I hated to walk on these leaves this morning—the leaves that my heart was thrilled to see bud last April, now turned their autumn colors and crushed beneath my feet.

Sometimes this endless cycle of death and rebirth feels like too much to bear—the way things fall away. If I had things my way, I’d see a little more action on the rebirth side. But lately it seems like a whole lot of death and suffering. Just minutes after I walked over these leaves, I ran into a woman whose teenage son died a few years ago in a motorcycle accident. In truth, there are some losses you never recover from. You go on, but your life is inexorably altered. As it should be. Our losses are precious too.

Every bit counts. It is all a part of you. All the dreams that haven’t come to pass. The business that failed. The baby you didn’t have. The way your marriage ended. Your child who’s an addict. The things you’ve left undone. The relationships you’ve lost. The degree you haven’t earned.

Every heartbreak and failure and death and loss, every interruption and unexpected detour, everything that has budded and grown, then flamed out and fallen is now the ground beneath your feet. It is your sacred foundation, the soil you stand in that allows you to grow. Everything that has died is as much a part of you as everything that remains. Walk on, my friends.