This week I am celebrating my 60th birthday, the start of a new decade. I am doing a lot of thinking about my life journey. Choices I have made, the good and the bad, where I want to go next. Mostly I feel grateful.  When I “count my blessings” you – the people who read my writing are a big part of it. Not because of the reading, but because of the kind of people you are.  I know some of you personally, others are friends of friends, colleagues or people who have been in a workshop I taught. The common thread is that you are people who care.  

Your compassion is what makes this world worth living in. The news is full of human awfulness. If I only had the news to tell me what is out there, I would go to bed and never get up. Maybe I would retreat to my own little existence, read, and eat chocolate until my last day arrives. The reason I read, write, teach, think, join committees, try, and share is because you are out there, helping. 

One privilege of being a trainer is that I get to talk to and meet (many times through Zoom) so many people in so many places. There is a refugee worker in Turkey who stays up until midnight taking classes to learn how to support resilience. There are mental health professionals from the Ukraine in Canada and Switzerland and the US doing what they can from where they are to help children and adults. There is Mary in her kitchen in Scotland learning new ideas so she can share them with the children she tends. There are military veterans seeking new ways to serve, as well as parents, and children of aging parents looking for ways to help their family. There are also all the people in my own family, friend groups, neighborhood, and congregation making a difference. 

I see so much courage in those of you who have your own trauma histories. Subjected to abuse, violence, war you seek to heal yourself so that you can better serve others. So many, many times I have heard you say, “I need to get better so that I can take care of…my children, my clients, people who have been through what I have been through.” You deserve to heal because you deserve to heal. Your desire to heal so that you can help others shows your generosity.  

Thank you to those of you whose help comes in the form of creating beauty or knowledge. The painters, musicians, writers, preachers, and artists of all sorts. Thank you to the behind-the-scenes people. The ones who make sure the room is set up, the email gets sent, the cupboards are filled.  I have heard you say, “oh it is nothing…I am just doing my job or I am just helping.” It is something – you are the hands and feet of all that is good. Thank you, all of you, who are active in your communities, in our world. 

I want you to know you are not alone. The math is fuzzy, but given all the trainings I have led and attended, all the conferences and therapy sessions I have been in, all the committee meetings and services I have been part of, I have met thousands of people who are seeking to make this world kinder, more compassionate, more just, more beautiful. Thank you.  

I so appreciate that our paths have crossed, and I look forward to working together with you in the future.  

Laura