Fall has arrived. This month I am feeling somber. One of my very best friends has passed away. This has been a terrible and unexpected shock, and it has left me adrift, looking for hope and meaning.

What follows is my search for healing and joy in this sometimes uncertain world. My hope is that you will be enriched by reading this blog this month. I am sure that you, too, have your own pile of leaves to sort through this fall. I hope that my creative journey will help you along this shady path.

A while back I visited a city. I found the experience a little disconcerting. I came from my sleepy little seaside village to a large city buzzing with activity and commotion. I found myself at times jarred by the experience, so I began looking about me for the beauty in the concrete jungle.

And, of course, it was there. By training my eye to look for the beauty, I found it. And it wasn’t sparse. It was a matter of that little “cup full/cup empty” thing. It was, once again, a reminder that it’s my choice what I zoom in on and what I choose to look at and remember.

This was such a strong mental and emotional experience that I decided, on returning to my sleepy village, to convert the experience into an artistic expression. The painting this month is of the beauty that was there amongst the traffic, cigarette butts and concrete. People are people wherever you go, and we all are striving for beauty to focus and comfort us on this earthly journey.

This old classic by Louis Armstrong has been vital to my healing this month. I share it here with you in hopes that it will bless you as it has me. Please listen to it again. In this version Louis gives a speaking introduction that really means a lot and enhances the message from this creative and beautiful mind. I hope that his music touches and refreshes your soul, as it has mine.

When Madeline, my daughter was at UCSF, and then again when my husband was at UCSF for treatment, I, once again, found myself in desperate need for the healing comfort that beauty brings. That huge hospital complex was so overwhelming.

But sure enough, just a few blocks away was all the beauty I could hope for. I share the following images of my escape hatch. And in time I came to feel like that UCSF campus was as warm, loving, caring and beautiful as any I could hope to find.

This month I celebrate the healing power of beauty that surrounds us in our daily lives. My challenge to you is to simply stop and inhale it. Let it surround you and reinvigorate you today to face whatever challenge you are facing. We are so lucky to be here.

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