and soak up the sunshine! Motivation for goals is more likely to stick at this time of year because that is what is natural. This is when we plant seeds for flowers and food to bloom later in the season. The animals wake up and are rested and energized for new things to come. Colors come back! This is a reason why setting new goals in the Spring vs. the Winter is something to be considered.

Goal setting and comfort zones

As a Certified Nature Informed Therapist, I have been able to encourage people to use the many benefits of nature to help them in goal setting and in getting comfortable with the uncomfortable. Some of the greatest things in life involve a certain level of feeling uneasy. Meeting new people, starting a new job, moving to a different home, exercising, parenting, even love has a level of discomfort. If we ran from all of these things, what would happen? Not much. Growth mindset is a term that has become popular over the past several years. The general meaning of the term is that you thrive on challenge and don’t see failures as a setback, but a way to make shifts to continue to move forward and set new goals. To keep going, to grow. 

Last Spring, I was working with someone who had pretty severe performance anxiety and he had a big martial arts challenge coming up. We took our sessions to the trails and more importantly, to the creek. There is a swing that hangs under a large bridge that runs over the creek. My client showed a lot of interest in getting to the swing but was afraid to do so. There were steep and muddy hills with tree roots and branches and wet leaves along the way. And once you got down to the water’s edge you still had to enter the water and navigate slippery rocks to get to the middle of the creek where the swing hung. It took some time, but by the summer, he was swinging on that swing and feeling so proud. Each week we got closer and closer, and he felt more and more brave. Throughout our sessions, I was able to use our experience in nature and transfer it to his fear of performing in front of others. He realized he could do things that felt scary and have success. A week after he went swinging, he took his martial arts test and passed with flying colors! 

I believe we can find a balance between allowing ourselves the time to rest and prepare while also believing in ourselves enough to face challenges and to get back up when we fall down. Look to nature to and follow its course. Going back to our roots and what is innately in us and around us can help us spring into growth! 

Therese M. Daniels, MA, LPC, is a Certified Nature-Informed Therapist who has been in the mental health field over 20 years. She provides individual, couples, and family counseling for children, teens, and adults. She offers regular nature walks and creates nature retreats to introduce the power of nature to support healing and wellness. She specializes in supporting people with anxiety, depression, self-esteem struggles, life transitions, and more. 

What Mushrooms Taught Me

by Lindsay Roznowski

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020 and all of our worlds shut down, I was working as a counselor at an all-residential boarding school for 9th through 12th graders. I lived on campus, like all faculty at the school, and although my living where I worked gave the shut down an intense spin, I was grateful that my workplace also included 2,200 acres of nature preserve for me to explore. I always appreciated the richness of the woods around the campus, but in the early days of the pandemic, long, daily nature walks became my thing. At a time when I felt constricted, confused, and restless, those walks lent me an expansive energy I could not find anywhere else.

One day in May of 2020, as I headed out to the forest, I was talking to a science teacher colleague about all of the creatures I had observed recently on my walks. She suggested I try a science-based image recognition app called “Seek” so that I could find out about the specific species I was seeing. This excited me! That day, I took her suggestion, downloaded the app and spent an hour in the creek learning more about North American Leopard Frogs, Pickerel Frogs, Fowler’s Toads, and American Bullfrogs. As I wrapped up my amphibian adventure, a bright orange pile of something caught my eye on the path by the creek. As I approached, I was sure someone who loved the woods as much as I did left behind the peels of their clementine snack. Upon closer inspection, there were a ton of clementine peels, and they were growing out of the ground. I was perplexed and wowed. I used the image recognition app to identify this dazzling discovery as orange peel fungus. The magic of that moment—the combination of awe, confusion, curiosity—opened up something profound in me.

Since that day in 2020 when my fungal discovery filled me with wonder, amateur mycology (the study of fungus) has become my passion. Over the past three years, I have identified 356 species of fungus in the wild. I have learned a lot over that time about the science of mushrooms, but also about letting myself love what I love, the magic that lives in the woods, and the power of awe.

I recognized the feeling of awe in my body when it hit me unexpectedly, but I wanted to know more about the psychology and science behind it. Why did it feel like the kind of emotional and physical lightning bolt I needed? Merriam-Webster defines awe as “an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.”




