Embodied Mercy
There is a painting hanging inside one of my Airbnb’s that I just fell in love with. I have spent countless hours staring at it in some form of meditation. One day I decided I needed to figure out the meaning behind it.
It is The Seven Works of Mercy by Caravaggio. Originally painted in 1607 for a Catholic charitable organization in Naples, the artwork portrays mercy not as an emotion, but as something we embody through our actions. Every figure in the painting is responding to suffering with compassion.
After walking through my own spiritual awakening, religious wounds, grief, trauma, rejection and years of learning to meet myself with compassion instead of judgment, the painting spoke differently. I realized that mercy is not something we simply choose one day. It is something that naturally flows from a healed heart.
We often tell people to be more compassionate.
To forgive.
To love.
To be patient.
But the truth is, those things become incredibly difficult when our own nervous system is living in survival.
When we carry unresolved trauma, shame, fear, resentment, or emotional pain, we naturally interpret the world through those wounds. We become reactive instead of responsive. We protect ourselves instead of connecting. We judge others in the same places we’ve never learned to hold ourselves with grace.
Healing changes that.
Not because someone tells us to become kinder.
But because we finally experience kindness within ourselves.
Ironically, this realization has fully landed in the buisiest of times…softball season and the fast pace of summer.
I’ve found myself wishing for more quiet and slow time to dive into my own practices—to meditate longer, to sit in stillness, to spend more time healing. Yet something unexpected has happened. Instead of noticing what I haven’t had time for, I’ve begun noticing what has already taken root.
Thorughout my travels this summer, I’ve found myself having meaningful conversations with complete strangers.
Just last night, I struck up a conversation with a man eating at the same restaurant. He shared he was a cancer survivor. He told me about his challenges he had to overcome and how after everything he’d experienced, the greatest joy in his life was his grandchildren. As I was listening, I wasn’t trying to fix anything. I wasn’t trying to teach. I simply held a space for another human being.
Walking away, I realized something profound.
After experiencing rejection, betrayal, and deep wounds within my life and my community, I wasn’t sure I would feel safe opening up my heart so freely.
Healing didn’t erase those experiences. It transformed my relationship with them.
I am seeing people instead of their opinions, hearing their stories instead of making assumptions, and becoming genuinely curious about what has shaped their lives.
Perhaps this is what Embioed Mercy really looks like.
No grand gestures. Not having all the answers. Just creating moments where another person feels heard…seen…valued…even if you’ll never meet them again.
That is why Living As Light Healing Arts exists.
This isn’t simply a place to receive a Reiki session or attend a meditation.
It is a space designed to help people come home to themselves.
Through Reiki, meditation, gentle yoga, sound healing, breathwork, quiet reflection, and intentional practices, we begin creating enough safety within the body to gently explore the places we’ve spent years avoiding.
Healing isn’t about becoming someone new.
It is about removing the layers that have kept us disconnected from who we have always been. It’s about remembering who you were before fear convinced you otherwise.
As we learn to sit with our own pain without judgment, something remarkable happens.
Our capacity to sit with someone else’s pain expands too.
Compassion becomes less of an effort and more of a natural expression.
Mercy becomes embodied.
The world doesn’t simply need more people talking about love.
It needs more people who have healed enough to become love in the way they listen, the way they respond, the way they lead, the way they parent, the way they partner, the way they serve, and the way they complete strangers.
Embodied mercy begins within.
And from there, it quietly transforms every relationship we touch.
As I continue to reflecting, I’m reminded the world doesn’t need more people talking about compassion—it needs more people who have experinced it deeply enough within themselves that it naturally overflows into the lives of others.
That is my hope for this next season.
This fall, I will be welcoming individuals or small groups into an intimate four-night, three-day retreat centered on this very principle: Embodied Mercy.
We will step away from the noise of everyday life and create space to heal from the inside out through Reiki, meditation, gentle movement, breathwork, sound healing, quiet reflection, and meaningful conversation.
When we learn to extend mercy toward ourselves, we begin offering it effortlessly to our families, our communities, and even the strangers whose path crosses our own.
If this message resonates with you, I would be honored to walk alongside you.
More details about Fall 2026 Embodied Mercy Retreat will be shared soon I hope you’ll join us.
Check out your accommodation for one or two people:
Accommodation for more:
With love,
Nichole
