12/04/2025
Art and metaphor can heal you too✨
This beautiful painting is called “Off to a New Journey: The Day of Leaving the Nest” by Kayo Nomura from and I am overjoyed to give it a home in my office and see it each morning before starting a new day🥰
The piece stood out to me right away but the title was what really struck a chord. In some of my deepest grief years ago I discovered Pema Chodron’s work and loved reading “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times.” In it, the quote that stuck with me most:
“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.”
I found this painting while we were in Kyoto in March- a bucket-list dream trip, which we made time for between the end of my breast cancer treatment infusions in January and my final corrective surgery in April. The piece represents something personally meaningful about this phase of life and the thrill of new journeys, and something that I connect with so often in my work with clients: choosing to lean in to moments of real living and not just surviving, courageous and intentional joy that exists with awareness and acceptance of discomfort, not after or because of elimination of discomfort. Real, vulnerable, beautiful resilience. Embracing life just as it is, right here and now, each new day.
Wishing you all peace amidst the chaos of this holiday season, gratitude amidst your grief, fierce compassion and courageous joy❤️❤️❤️