 

The Nature Fix

In The Nature Fix, author Florence Williams surveyed many historical figures’ attempts to summarize the experience I had that day in the woods with the Orange Peel Fungus. She discussed how eighteenth-century Irish philosopher, Edmund Burke, posited that “feelings of spirituality don’t just spring from religion: they also spring from transcendent experiences in nature…According to Burke, for something to be truly awe-inspiring, it must possess the ‘vastness of extent’ as well as a degree of difficulty in our ability to make sense of it. That awe also inspires feelings of humility and a more outward perspective has been well described by philosophers, priests and poets.” There was definitely something special about the experience of perceiving something to be a known object and then having to make space in my mind for the fact that it was something totally different, mysterious, and interesting. I had put my finger on the emotion I was experiencing when I first spotted the Orange Peel Fungus, but I wondered how I could keep feeling that kind of awe and how I could preserve the positive side effects.
 

What Fungus Taught Me About Awe

by Lindsay Roznowski

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020 and all of our worlds shut down, I was working as a counselor at an all-residential boarding school for 9th through 12th graders. I lived on campus, like all faculty at the school, and although my living where I worked gave the shut down an intense spin, I was grateful that my workplace also included 2,200 acres of nature preserve for me to explore. I always appreciated the richness of the woods around the campus, but in the early days of the pandemic, long, daily nature walks became my thing. At a time when I felt constricted, confused, and restless, those walks lent me an expansive energy I could not find anywhere else.

One day in May of 2020, as I headed out to the forest, I was talking to a science teacher colleague about all of the creatures I had observed recently on my walks. She suggested I try a science-based image recognition app called “Seek” so that I could find out about the specific species I was seeing. This excited me! That day, I took her suggestion, downloaded the app and spent an hour in the creek learning more about North American Leopard Frogs, Pickerel Frogs, Fowler’s Toads, and American Bullfrogs. As I wrapped up my amphibian adventure, a bright orange pile of something caught my eye on the path by the creek. As I approached, I was sure someone who loved the woods as much as I did left behind the peels of their clementine snack. Upon closer inspection, there were a ton of clementine peels, and they were growing out of the ground. I was perplexed and wowed. I used the image recognition app to identify this dazzling discovery as orange peel fungus. The magic of that moment—the combination of awe, confusion, curiosity—opened up something profound in me.

Since that day in 2020 when my fungal discovery filled me with wonder, amateur mycology (the study of fungus) has become my passion. Over the past three years, I have identified 356 species of fungus in the wild. I have learned a lot over that time about the science of mushrooms, but also about letting myself love what I love, the magic that lives in the woods, and the power of awe.

I recognized the feeling of awe in my body when it hit me unexpectedly, but I wanted to know more about the psychology and science behind it. Why did it feel like the kind of emotional and physical lightning bolt I needed? Merriam-Webster defines awe as “an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.”

The Nature Fix

In The Nature Fix, author Florence Williams surveyed many historical figures’ attempts to summarize the experience I had that day in the woods with the Orange Peel Fungus. She discussed how eighteenth-century Irish philosopher, Edmund Burke, posited that “feelings of spirituality don’t just spring from religion: they also spring from transcendent experiences in nature…According to Burke, for something to be truly awe-inspiring, it must possess the ‘vastness of extent’ as well as a degree of difficulty in our ability to make sense of it. That awe also inspires feelings of humility and a more outward perspective has been well described by philosophers, priests and poets.” There was definitely something special about the experience of perceiving something to be a known object and then having to make space in my mind for the fact that it was something totally different, mysterious, and interesting. I had put my finger on the emotion I was experiencing when I first spotted the Orange Peel Fungus, but I wondered how I could keep feeling that kind of awe and how I could preserve the positive side effects.

How Embracing Wonder Makes Us Happier and Healthier

Psychologist Jonah Paquette dedicated a whole book to the emotion of awe in his newest book, Awestruck: How Embracing Wonder Can Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Connected. He says that “…awe often occurs as a result of something in our external world that overwhelms our senses—a beautiful sunset, a magnificent mountain, or the night sky above. But sometimes, awe can result from things that are not from the physical realm at all, but rather within our own minds—whether from learning a mind-blowing fact or allowing ourselves to see something in a new light. This kind of mind-bending awe doesn’t require us to travel off to distant lands or buy a ticket to the local symphony; rather, it requires us to open ourselves up to the wonders of the world in a different way, and to harness the power of our imaginations to evoke moments of awe within us.”  Dr. Paquette suggests that our openness, curiosity, and willingness to have our minds blown contributes to the intensity and impact of the awe.

