With the summer growing shorter, the Heart Stone team met at Kettle Cove for this month’s staff meeting. It was a beautiful day and the sandwiches were good. We talked about the experiences we wanted to squeeze in before fall–a visit to Peaks Island, a swim in the ocean, one more camping trip.

Every late-August, I find myself looking at my list of summer didn’t-dos. It’s usually with a twinge of grief, self-judgment and resignation: well, there’s always next summer.

But like many of us, I’m also trying hard to look at the side opposite all those didn’t-get-to-dos and don’t-haves. You know: taking a breath and acknowledging the beauty and bounty that’s found in the day-to-day and the moment-to-moment.

This summer, a particularly beautiful scene became a metaphor for how life’s bounty (whatever it may be) flows to us. My family and I were driving the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains, looking for a pretty riverside spot to eat lunch. We were pressed for time and all the scenic pulloffs were packed, so we picked a random shoulder and parked. We made our way through some bushes, down the riverbank, and there it was, the perfect spot.

We set up on a smooth, wide boulder that was shaded by an overhanging tree and surrounded by moving water. The entire expanse of the riverbed is filled with rounded stones and boulders, and though many of them are dry and exposed, the current of the shallow water is still strong.

I set out to wade into the middle, carefully cupping the slippery rocks with each step. Facing upstream and into the sun, I take in the feeling of all the water rushing toward me. As if it was rushing to me specifically. Like I was somehow its destination.

Turning around and feeling the push of the current behind my knees, I look ahead to all the places that water would flow. So far, far beyond me. Places I’ll never ever know.

Later, it had me thinking of all the giving that past generations have done to maintain life downstream and the naturalness of that flow. Even if the giving is in the form of mere survival, it has made this existence possible. Our survival story, too, can nourish those downstream from us. Sometimes, way, way downstream.

This is one of the reasons I love facilitating groups at Heart Stone. Each person in the Healing Circle generously shares her story, of doing what she had to do, instinctually, smartly and sometimes problematically, to get through hard times. Like little dandelion seeds of hope and healing, I witness these honest stories nourishing the hearts of the other group members. And then I see the hope and healing that was just received flow right back into the heart of the person who shared her story.

Ask anyone who has participated in a supportive group. Magic stuff happens. We are so excited to be ramping up our group and workshop offerings this fall, including Healing Circle, Expressive Arts for Self-Understanding, Somatic Practices for Emotional Wellness, Body Image Recovery Support and Fertile Heart Visionary Circles for people on the fertility path. Cheyne will also be running a one-time Expressive Arts Workshop for Grieving. All workshops and groups will be posted on the Heart Stone website calendar.

For more information check out our group webpage
or email hello@heartstonecounseling.com

Happy Late Summer!

<3 <3 Emily & the Heart Stone Team

Stories Flowing Downstream: The Healing Power of Groups