Category: Trauma, Self-awareness, Inner peace

According to professor of psychiatry Bessel van der Kolk, “At the core of (trauma) recovery is self-awareness. The most important phrases in trauma therapy are ‘Notice that’ and ‘What happens next?’” Big-T trauma is serious injury, violence or death. Little-t traumas are more in the eye of the beholder, including non-life-threatening injury, emotional abuse, bullying/harassment, and significant losses (perhaps of a relationship or a beloved pet). Trauma involves the story you hold onto about what has happened. Finding inner peace is about acceptance of your emotions—all of your emotions—and living in the present moment.

Courageous Pearls

In the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the life of an innocent man ended as he sheltered his family. Two other bystanders also captured bullets. As in several other shooter profiles, the 20-year-old gunman was described as the recipient of bullying in school. Why? Who’s teaching the values of democracy which include “…insuring domestic tranquility”?

In his book, Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit, writer Parker J. Palmer calls for examining our inner lives to reach the “commonwealth” of compassion and creativity found in the wording in “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union….” Palmer instructs how to focus on shared values with the claim that “the human heart is the first home of democracy.” His 5 habits of the heart are a courageous blueprint for these troubled times:

An understanding that we are all in this together
An appreciation of the value of “otherness”
An ability to hold tension in life-giving ways
A sense of personal voice and agency
A capacity to create community

Named one of the most important books of the early 21^st Century by Democracy & Education, Palmer’s 2024 updated edition contains a discussion guide augmented by online video interviews. Let’s teach this in schools.

Another courageous source of hope lies in the community effort to end the cycle of gun violence by the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago. In partnership with Northwestern University and the University of Chicago Crime Lab, the Institute identifies community individuals who are at risk of being shot or becoming a shooter. They foster the healing of broken dreams and chaotic emotions of youth, supporting individuals though their program of “relentless engagement.” Block by block, they espouse the vision of Martin Luther King, Jr. in nonviolent problem-solving. Their 6 principles of nonviolence support Palmer’s ideas with added dimension:

Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
The Beloved Community is the goal.
Attack forces of evil, not persons doing evil.
Accept suffering without retaliation for the sake of the cause to achieve a goal.
Avoid internal violence of the Spirit as well as external physical violence.
The Universe is on the side of Justice.

The Institute creates a “culture of wellness,” including helping individuals find living-wage jobs in the legal economy. I love how their staff keep receiving training in trauma-informed care and have an offering of yoga practice. It is key to heal the healers as well as train individuals in nonviolence.

Palmer’s words inspire: “When democracy is working as it should, it is a complex and confusing mess where we can think and act as we choose, within the rule of law…and can still manage to come together for the sake of the common good.” The common good is inclusive. Democracy is inclusive.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

307. Which of the Institute-for-Nonviolence-Chicago principles might you work on?

308. How can you foster inclusivity in your hometown?

Independence Day Pearls and Perils

July 4, 2024, celebrated 248 years since the birthday of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. While many Americans enjoyed celebrating July 4^th another year, for some folks it marked their first Independence Day. Babies born in the past year and others who were granted citizenship marked their first July 4^th holiday. I enjoyed family time along with watching an annual parade of community groups celebrating connections. The parade was energizing (even in light rain) with kids, candy bags, and colorful cars. Later in downtown Chicago, singing patriotic songs along with the Grant Park Symphony was memorable.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” Mother Theresa’s words are timeless, but especially meaningful in today’s divided states of America. It was heartwarming to see everyone waving tiny American flags that were handed out at the concert.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) celebrated Independence Day this year by handing out citizenship to approximately 11,000 newcomers in more than 195 naturalization ceremonies during June 28^th– July 5^th. Deputy Assistant to the President Blas Nuñez-Neto participated in a naturalization ceremony at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, while similar celebrations took place across the country, including Battleship in New Jersey, Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri and Fort Clatsop (Lewis & Clark National Historic Park) in Oregon.

In 2023, USCIS welcomed 878,500 new U.S. citizens. This year USCIS made significant strides in reducing naturalization pending queues, already welcoming 589,400 citizens. USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou summarizes: “These new citizens add diversity and character to our great nation, and we are committed to helping all who are eligible to experience the freedoms and liberties we enjoy as U.S. citizens.”

