Dear Family and Friends,

I have never been so proud to live in the great city of Chicago! I hopped on a bus last night and walked with hundreds of thousands of people to Grant Park. It didn’t matter that we didn’t have a ticket for the main event. There were huge screens all over the park, like at a Rock Concert, so we could see and hear everything.

The weather was perfect, and the mood of the crowd was quietly optimistic. When the polls closed and the announcement flashed on the screen that Barack Obama was our projected president-elect, a wave of joy and relief passed through the crowd. In that huge sea of humanity, I saw every possible type of American: rich and poor, white, black, Asian and Hispanic, young and old.

In a time of great fear and unrest in the world, for one moment in time, I witnessed a group of people who were happy and proud and elated. It was a moment I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Whatever your political leanings might be, I hope you will all agree with both Obama and McCain: that first and foremost of all, we are Americans. For right now, if we can all put aside the labels that divide us and forget that we prefer “conservative” or “liberal,” Democrat or Republican, red state or blue state, and simply say that I am an American and a citizen of the world.

I love my work with energy psychology. I have seen how the movement of energy can heal a person physically and emotionally. I believe that we can all move our collective energy to heal our country and the world.

The theme of Obama’s speech was, once again: “Yes, we can!” I bought a t-shirt last night that said: “Yes, we did!” My hope and prayer for all of us is that we come to appreciate what we all can do, and acknowledge and celebrate what we have already done. I intend to stay positive and hopeful. I hope you will too!

God bless you,

Kiya