Butterflies of Hope: How One Woman’s Small Act is Changing Lives Around the World

I believe that when someone does something beautiful for the world, it deserves to be seen and celebrated. I have had the honor of watching someone I care about take a small idea from the heart and turn it into something that now touches lives around the globe. What Lindsay Rickis has created with Zunararocks is a reminder of how much light one person can spread when they move with pure intention. I could not be prouder to share her story, her spirit, and the incredible work she continues to do... quietly, humbly, and with so much love.

Some people start a project. Some people create a movement without even realizing it.

What Lindsay Rickis created through Zunararocks is something deeper than a hobby, a craft, or even a gesture. It is, in every sense of the word, a living prayer.

Zunararocks did not begin with a business plan or a marketing strategy. It started the way the most powerful things often do: with love, grief, and the need to keep a light alive after a loss that never should have happened. Lindsay woke up one morning carrying that weight and decided to do something with it. Something beautiful. Something for others.

Her inspiration was her friend Zunara, whose memory deserved more than a single tree planted or a seasonal donation that fades when the holidays end. Zunara’s spirit was too bright for that. Lindsay wanted a way to keep saying her name. She wanted to keep the names of many others alive too. In doing so, she found a way to offer comfort to every soul who might stumble across one small sign that they are not alone in their pain.

She painted her first butterfly rock. A simple river stone, transformed with wings, glitter, and pure intention. Underneath, she placed a tag that read:

“If you find this butterfly, it is for someone special who passed on. Please relocate it to a new beautiful place in their memory.”

No charge. No fanfare. Just hope and healing.

No charge. No fanfare. Just hope and healing.

At first, it was slow. People did not always understand the message. But Lindsay stayed steady, driven by something bigger than herself. Then, something extraordinary happened.

One butterfly found its way to exactly the right person at exactly the right time.

A woman named Katharine, grieving the loss of her daughter Grace, happened to stop at a Starbucks she did not usually visit. She happened to park in a different spot. She happened to notice a small flash of yellow in the snow. She felt drawn to dig it out. It was a butterfly rock. A yellow one, Grace’s color, still waiting there for her even a week after it had been placed.

That moment did not just change Katharine’s life. It changed Lindsay’s too.

Because the truth is, Zunararocks is not only about remembering the ones we have lost. It is about remembering the ones who are still here. The ones quietly surviving grief and hardship, often in silence, hoping for a sign that someone still sees them.

Since that first connection, Lindsay’s project has grown. Friends and family carry butterfly rocks when they travel. Zunararocks have been placed across the United States, into London, even as far as Bulgaria. Yet Lindsay’s heart remains the same. It has never been about how many rocks are found. It has always been about who needed to find one.

Each butterfly is a silent hug. A whispered reminder:

You are loved. You are remembered. You are not alone.

You are loved. You are remembered. You are not alone.

In a noisy and sometimes heavy world, what Lindsay has created shows us that healing does not always come from grand gestures. Sometimes healing comes through a simple rock placed by unseen hands. Sometimes healing comes when you say someone’s name aloud. Sometimes it comes when a stranger follows a feeling they cannot explain.

What Zunararocks has taught me, and so many others, is that even in loss, even in darkness, we still have the power to plant something beautiful. We still have the power to keep love alive, heart to heart, one quiet miracle at a time.

To follow Lindsay’s journey and see these butterflies of hope traveling across the world, visit @zunararocks on Instagram.

— Dr. Peter Sousa

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