I cannot imagine leaving my country, especially if a language barrier existed. It must feel precarious to encounter uncertainty as unnerving as clinging to electrical wires. Even more daunting, I cannot imagine dealing with the traumatic conditions that can make it mandatory for some parents to carry their babies, with little else, across several countries to reach their dream of safety and second chances.

Let’s recall the Declaration of Independence intentions: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

Gaining citizenship as an immigrant is not guaranteed, but many communities across America have extended a helping hand to these newcomers. “There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about. Ask: ‘What’s possible?’ not ‘What’s wrong?’ Keep asking. Notice what you care about. Assume that many others share your dreams.” These words by organizational consultant Margaret Wheatley are a blueprint for moving forward.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

305. What meaning does July 4^thhold for you?

306. How might you participate in helping others reach their American dream?

Summer Stones

Summer is in full swing! July 4^th celebration plans are a big draw, although rock music fans flocked to Chicago for an early celebratory weekend with a Rolling Stones concert. Chicago rhythm-and-blues fans Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met in 1961 in London. Initially calling their band Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys, guitarist Brian Jones snatched their more famous name from Muddy Waters’ 1950 song, Rollin’ Stone. Jones spotted the song’s LP — lying on the floor — just as he was asked by a journalist about the fledgling band’s name.

Also known by their shortened name, The Stones, band members were called to a stage by Muddy Waters for an impromptu jam in 1978. Sample this classic collaboration without having to purchase an expensive ticket: https://news.wttw.com/2024/06/27/rolling-stones-and-chicago-20-memorable-moments-band-s-rich-history-blues-capital-world

Muddy Waters also inspired other white musicians – Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan are two examples. Dylan’s 1965 song, Like a Rolling Stone, is another Waters’ spinoff. Add the magazine copycat, Rolling Stone.

Copying an early English proverb (from around 1500), “A rolling stone gathers no moss,” an original meaning refers to cutting peat (consisting of sphagnum moss) in bogs to prepare for winter fireplaces. Any itinerant travelers were dubbed “rolling stones” as they did not gather the moss needed for heat. The Rolling Stones original duo –together for nearly 60 years — keeps gathering a fan following. Their beat can heat up memories. I still have my husband’s Rolling Stones LP, Sticky Fingers.

There is something poignant about one’s loss of innocence and encountering the “real” world. Consider The Rolling Stones signature song, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, first released in the U.S. in 1965. It made Rolling Stone magazine’s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Times” list in 2021 as #31. Jagger’s comments about his 60’s lyrics are eerily relevant today: “…it captures a spirit of the times…which was alienation.”

I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get no satisfaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no…

When I’m drivin’ in my car
And the man comes on the radio
He’s tellin’ me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to drive my imagination….

I checked with a friend who went to this weekend’s concert and sure enough, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction was on The Stones’ playlist.

I wonder who might feel satisfaction after watching the presidential debate this past week. Alienation is toppling over in the U.S. today. Itinerant voters may not show up for November’s important election. However, circuitous stepping stones may bring people together. We are an interconnected bunch, although we may not acknowledge our earliest common ancestors. We need more cross-culture collaboration like Muddy Waters and the Blue Boys from London enjoyed. Without such acceptance, we act stone-like to one another. And we get no satisfaction.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

303. How do you define satisfaction in your life?

304. What drives your imagination?

It Takes a Grandmother

I am fond of my book title for my first book, It Takes a Child to Raise a Parent. I receive affirmative grins and head shakes when I share this title with others. You likely helped to raise your parents in certain ways, but also have learned a thing or two from kids, either from your own or other’s children. Sometimes though, it takes a grandparent to raise consciousness about something important.

Juneteenth has been celebrated among African American families for 150+ years, yet many Americans are unaware of this aspect of our U.S. history. The history of people of color has not been covered as extensively in school textbooks as the history of Pilgrims claiming “freedom” on American soil.

Some Americans only heard of Juneteenth when President Biden named June 19^th as Juneteenth National Independence Day in 2021. While the Senate unanimously approved a bill to set aside a national day of commemoration, sadly there was opposition from 14 members of the House of Representatives. We might guess the color of their ancestors’ skin.

