Working with our big feelings and thoughts…

It’s been a wonderful few weeks of beautiful, heart-opening experiences.

Just over two weeks ago, I brought the world of creating ephemeral earth indoors to the volunteer end-of-life doulas of Valley Health System in northern New Jersey. While several of the women initially shared that they were not artistic, by the session’s end, they were surprised and delighted by their beautiful creations. We chose different intentions for our work with fresh-cut flowers and greens and briefly shared our stories.

Then, on Sunday in Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC, following my colleague Sarah DeWitt’s beautiful forest-bathing guidance, we used the large open area near Parking Lot 2 to find spaces that called to us. We had foraged along our walk during forest bath and found more in our respective spaces. We visited everyone’s altars, saw their beauty and learnged about their meaning.

Last Wednesday, women from across the United States gathered to learn about the morning altars practice at the mid-May Evermore workshop. As always, I described the Morning Altars practice, shared photos of some of my altars, and told the intentions, questions, and/or stories behind their creation. It was a solid foundation for the work that we then created. We closed our session with a new understanding of what was on our hearts and in our minds, bearing witness to our own work and others’ creations, taking photos to remember the experience.

This practice immerses us in nature, uses foraged materials and found objects to represent our thoughts, feelings, intentions, and questions. When we make time and space to reflect, create, witness, harvest, and share, it becomes both a deeply personal and a universal experience for participants—it feels like an oasis in our busy lives.

“Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.”
Carl Jung

NB: The May 2026 edition of the AI Practitioner includes my brief article, “The Ripple Effect of Taking Good Care of Me…” if you are interested in the application of Appreciative Inquiry in our everyday lives.