Find Peace & Healing

I stumbled on the peace garden in Hilo, Hawaii completely by accident.

On the way back from seeing Umauma Falls, I saw a humongous, completely untouched, and gorgeously woven spider web. I got closer to admire the handy work of nature's best quilters. As I unfocused my eyes off the web, I noticed a peace garden about 20 feet away from the web. Curiosity led me farther.

Before delving too deep into what I saw at Umauma Falls, let me give you a little background on what I was going through at the time.

At the time, I'd recently given birth to my second child. And healing and recovery were a total mess. The short of it includes 5 rounds of antibiotics, pelvic surgery, rounds of various pills that do who knows what, and strange creams for places that should never need cream. TMI? Sorry.

In an effort to give my post-partum body and heart a break, my husband and I packed up my mountains of drugs (thankfully, I didn't get Broken Down Palace-ed), and flew to Hawaii. Umauma Falls was our first stop.

When I moved past the spider's web, I entered an inconspicuous peace garden. I saw 9 tombstones, all labeled with a different "enemy." For example, the enemy of "fear" was on one grave, the enemy of "anger" on another, and "harmful beliefs" on another, etc.

That's when I saw my enemy. Enemy #9: Illness and Disease.

As I contemplated everything that I'd been through the past 3 months, feelings flood-gated out of me and I sobbed. Immediately, I knew this enemy burial ground was here for a reason. It was my time to bury the enemy that was holding me captive.

The instructions near the graves state to dig a hole and take the negative energy from your heart. Then, you bury the negative energy while saying "enemy (fill in the blank with your enemy), you are now destroyed and I bury you here never to be my enemy again."

I followed the instructions.

I thought about the weekly poking and prodding during blood work, the invasive pelvic exams, the time spent on cold tables in Radiology rooms, the bureaucracy that is the medical and insurance world, the side-effects from medication, the postpartum depression--the pain.

I took it from my heart. Destroyed it. Buried it. Left it in Hawaii forever.

I'm not naive enough to believe that this action healed me forever. Modern medicine will continue to be part of my journey. But, stumbling upon this peace journey did something for me I desperately needed. It gave me time to reflect on what I've been through and to realize I deserve to heal. This moment of reflection fostered an overwhelming sense of peace and I felt renewed, ready to bury more enemies.

So, I continued.

I buried: stress from being overwhelmed by daily life, fear I am not a good enough mother, destructive habits of self-loathing my new mom bod, illness and disease (once again for good measure), and all other known and unknown enemies of the spirit.

My unplanned time in the peace garden of Umauma Falls gave me strength. I'm grateful for travel--for opportunities to bury old enemies and come to healthy realizations that make life easier.