Journey of Pain and Peace

Walking helps! Walking is therapy for me. When I walk I think; I sort; I get in touch with my anger; I relive my pain as a way of coming to terms with it; I process. I do some of my best thinking when I walk. Often something that I am dealing with is much clearer when I return from a walk.

Walking helps! Walkingis therapy for me. When I walk I think;I sort; I get in touch with my anger; I relive my pain as a way of coming to terms with it; I process. I do some of my best thinking when I walk. Often something that I am dealing with is much clearer when I return from a walk.

Much of this book was born as I walkedin our neighborhood. I relived the pain. I relived the compassion. I struggledwith loss. I tried to sort out how I live with this loss. I prayed.Thoughts about pain, loss, and peace became clearer as I walked.Heading to the computer as I entered the house to jot down those thoughtswas a typical experience. Perhapsit is appropriate that a book about a personal journey was significantly birthed as I walked.

Walking is therapy for me.So is reading. A few months after our daughter Kym's death, I began to search for books to guide me on this new journey. Many good books by others who had walked similar journeys or by professional grief counselors stimulated and comforted me.I learned so much from them. Writingabout what I learned became another avenue of healing.Walking, reading and writing pave the path of this journey.

Carolyn DeArmond Blevins is AssociateProfessor, Emerita of the School of Religion at Carson-Newman College.She lives with her husband, Bill, in Jefferson City, Tennessee, where she enjoys walking, reading and writing.