While President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to end slavery on January 1, 1863, folks living in Texas did not receive this news. It was not until 2 ½ years later on June 19, 1865, that General Gordon Granger went to Galveston, Texas, to deliver the freedom tidings. Such a deliverance was not recognized by many. African Americans were wary of their actual freedom. As Harriet Tubman expressed, “I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.”

It took the grit of a grandmother, Opal Lee, to rouse the rest of the country into awareness of this vital piece of our shared history. Lee grew up in Texas, but freedom of African American residents was far from accepted practice there. When her family lived in Fort Worth in a mostly white neighborhood, as a child she survived her home being burned to the ground by white individuals on June 19, 1939.

As a retired educator, Lee worked tirelessly to gather the signatures needed to appoint the national holiday for Juneteenth. As a spry 89-year-old, Lee embarked on 2 ½-mile walks from Fort Worth to the U.S. Capitol. She was 96 years young when she finally witnessed the signing of the historic Bill creating Juneteenth as a national holiday.

Perhaps some of us have forgotten (or never knew) the little song that I learned in Sunday School: “Jesus loves the little children, all the children in the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight….” For those who were not raised in this Sunday School tradition, go to any flower garden. Only some plants are white; most are colorful.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

301. What cause could interest you in walking across the country to gather support?

302. How can you foster “freedom” in your community?

Pearls of Pride

The definition of “pride” today is “a feeling that you respect yourself and deserve to be respected by other people.” This has a different connotation from an older definition which meant “inordinate self-esteem.” Likewise, our definitions of personhood are evolving.

The first Pride march in New York City took place 6-28-1970, one year after Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village gay bar, was raided by NYPD. Violent demonstrations followed. Stonewall became a rallying call, creating a turning point for gay rights. Pride Month was recognized nationally by President Clinton in 1999 and later endorsed by President Obama. Month-long activities highlight the courage and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) individuals.

Everyone’s story is unique. Here is one story.

Gender Magic (2023) is the book that Mx. Rae McDaniel wished they might have had as a guide when they were young. Growing up with missionary parents was challenging for this adopted child. The following words convey McDaniel’s extreme discomfort: “The journey to my nonbinary identity was like discovering I’d been walking around in shoes a half size too small. Until I was almost 30, I didn’t notice how uncomfortable and constricted I felt in my assigned gender as a woman, but after decades limping around with blisters, my cramped toes screaming for relief, something had to give.”

According to the National Library of Medicine, it is impossible to know the population size of transgender individuals in the U.S. The Census Bureau has a don’t-ask-don’t tell approach to gender- identity differences. A study searched the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health literature and estimated 1 million adults nationally are transgendered individuals.

Further study results are frightening. According to a 2008 national survey, transgender individuals were 4 times more likely to live in poverty with twice the rate of unemployment and homelessness: 28% postponed medical care due to discrimination. More traumatic, 41% attempted suicide.

Research (June, 2022) by the Pew Research Center reports that 1.6% of U.S. adults are transgender or nonbinary; their current gender identity and assigned-at-birth sex differ. Younger adults (under age 30) are more likely to report being trans or nonbinary: 2.0% under 30 are a trans man or trans woman, while 3% identity as nonbinary which means they are neither man nor woman (or are not strictly one or the other). The American Psychological Association explains: “Transgender people, like cisgender people, may be sexually oriented toward men, women, both sexes, or neither sex.”

Those of us who do not question our gender and/or sexual identity are not as accepting of differences as we might be. Physician and poet Jeremy Nobel (Project UnLonely: Healing our Crisis of Disconnection) has pertinent advice: let’s accept each other as “who we are and welcome hearing their story.”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

299. What is your experience in fostering inclusiveness for those who identify differently from you?

300. How might you foster cultural connotations that are inclusive of all people?

Wear Orange: Hunt for Peace

Hostility is a trainload of energy that can go off-track. Wear Orange Weekend (June 7-9) commemorated victims and families of gun violence, which can derail entire communities. One estimate is that 120 individuals are shot and killed every day in America (with twice as many suffering wounds from gunfire).

