Falling Upward to the Light

Remembering Sara Widlert

Dec 11, 2024

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Gifts come in many forms. Twenty years ago, I met Sara Widlert from Sweden and our friendship quickly became a beautiful gift in my life. This past week, Sara left this world for the next. The day after I received the news, another gift arrived in my inbox in the form of story art from Kai Skye. As I read the first two lines of Kai’s “story”, my immediate thought was, “Oh, he’s writing about Sara.” Because his words perfectly described what I imagined her transition back to pure Light must have been like.

the way you fall upward
into silence & starlight on a clear
winter’s night, without effort,
without thinking, without
wondering if this is more than
you can hold, do this as often
as it takes to remember we are
made to hold infinities of the
world, of the stars, of each other
“silence & starlight” by kai skye

remember we are made to hold infinities of the world, of the stars, of each other. Sara lived this worldview every day. She lived in infinities. She lived in spaciousness and Light. The world and the stars were her playground. Back in March after a serious surgery, she posted to her hundreds of friends on Facebook from around the world:

What I have learned, among other things, is that love is endless, gratitude knows no boundaries and thoughtfulness and compassion are not dependent on distance.

Entering hospice care a few weeks ago, she posted a final message:

I wish you all a great life! Remember Love is endless! Thank you for being in my life!

I first met Sara in a pilot coach training program in Eastbourne, England in September 2004. We quickly recognized one another as kindred spirits and met twice more in France and Spain within a year to complete the program. The following year, I began working in Sweden—the first of many teaching trips there.

Sara loved travel and discovery. Years before as a single mother with limited resources, she had taken her three daughters all over the world. So, she quickly decided that she and I should have an adventure together every time I visited her country so that she could introduce me to Sweden and its culture. She became my personal tour guide. While we visited many of her favorite places, most often in nature and small villages, she also made sure that on each adventure we did something she had never done before. There always had to be something new mixed in with the familiar.

Already on our second adventure, my husband Johnathon was with us as well, and the two of them quickly developed their own special connection. We were blessed with one last Swedish adventure with her just over a year ago, not knowing at the time that would be our last.

After a successful career in business management and leadership education and development, including a very long association with Scandinavian Airlines, Sara became one of the pioneers for coaching in Sweden. In fact, her website domain name was “coachofsweden”! She was a Master Certified Coach (MCC) by the International Coach Federation (ICF), and was one of the first graduates of the Transformational Presence Leadership and Coaching program. A pure embodiment of Transformational Presence, she inspired so many people to step into their greatest potential. She described what she did as “coaching beyond your dreams.”

Our mutual friend Martin Götze wrote to me a few days ago about how much he had learned from her as a friend and mentor. He said Sara taught him how to be present with silence—to listen to the silence. He shared a particular conversation with Sara:

Sara said to me with her quite sharp eyes, “You can meet your client from the mindset of doubt, thinking that they cannot reach their goal, or you can meet them with the mindset of certainty that this person has endless potential. The coaching session will be totally different depending on your mindset.”

Martin said to me, “I carry these words with me every day, even when I look in the mirror.”

Sara always looked for the Light—always. She had an amazing way of fully acknowledging the reality of the moment, even when that reality was tough, yet then immediately looking for and finding Light. She found Light everywhere, no matter what was happening. And then she kept her focus on that Light and refused to give power to anything that wasn’t infused with that Light. Even as she knew her time here was coming to an end. The way she always looked for the Light and refused to consider any other possibility was her greatest gift to me. I am forever grateful for her presence in my life.

Sara, I have a feeling you are loving your new adventure. You’re getting to go so many places you’ve never been before! I hope you will drop in on me from time to time and share something of what you’re discovering over there, and so we can laugh again about the many crazy and magical moments we shared.

As my farewell, Sara, I offer you a poem from David Whyte and a few lines in closing from John O’Donohue.

Blessing (For One Who Blessed)
by David Whyte
May your palms be as good for blessing
now as when you lived and breathed,
may your voice still carry us as you used
to carry us when you filled a room
with laughter and we rode the tide
of your arriving shout.
May there be a way to bless from the place
you inhabit, may you extend your hands
and your old way of speaking from the horizon
where you live, and may you remember us
and bless us here, in this place, and in this time
in the lit room of our present imaginations
or in the reflected glass, lifted to you
or to one another, remembering you;
and wondering if you still remember us.
And as you have travelled the way before us,
may you bless us especially on the long road
that starts from these words, in our meetings
and in our partings, in our simple wish to find a way
and especially in our visible and invisible arrivals.
And because we have still to cross the threshold
that you have passed and make the journey
that you have completed, and because
we do not know from where you bless or even
if you still can bless, we need those words of yours
and that voice of yours, and the merciful world
beyond that voice, and your laughter and your hands
turned toward us, as strong and as good as they ever were.
—from “The Seven Streams: An Irish Cycle,” originally published in Pilgrim.

And finally, the closing lines from John O’Donohue’s poem “On the Death of the Beloved.”

May you continue to inspire us:
To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.
—John O’Donohue

Fly high and free in the Light, dear one—fly high on your wings of Love!