Healing Destinations & Sacred Spaces

There are healing destinations, and there are sacred spaces. I’m learning to feel the difference between the two.

I’ve been blessed to travel to so many wonderful places, always in awe of their beauty. For years, I tried to capture them through my camera lens—searching for the perfect shot—yet I often wonder if I truly slowed down enough to experience them fully.

With a shift in my life, and the way I now see and feel the world, something has changed. Beauty no longer hides behind the lens—it is alive in every moment.

Recently, I visited Wyalusing State Park, a place that left me deeply connected to the Earth. This land was sacred long before it became a state park in 1917. When people chose to shape it, they did so with reverence. The rock walls and trails blend seamlessly into the forest, honoring what was already there. Even the overlook feels intentional—layered stones forming a quiet invitation to pause, sit, and watch the sunset. In that moment, it felt like the land itself was whispering: slow down, this is what matters.

That evening, the sky painted itself in purples, pinks, and oranges—a breathtaking mosaic. And as I stood at the place where the Wisconsin River meets the Mississippi, I felt the sacredness of water’s wisdom. The rivers do not fight for space, current, or direction. They simply come together, remembering they were always one.

One drop. One river. One ocean.

They are not separate, no matter how far they have traveled. They merge, flow, and coexist—with each other, the land, and the universe.

I dream of us being like the water:

flowing together, dancing with the waves, sparkling with the sun, rising with the moon, and resting with the stars. One. United in a way that brings peace to our minds, our bodies, and our souls.

Even as trees are embraced by the river, there is no violence. They do not lose their purpose but instead take on a new one—becoming sanctuary. A resting space for the eagles, a nesting space for the birds. Nature remembers how to be one with itself.

As the Earth works to heal herself, may we remember too. May we learn to flow like the river—moving with the land, not against it.