The U.S. movement of Wear Orange began in 2013 after the tragic killing of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, a student at King College Prep High School. She was shot in the back while standing with friends on a Chicago playground only one week after marching in President Obama’s inaugural parade. The 18-year-old gunman was sentenced to 84 years in prison, admitting that Hadiya was not the intended “target.”

Hadiya’s friends began honoring her life by wearing orange, the vibrant color worn by hunters to alert other hunters that they share space in the woods. It seems unbelievable but guns lead as the cause of death among American children and teens.

Prominent psychologist Abraham Maslow was asked a question in a 1968 magazine interview for Psychology Today: “If a …young psychologist came to you today and said, ‘What’s the most important thing I can do in this time of crisis?’ what advice would you give?” Maslow replied: “I’d say: Get to work on aggression and hostility. And we need it now…time is running out. A key to understanding the evil which can destroy our society lies in this understanding.” 50+ years later we still are not addressing aggression and hostility with enough urgency.

While June 7^th, Hadiya’s birth date, was the 10^th National Gun Violence Awareness Day, June 8^th was named National Best Friends Day by the U.S. Congress in 1935. Enthusiasm for the day has waned, but we need affirming friendships more than ever. I wonder if those who take another’s life have any best friends.

According to National Today’s survey of 1000 adults (https://nationaltoday.com/national-best-friends-day/), 19% named their dog as their best friend and 9% named their cat. When asked if they had a best friend, 15% answered no. Happily, many reported that they do not have only one best friend!

Primary-care physician and poet Jeremy Nobel authored Project UnLonely: Healing our Crisis of Disconnection (2023). His words might apply to individuals who shoot people: “When we are too lonely for too long, the way we make sense of the world changes, leaving us increasingly at risk for even greater loneliness. We fail to thrive and flourish, we get sick, we spread the affliction to others, and we die before our time.”

What signals violence ahead? There are many tracks that can lead to gun violence, but the most powerful predictor of future violence is a history of violent behavior according to the American Psychological Association. We must “get to work” on prevention. Let’s address the needs of young children and their parents. Let’s hunt for peace.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

297. Is your best friend an animal?

298. Do you know anyone who seems disconnected and needs friendship?

Writing Pearls

Illinois Women’s Press Association (IWPA) hosts a contest for writers, both professional writers and beginning writers in high school. I became a member after re-reading Natalie Goldberg’s wonderful book, Writing Down the Bones, and realizing that I too might call myself a writer even though I had only “morning pages” under my writing belt. Goldberg received sage advice from a Zen master: “Why do you come to sit meditation? Why don’t you make writing your practice? If you go deep enough in writing, it will take you everyplace.”

Yes, writing takes one everyplace. In 1995 I fell down steep stairs in Chicago on the eve of taking my firstborn to college. Unable to hobble much in my cast, I slowed down. I began writing “morning pages” according to journalist and film/TV writer Julia Cameron’s inspiring book, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. I did not imagine that later I would publish three developmental psychology books and create a weekly blog, Pearls of Peace. The word “blog” was not invented until Jorn Barger coined “weblog” in 1997; Peter Merholz reduced the concept to “blog” in 1999.

Goldberg is strictly a pen-and-notebook (of a special kind) writer. She prefers writing in a café. I can take notes and write poems with a pen, but I prefer the keyboard at my desktop computer for books and blogs. Classical music is my companion when I write, not extraneous conversation. Reportedly, Ernest Hemingway wrote naked at a lectern. He used a pencil but switched to typing for dialogue. Each writer develops their own writing style.

Cameron wrote her “morning pages” for decades; in a lecture she commented that writing is a way to “zip up a concern.” She believed she was writing her 1992 Artist’s Way for “about 5 people.” She was shocked when 5 million copies sold! I do not have this following, but the people who do read my writing give me compassionate feedback. However, we writers are most in need of saying something when we take our pen or keyboard to hand. Among others, Cameron believes that we teach what we need to learn ourselves.

