Introduction

Welcome to the Spring 2013 issue of Touch: The Journal of Healing.  As we grow through life, dreams color the ups and downs that come our way and give us hope to weather those times when healing is a struggle.  Even when they don't come true, dreams teach us that moving forward is sometimes an answer in itself.  Flowers bloom even though they are destined to fade, and a sparrow's nest is lovingly built even though one day it will go empty.

In this issue the poet's eye lends us a vision of beauty in both the dreaming and the accepting of loss as a part of life.  Whether the struggles of aging and illness or the absence of a loved one, life's challenges are often unavoidable and beyond our control.  We may be faced with a decision to shut down or accept help and life and a future.  At first we may face the decision minute to minute, hour to hour, or day by day.  But as we heal and move on, we may be presented with a more subtle decision: how we will choose to remember the past.  Will our frustration and anger color our future or new dreams and an appreciation for the beauty that can be found in the struggle itself?

We invite our readers to join us for a journey of joys and remembering, of finding new dreams, and of letting our desires bend to what life brings us.  Our writers capture not only the emotions of facing the future, but they skillfully dive into the depths of the wisdom that accepts both the inevitability of loss and the constancy of new life that brings healing to those who are open to it.

Thank you for joining us this issue.  We hope you find renewed confidence in the power of life and a new vision of the beauty of daring to dream.

O.P.W. Fredericks, Editor

Daniel Milbo, Assistant Editor