Dear Maria,

I was working with a client a few weeks ago and she shared something breathtakingly beautiful.

In the chaos of grief. In its tumultuous, unpredictable, and isolating energy, we need to find the forest within.

For this beautiful, powerful woman, the forest is her home.

You see, grief has this way of showing us the ways the world isn’t safe, all the ways it can hurt us, all the ways it’s hurt us in the past, and all the ways we can feel small and scared.

But the forest within is serenity and peace and security beyond anything anyone else can offer.

In some ways, one of life’s cruelties is that we have to discover our inner forest in the midst of immense pain.

There is also beauty.

Imagine knowing that there is nothing that can happen that will take away home?

Will there be pain and hurt in life? Yes.

Will there be lessons and struggles? Yes.

Will there be deceit and disappointment? Yes.

But our inner sanctuary can be where we experience them.

I discovered my forest within after you died. In many ways, I’m still exploring it. And now, I have the honour of watching others discover theirs.

In a world without you, that’s about close to perfect as I can get.

Jess