I feel lucky to discover the stimulation of writing in an encore career. I feel lucky to receive awards from my two submissions to the 2024 IWPA Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest:

First Place in Web & Social Media Blog, Nonprofit (Government or Educational), IWPA 2024 – “Banned Pearls” (online 10-2-23)
First Place in Non-Fiction Books for Adult Readers, IWPA 2024 – Transforming Retirement: Rewire and Grow Your Legacy (published 2023)

The best part of the Award luncheon was hearing high school writers’ enthusiasm for their craft! I recommend writing at every age. Take Hemingway’s advice: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” My advice? Write a second sentence. Keep writing.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

295. What kind of writing engages you?

296. Is there a type of writing you would like to begin?

Seasonal Pearls

What color are your pearls? Hint: my interest is in your figurative pearls.

Perhaps Sister Joan Sauro’s words will explain: “There is a pearl in every season. Find it. Then give all you have to claim it” (Whole Earth Meditation: Ecology for the Spirit).

May is a busy month for addressing important populations within the U.S. In addition to May’s Asian American, Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month (see “Hula Pearls,” 5-6-24) and America Mental Health Awareness Month (see “Synergy for Mental Health,” 5-13-24), May also is Older Americans Month. Some individuals relate to all 3 of these populations.

Numbers of older adults coping with depression range from 7.7% (adults 50+) to an estimated 31% in some groups (ages 65+). Older adults’ symptoms of depression may not be recognized by their physicians. Compounding caretaking, older adults may view mental health help as a stigma, especially in non-English speaking individuals.

A population bumper crop of older adults is ripening: it is estimated that 4.1 million Americans will reach age 65 every year from 2024-2027. Reportedly, more than 11,200 Americans turn 65 every day (The Alliance for Lifetime Income). Regardless of exact numbers, depression, anxiety and loneliness plague too many older adults.

An exciting program to address this looming population, created 20 years ago at the University of Washington in Seattle, Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives (PEARLS) coaches older adults to be proactive about their wellbeing. Depression is defined in everyday examples by coaches for participants (identified in community organizations); problem-solving skills are taught to enable self-sufficiency for more active lives. The free program takes place in homes or preferred community settings. Online PEARLS began during the pandemic. One-hour sessions for 6-8 weeks (over 4-5 months) start with each person’s daily routines of “where they are.” Coaches have supervision with mental health practitioners. PEARLS coaching has reached adults across 26 states, including our Memorial Day veterans, people of all ages with disabilities, and especially those 65+.

American education is not forward-thinking regarding older adults. My doctoral program in counseling psychology had courses on childhood, adolescent development, and psychology of young adults, but no specific coursework on midlife (since identified as ages 35-64) or gerontology. Relatively few colleges and universities offer a gerontology major, despite a growing need. Of the 5 institutions graduating the most students in gerontology, 89.9% are females. We need more compassion and creativity in our thinking about seasoned citizens.

Recently I was asked to talk about creativity enhancing aging on a podcast, “Older Women and Friends” (interviewed by host Jane Leder). Check it out: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2054889/15102414

Seasonal growth is important at every age, but retirement age is a reminder that our true wealth consists of time, how positively we spend it, and bodymind health. Let’s meet aging with colorful pearls of creativity!

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

293. What season of your life has been your most creative time?

294. What about now?

Unmet Needs

If you can visit The Art Institute of Chicago before August 11^th, do not miss the exhibit, “Christina Ramberg: A Retrospective.” In 2025 the Ramberg exhibit travels to art museums in L.A. and Philadelphia.

Ramberg was a devoted artist; she drew, painted, sewed, quilted, and compiled scrapbooks. Her sometimes-edgy art without faces (and only parts of a body represented in each production) leaves much open to interpretation. Everyone flies their own perceptions into any piece of art, but with unsettling cut-offs there is a provocative quality to Ramberg’s work. What was she thinking as she cropped her art? She once answered this question about a corseted headless-legless woman. The curvy mid-section was bent over; Ramberg recalled watching her mother wriggle into tight undergarments to cinch her waist, popular in women’s fashion in the 50’s. The restraints suggested in cut-off torsos were further emphasized with subdued colors.