After that May day when I got hooked on mycology, I not only continued my daily nature walks, but started to document all new species I found in photographs, and even created my own amateur mycology Instagram page called @phun.gal to share my fungal adventures with the world. It felt exciting to focus on something that I loved that had nothing to do with my job. I wondered if the happiness I felt as a result of my new hobby was just the novelty of teaching an old dog (that’s me!) a new trick or if it was something bigger than that.

What I have found through research is that there is incredible science behind the benefits of awe on the mind and body. Experiencing awe can lead to decreased inflammation in the body, increased dopamine, engagement of the vagus nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system, and an expansion in perception of time among other amazing things.

Becoming a Collector of Awe

So how will you open yourself up to the power of awe around you? How can we permanently hold onto the magic of awe that we have already experienced? Dr. Paquette makes some suggestions on how we can become collectors of awe: “Try experimenting with different ways of capturing your favorite moments of awe. Like a museum curator, compile some of your favorite images, memories, objects, and reminders of these experiences. You might keep a journal to record some of your favorite awe-inspiring memories…Or you might hang pictures on the wall or keep mementoes that remind you of these incredible moments. If you’re more digitally inclined, you can consider creating a sort of digital playlist that includes both your own experiences of awe as well as other sorts of awe-inspiring videos, songs, movies, or images. Experiment with what works for you. And as you encounter new awe-inspiring experiences, find a way to add those to your portfolio or playlist as well. Try to devote some time each week, even for just a few moments, to relive and replay some of those moments and memories.”

Lindsay Roznowski is a Licensed Professional Counselor providing individual and family therapy to children, adolescents, and adults. Specialties include trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy; yoga and mindfulness; therapeutic work with children and adolescents; and family therapy. Lindsay teaches her clients happiness practices and skills derived from positive psychology as a way to invest in themselves and their self-care, especially during these complicated times. She is a certified yoga teacher and uses her background dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness-based approaches, and trauma-focused therapy to offer her clients informed, holistic care. She works collaboratively with each client to create a therapy plan that acknowledges the whole person and supports the fullness of each client’s personal goals. In addition to counseling, Lindsay also offers therapeutic groups and workshops. For questions or to schedule a session, contact Lindsay at 215-326-9665 or at
lindsay@bloomwellnesscounseling.com.

The Benevolence of Beauty

by Elizabeth Venart

 

The wonder of the Beautiful is its ability to surprise us. With swift, sheer grace, it is like a divine breath that blows the heart open. – John O’Donohue in Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

 

When the world of man closed its doors in March last year, the natural world invited us outside to connect and play. Through gardening and time spent in local parks and our own backyard, we found in nature a natural balm to the weariness of an intense and fear-filled time. Nature can be a welcome antidote to stress and boredom. It provides an alternative to the rowing machines and well-worn tracks of the gym. It can also offer us something that stretches far beyond simple diversion or exercise. A walk in nature can be an immersive experience, calming our nervous system and shifting our perspective.

 

When we allow ourselves to inhabit fully the landscape of the present moment, we can delight in the magic of the changing seasons, marvel at the miracle of flowers rising through asphalt, and consider with humility our place among the living things on this planet. Our world as people may have ground to a halt in many ways, but the rest of the natural world continued. I watched how the birds outside my kitchen window built nests, as they do each year, fed their babies, plucked worms and seeds from the ground. I delighted in the birdsong each morning, the brilliant colors of fall, the snow bathing tree limbs with pearl luminescence.

 

Life always has its challenges. Beauty is always there when our eyes are ready to experience her. A child’s laugh, a cloud-speckled sky, a mother fox and her five babies, a warm embrace from a friend we haven’t seen in too long.

 

As the wheel of the year continued to move in its circular rhythm through the seasons, my fond anticipation of the daily walk only strengthened. “I wonder how that cherry tree will look today. . . Will the rhododendron bushes have loosened their tight buds and exploded into pink today?” Bringing a sense of wonder to my daily walks (or wanders when I had more time) imbued my days with delight.

 

The newsletter this month – and our social media – will focus on Beauty. I will be sharing photographs taken during my daily walks over the past year. You will see what my eyes saw, as I walked through my neighborhood delighting in the unfolding beauty of each season.  These images are moments that captured my attention, fascinated and moved me. While some are blossoms and a glimpse of a flower at the peak of its brilliance, others include transition points between the seasons, moments of awe, and the beauty of growth and decay intermingled.

