This time last year, we had no clue that we in a couple of months would head into many months of different struggles due to a pandemic. When the pandemic hit the world, our countries have had different strategies considering lock downs, closed businesses and schools. What we have all shared is isolation from loved ones and maybe also loss of loved ones.

On a personal level we all have had to find different new ways to adapt to all this.

I’m counting myself as one of the fortunate ones in many ways. And one of them is that I have all of You! Every one of you is special and has a unique story to tell, and I’ve learned so much listening to you. Some of you have shared with me both the struggles and the amazing creativity you’ve discovered during the pandemic. It inspires me, humbles me and makes my compassion grow.

I’m also grateful for me being able to grow as a therapist with both continuing education (will tell you more about that in an upcoming Newsletter) and also my growing experience as a practitioner. I like to believe that who I am and what I do can be of support, and that supporting people around me just happen to be what I love to do.

Thank you for following me on this journey. We all have an important, and if you like, exciting part to play. And as one of my favorite quotes by Ram Dass says; “We are all just walking each other home”.

Looking forward to what’s ahead in 2021, where more learnings, sharing’s and connections will happen!

And, as I like to say, there’s so much written by amazing poets and others, so sometimes the wisest thing I can do is to share what I find….so here’s a poem written by David Whyte;

Everything Is Waiting for You
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the
conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

And with this I’m wishing you all the best for the upcoming holidays, where I hope you’ll find rest and recharge, and also, may all your wishes for the New Year come true!

With gratitude,
Helena

In my latest blog post I share a recent event where I got to visit a place of emptiness, sadness, grief AND gratitude…
https://helenaswanstrom.com/a-vistit-to-emptiness-sadness-and-grief/