Here is what grabbed me when I first saw Ramberg’s Bound Hand. I use my hand to teach people about 5 basic needs. Partly as a mnemonic, and partly as a visual representation of what is at hand for us daily, my 5 EDCBA basic needs (as illustrated on a hand or drawn on a handprint) provide a handy chart. Consider how you meet this handful: Energy (thumb), Discipline (index finger), Creativity (middle finger), Belonging (ring finger) and Ability (little finger).

These needs are not hierarchical, but ideally are interdependent and flow into one another, grounded in a core self. Your met needs are a collaborative effort for your wellbeing. However, the daily-needs story gets complicated when needs are unmet; it is challenging when you are confronted by others trying to meet different needs (or disagreeing with how you meet needs). Bound-up needs stifle one’s equality and growth.

As insightful writer Ann Patchett writes in These Precious Days: Essays, “People want you to want what they want. If you want the same things they want, then their want is validated. If you don’t want the same things, your lack of wanting can, to certain people, come across as judgment.”

Despite critiques, Ramberg (1946-1995) kept evolving her creativity, although her life was cut short by Pick’s disease (frontotemporal dementia). Her creativity is contemporary in its cropped views of both femininity and masculinity. The headless-legless male and female torsos are riveting.

Ramberg frequently visited garage sales and flea markets where she collected the 155 dolls mounted on one wall of the exhibit. The dolls (some headless) represent ethnic, racial, and gender stereotypes. Ramberg said this about Doll Wall: “I was only interested in the dolls that had been owned by someone. The ones where the face was worn off and redrawn in, or where something very strange had transpired…I’m interested in what is implied. And the simple fact that they had a life.”

Let’s embrace life. Who needs wars?

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

291. What (if any) are your unmet needs?

292. How do you meet your need for creativity?

Synergy for Mental Health

“Cognitive Synergy” by Bill Frymire, Olympic, WA

The word synergy comes from Attic Greek sunergos meaning “working together.”

May is America’s Mental Health Awareness Month. In the UK Mental Health Awareness Week is May 13-19 with this year’s theme of “Movement: Moving More for our Mental Health.” I like this emphasis on the whole body working together in movement.

I watch flowers in my spring garden moving together in a constant tableau. It was just yesterday that Virginia Bluebells were a flowing drift of dainty blue flower blooms swaying in the breeze. We also are equipped to bloom and thankfully, most of us have a longer bloom time than spring ephemerals. Today the bluebells are wilting; soon their greenery will disappear and go dormant after flowering and dispersing seeds. Moving into bloom where my bluebells reigned are False Solomon’s Seal perennials with their tiny white stars at the top of flagpole stems.

People wilt for a variety of reasons. It is not easy to be physically and mentally healthy every season. Children especially struggle with conditions that go unnamed for years, often not finding helpful ways to cope until adulthood.

American songwriter, mixed-media artist and writer Morgan Harper Nichols only received her diagnosis of autism, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder at age 31. She began creating art and poetry as responses to social media messages. Nichols bloomed with her art creating “room to breathe.” She moved her talent in the direction of sharing what she believes is helpful to others:

“Inhale, exhale. Never forget the green lights, stop signs and highways that brought you here. Every single step accounted for, even though you can’t see where the road leads, what matters is that you travel not in pursuit of knowing it all, but in pursuit of boundless peace” (How Far You Have Come).

Nichols initiated a project of sending personalized letters to strangers, making a lifetime goal to compose a million poems to strangers! She invites individuals to share their story with her on her website. She replies to them sending visual art with a letter of encouragement. There are no fees. She keeps names anonymous. Her daily practice of synergistic generosity is a powerful example of her blooming and dispersing seeds of hope. Nichols is completing her MFA (in Interdisciplinary Media Arts) as she works on an online conversational-focused game.

“Art is made in hindsight,” claims Virgil Abloh, fashion designer. Or as Nichols penned, “One day, you will look back and see that all along, you were blooming.”

To keep blooming go to https://www.samhsa.gov/mental-health-awareness-month/toolkit and https://www.nami.org/get-involved/awareness-events/mental-health-awareness-month/ for activities in mental health synergy.

Synergy is “the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.” Springtime is an excellent time for all of us to move together in the growing of mental health for all.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

289. When is a time in your life when you were wilting?

290. What did you do to re-bloom?