Introduction

Welcome to the May 2011 issue of Touch: The Journal of Healing.  As our world shed the remnants of its cold, long sleep of winter, we were surrounded by reminders that life springs anew, and we, like the world, began to shed our own winter shadows.  But even as our world awoke, shadowed remnants lingered in our periphery.  Cold winds returned and snow fell on newly budding daffodils, and for some of us, painful memories returned, seemingly from nowhere.  We remembered them with clarity and intensity, and we were blinded to the gifts of new beginnings and new purpose.

This is a reminder to us all, that, at times, we have a tendency to focus on what was rather than what is.  To dwell in the past for too long consumes tremendous energy that drains us of our ability to look ahead.  The characters portrayed in this issue show us that painful memories return to us all, but we also learn that there are lessons to be learned from those memories and that the pull of life is strong.  When we allow the past to fade, we awaken to the presence of our surroundings, and we remember there's still a lot of life yet to be lived.

We all share the personal struggles of life, and though the specifics of an individual's struggles may be unique, the feelings they evoke are universal.  This is what binds us all together, this sharing of the Touch of humanity.

O.P.W. Fredericks, Editor

Daniel Milbo, Assistant Editor