 

As John O’Donohue so beautifully expresses in Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace:

 

The graced eye can glimpse beauty anywhere, for beauty does not reserve itself for special elite moments or instances; it does not wait for perfection but is present already secretly in everything. When we beautify our gaze, the grace of hidden beauty becomes our joy and our sanctuary.

 

My wish for each of you is the eye to “glimpse beauty anywhere” and to savor and delight in this experience.

 

Elizabeth Venart is the Founder and the Director of The Resiliency Center and a Licensed Professional Counselor whose practice focuses on supporting Highly Sensitive Persons, therapists (through counseling and consultation), and creative and intuitive people seeking more magic in their lives. She leads a weekly laughter yoga class and hosts a monthly Rumi and Friends Spiritual Poetry Evening to which all are welcome. To learn more, visit her website.

 

Spiritual fortitude in 2020 - by Tracey Smith

What is the most important thing that the year of Covid 19 has taught you? It has been a year of many lessons learned and still learning. The most important thing is to continue to strive for spiritual wellness and spiritual fortitude. I learned some new spiritual practices that helped sustain me day to day and moment by moment. Some days were extremely hard working through the traumas of events. Afraid if I started crying, I wouldn't stop. Fearful that I may have to choose between my health and my job. Compounded by the social unrest and not feeling safe as a black woman. While other days were joyful and grateful that my hour commute included seeing woods, streams, birds, flowers and horses. Joyful that I have an awesome life with no regrets. To summarize what Covid-19 has taught me, please see the poem below written by b.oakman:

 

I lied and said that I was busy.

I was busy;

but not in a way most people understand.

 

I was busy taking deeper breaths.

I was busy silencing irrational thoughts

I was busy calming a racing heart.

I was busy telling myself I am ok.

 

Sometimes, this is my busy- and I will not apologize for it.

Being adaptable in the year of COVID - by Trudy Gregson

For what are you most grateful as you look back over the year and why? I’m grateful that none of my immediate or extended family has contracted COVID, and to have had this extra time at home with my college-age sons who otherwise would have not lived at home. I’m grateful for the technology that has allowed me to see my clients from home and to stay in touch with friends and loved ones, and I am immensely grateful to all the doctors, nurses, and hospital staff, and all the essential frontline workers. 

 

The pandemic revealed to me how little I actually need. My world became smaller in many ways – working from home, no vacations, and in the winter, virtually no in-person get-togethers. While I miss it all very much, it turns out I can be pretty content “hunkering down” and amusing myself with home activities.  And yet in other ways, my world became larger – seeing far-flung family and friends more than I would have if not for zoom. Discovering hidden gems like new parks, hikes, a dog beach, and new towns that weren’t actually hidden, just unexplored because there was always so much else to do. 

 

I learned how adaptable I can be – I had never seen clients online before and had believed it would be inferior to in-person. In fact, it has been far better than expected and I am now open to how online will expand my ability to work with clients post-pandemic when there are obstacles to clients coming to an office.  

 

I have never been so closely attuned to the day-to-day changes in nature as I have during the pandemic. In Spring, noticing the daily changes to the blooming magnolia tree right outside my front door – the colors, the blossoming flowers as they gradually opened, and their scent up close. Noticing more than ever the changing angle of the sun as the seasons change, and seeking that last bit of afternoon sun on my front step on a cool day to catch some Vitamin D after a day spent inside.  

 

What is the most important thing that the year of Covid 19 has taught you? We can do hard things (borrowed from Glennon Doyle). People are incredibly adaptable, resilient, and creative, and I’ve been inspired by and grateful for so many people during this time. 

Self-Compassion and gratitude during 2020 - by Elizabeth Campbell

For what are you most grateful as you look back over the year and why? The health of my family and the ability to work from home/continue working....because of my wonderful mother-in-law providing childcare. 

 

What did you take for granted this year?  Health, housing, food security. 

 

What did this reveal to you about yourself and your presence in the world? When overwhelmed, I am not connected with the values that I want to be connected to.  

 

What new hobby or old pastime did you take up or revive during the months of lockdown? I walked and ran outside more. 

 

Was there an unexpected joy that you experienced during this time? Slowing down! 

 

What is the most important thing that the year of Covid 19 has taught you? Gratitude for the small things, the importance of family time, and compassion for myself and everyone else. We are all in it together! 

