Heal the Past

So many people suffer from the effects of their own past. Abuse, past misdeeds, bad judgment or old unhappiness keep folks hog-tied in a bondage they cannot escape. They search desperately for the key to free themselves.

For me, it was finding a way to forgive myself and forgive those who had harmed me. For so long, I held that pain and those memories so close, clutching them to my heart, until my pain had become an old friend. I held onto it like a security blanket, thinking that as long as I could still feel that pain, I was still alive. It was making me feel old. I was tired of being a victim. I was tired even of being a survivor. I just wanted to be me.

Then one fine autumn day, I went for a walk in the woods to take in the beautiful fall colors. As was my habit, thoughts of the past came unbidden into my mind even as my eyes settled on one particular leaf in a breathtaking orange/red sugar maple. The leaf was perfect and so colorful that it almost hurt to look at it. At that instant, the leaf dropped from the tree and landed directly at my feet.

And I understood.

I had to let go of my pain, no matter how familiar it was, no matter how long it had been with me. Like that tree, once free from a past that had served its purpose, I could prepare myself for new growth and my own personal renaissance. I could become the person I wanted to be, without being chained to a painful yesterday, without a label.

This necklace is designed to help the wearer heal the past, no matter what that might mean to her. The beautifully rendered Hill Tribe silver leaf is a reminder that an end is really merely the herald of a new beginning.