Healing Through Wonder

Val Walker is a rehabilitation consultant and blogger for Psychology Today, Social Self, and Health Story Collaborative. She is the author of The Art of Comforting, which won the Nautilus Gold Medal Book Award, and 400 Friends and No One to Call. With a Master of Science degree in rehabilitation counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University, she has led support groups for twenty-four years for people living with chronic illness, disability, grief, and trauma. She lives in Boston and teaches and speaks throughout New England at human services agencies, medical centers, hospices, universities, and community education programs. Val’s articles, interviews, and advice quotes have appeared in national publications such as TIME, AARP, Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, Coping with Cancer, Boston Globe Magazine, Chicago Tribune, and others. Since 2020, media appearances include Parade, Next Avenue, Rewire, Boomer Magazine, Babyboomer.com, Healthy Aging, Caregiver Space, Caregiver Solutions, and Sweety High.

With warmth and humility, the book invites readers into a slower, more compassionate vision of healing—one shaped by reverence, relationship, and the resilience of the human spirit.

• IntroductionPART ONE My Story of Healing Through Wonder Preface: Hope, Wonder, and Comfort: Encounters with Wild BirdsChapter 1. The Providence of HeronsDisappearing into the LightTricks of LightThe Blue HeronBack to My SensesChapter 2. Learning from HeronsFailing PsychotherapyWhat Herons Taught MeMy Blue NotebookChapter 3. Finding Peace Through WonderBuilding on StrengthsThe Luna Moth and the ButterflyMaineChapter 4. Reclaiming My Sense of WonderMy Little Book of WondersDiscovering the Neuroscience of Awe and WonderSharing Moments of Awe and Wonder with OthersPART TWO Stories of Healing Through WonderPreface: Introducing Four Wondrous ProfilesChapter 5. Robyn Houston-Bean: Living with Uncertainty Through Awe and WonderRobyn’s Story The DragonflySharing Awe and Wonder in Relationships and GroupsHow Wonder Helps Us Live with UncertaintyRobyn’s Wonder Wisdom in a NutshellChapter 6. Luke Schmaltz: Finding Wonder in Everyday ConversationsLuke’s StoryThe Wonder of VoiceThe Art of Finding Wonder in PeopleLuke’s Wonder Wisdom in a NutshellChapter 7. Carol Bowers: Healing Through Sharing Awe and WonderCarol’s StoryJeffHolding OnThe Healing Power of Sharing Awe with OthersCarol’s Wonder Wisdom in a NutshellChapter 8. Ricky Allen: The Awe-Inspiring Kindness of a StrangerRicky’s StoryA Second Chance Put into ActionHow Awe Inspires Us to Care for OthersRicky’s Wonder Wisdom in a NutshellPART THREE The Healing Power of Awe and WonderPreface: Opening to Wonder: An Invitation Chapter 9. Bringing Awe and Wonder into Our LivesProtecting Our Sense of Wonder in a Cynical WorldThe Worlds of Wonder Around UsChapter 10. Resilience and Community Through Awe and WonderA Red-tailed HawkA Willingness to Be WondrousPaths to ResilienceCreating Community Through Awe and WonderAppendix: A Friendly Guide to Wondrous Things (A Toolkit)