 

5 Ways to Ground during a Pandemic

by Elizabeth Campbell MS, LPC

When lives abruptly change, we may be left feeling shock or fear.  This can include fear of change and the unknown on top of the very real and present fears people currently have for their health.  It is important as a parent to be a grounding force in the home.  That is extremely challenging during these troubling times.  Below are five ways to create some sense of normalcy and model coping to set an example and support kids in managing their own feelings.

1.     Create structure

We are used to a daily routine.  This provides predictability and comfort for us and our children.  When we suddenly don’t have to go to school or work, it can be unsettling.  Giving our family predictability, particularly if anyone in the family experiences anxiety, can help to create and set expectations and grounding.  Some possible things to include are academic time, free time, and my next recommendation for grounding…

2.     Get outside

Being outside in nature is one of the most grounding, calming experiences there is.  Whether you are walking, biking, sitting, bird watching, the list goes on and on.  It is also a great way to stave off cabin fever without risking close contact with others. 

3.     Put on your own oxygen mask first

You cannot model coping with difficult circumstances without doing so yourself.  If you haven’t felt, processed, and coped with any of the myriad of feelings related to our world right now, take care of yourself however you need to.  Whether it is taking a rest during nap time, a bath after bed time, or making sure the entire household moves during the day…the possibilities are endless.  Take.  Care.  Of.  You. 

4.     Stay connected

This is one of the most challenging ways to stay grounded in our current climate.  Thankfully, technology provides a lot of ways to stay socially connected while maintaining social distancing.  We may end up on devices more than we would usually want and that’s okay right now.  This is most important for teens, as it is one of their developmental tasks to build and maintain a social group.

5.     Have fun

There are a lot of things weighing on us right now.  But many of us have been given an enormous gift…time to connect with our loved ones.  Have a dance party, tickle war, a joke competition or whatever you do in your family that makes your heart melt. 

I hope that each and every one of you can find some peace in this global crisis and that you and all of your loved ones stay healthy and happy.

Woman and Wild

Woman and Wild

I can't tell you

the first time the wild

whispered into my 

tiny child heart

because the wild

has always been here...

always an undeniable

aliveness tucked just

behind my ribs

stretching from 

collar bone into the

rich bowl of my (now)

crone woman hips.

we occupy each other

as woman and wild

creating spaces

where life flourishes

each of us

utterly

unique

 each of us

utterly

interdependent

each of us

utterly

at home

© 2018 Tracie Nichols

Spring Perspective

by Tracie Nichols

In the spring, I wander the course of the stream that skirts the bottom of my yard. It’s one of hundreds – possibly thousands – of small, nameless, feeder streams striping the landscape here, meandering towards rivers that empty into the Atlantic Ocean.

It’s something I’ve been doing for over twenty years, now. As you can imagine, this stream and I have seen some life together. Over time, I’ve come to think of this wandering little waterway as family.

So this spring walk is when I discover where the stream is now, after the winds, snowmelt and hard rains of the winter months. By visiting before the riot of jewelweed and other creek bank plants overrun the terrain, I can see where banks have been undercut or collapsed. It’s easy to notice where the streambed has cut more deeply into the red sandstone bedrock, or where trees have fallen or held their ground.

This walk is also when I discover where I am, now and how my course has changed through winter. As I walk and notice the stream, I also notice myself. Where I’m feeling undercut, or rebuilt. Where I’m letting go and where I’m continuing to stand my ground.

Walking the length of this small stream is a moving meditation. An exercise in deep listening and deep presence, teaching me about cycles of death and rebirth in the land and in myself. Walking the length of this small stream offers me the gift of perspective, and anchors me in the reassuringly unending cycles of this land.

Tracie Nichols, M.A., IAC believes that if there ever was a time when the deep perspective of 50-ish+ sensitive, introverted womxn is needed, it’s now. She is a mentor, poet, aromatherapist and rebel crone creating spaces where sister Rebel Crones can find community, information and support to unfurl their voices, be who they choose to be and do what they choose to do. You can learn more about her at tracienichols.com.

What Inspires You? - Reflections by the Community of Practitioners at The Resiliency Center

What inspires you?

Heather Hill – I find great inspiration when running.  I do my best thinking then.  Running, a beautiful place in nature or a piece of beautiful music can all clear my mind and elevate my mood to a higher plane.  If I was given the task to find inspiration tomorrow, I would probably head to the Wissahickon or Peace Valley.  I think in nature we can make contact with our deepest selves and our highest wisdom.  

Dean Solon – I am inspired waking up each morning with the great good fortune of being embodied in human form and of being capable of expressing in this world of activity and phenomena. I am inspired by the big sky above and by the ground beneath my feet and by all the beauty that exists between. I am inspired by the resilience of human beings. I am inspired by the multitude of people who are seeking meaning and connection in their lives.

Brittiney George - Kids, art, nature, and human beings. There are amazing people in this world!

Elizabeth Venart – Sunsets and sunrises. A long walk in the woods on a cool crisp autumn day with its tapestry of red, gold, orange, green, and yellow leaves. Spiritual and nature-based poetry by authors like Rumi, Hafiz, Rilke, Mary Oliver, and John O’Donohue. Music – solo and orchestral, lyric story-telling, enchanting melodies, violins, drums, jazz, and world music. Fred Rogers, Carl Rogers, random acts of kindness, spontaneous laughter, stories of people reaching for their dreams and attaining them.

Barbra Danin - I’m most inspired by new experiences, images, and sensations.  I find traveling (near or far) to be one of the most guaranteed ways of finding inspiration, through the novel visual and sensory stimulation it offers. Reading and films also inspire by triggering my imagination.  I constantly seek inspiration by visiting museums, historical sites, novel restaurants and neighborhoods. What is most inspiring, however, are exchanges with others: sharing ideas, information, experiences and feelings and feeling connected.  

Tracie Nichols – I’m inspired by nature in all ways, but especially by examples of resilience. Trees grown huge despite only being anchored to cliff sides or stream banks by gnarled roots. Seedlings popping up through charred understory after a fire. A young broadwing hawk fending off a trio of crows. I'm also inspired by poetry. Both reading it and writing it. 

Rachel Kobin – Beauty in all its forms: a striking landscape; the angles of a sculpture casting intriguing shadows; music that compels me to stop what I’m doing and feel; writing that expresses the bewildering range of human expression, but above all, witnessing acts of compassion. 

Kristin Fulmer – I am inspired by the amazing capacity of the body, mind, and spirit to self-heal. And if given the opportunity, the body can rebalance itself for complete health, harmony, and happiness.  My job is to support others towards their own unique self-correction. As William Wordsworth stated, “To begin, begin”, so just begin your journey towards wellness as the body, mind, and spirit will fill in the rest.  

Jeff Katowitz – Walks with my dog in the park every morning – starts my day off on the right foot (no pun intended), clears my mind, helps me to focus and provides me with clarity and energy to start the day. Listening to music - particularly artists whose voice and song writing touches me in a way where I feel alive internally and literally provides a spiritual awakening where I feel physically and emotionally moved. Working and building with wood – helps me to feel alive and creative. I can get lost in the moment and will end up creating for hours without realizing any time has passed.  I know that in my future, I will have a wood shop and make furniture for my family and maybe even small row boats!

Kim Vargas – I feel inspired by spending time outside. It’s where I do my best thinking and feel most peaceful. Ideas seem to formulate on their own, without my conscious thought, and solutions present themselves to previously unsolvable problems. The outdoors and nature trigger inspiration in ways I don’t find anywhere else in my life. 

Karen Steinbrecher – Practicing kindness inspires me. When participants in my Qigong classes give me feedback about enjoying the positive feelings when flowing in Qigong movements, as well as an improvement in their wellbeing.  My aches and pains, worries, seem to dissipate when we practice together or when alone.  We heal one another; we are all connected. I love to look out into my garden, appreciate it in all seasons, watching the birds, just enjoying nature. Reading poetry or fiction while I drink my Chai Tea Latte. 

Elizabeth Campbell – Nature, stories about people helping others, stories of healing and strength, and play/fun inspire me.  

Michael Bridges - Two areas I continually return to for inspiration & renewal are nature & poetry. I walk, hike or saunter around Wissahickon Park more days than not each week.

Sometimes, I can have the best of both worlds where poetry & nature come together in twin streams of inspiration, as in the following lines from the wonderful Mary Oliver poem Wild Geese (found here: https://shenandoahliterary.org/blog/2017/02/upon-asking-the-cashier-at-kroger-to-scan-that-old-tattoo-of-a-barcode-on-my-forearm-by-anna-journey/)

-->