My own transformational journey

I have been on my own path of Self-Care, wellness, and healing for more than thirty years, following an early childhood with a mix of wonderful love and opportunities and also significant stress and trauma.

In response to this environment, I spent a lot of time thinking about these two opposing experiences coexisting and what it meant. I thought a lot about relationships and human behavior and wellness and spirituality and what I believed about it all. I also ruminated on social justice issues like poverty, violence, and disease, and why people might experience these. I spent hours lying in bed as a child thinking about these concepts and acting them out by myself, taking on different roles and creating new possibilities.

I had nightmares that made me scared and tired, and I decided I would need to change this by learning to control my dreams. I practiced lucid dreaming and was able to actively change what was happening in my nightmares and, therefore, change the narrative and experience I was having. This translated into my waking life as well and empowered me.

I didn’t know through all of this that I was practicing Self-Care, but that’s what it was.

I also got sick both physically and emotionally and began a biofeedback and guided imagery program at the age of sixteen, after being diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis, chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome, fibromyalgia, and depression. This was my first experience with meditation and learning to mindfully be aware of my body and my body’s response to my mind. I started going to acupuncture three times a week and was taking herbs and learning more about a natural way of healing.

My very early path of search and discovery eventually led me to a master’s degree in social work, a professional coaching certificate, a ministerial degree, and expertise in several healing modalities. I have worked in universities, private schools, nonprofit organizations, public schools, and with my own business, and all of my life’s work and my formal education has a foundation of wellness and Self-Care. My portfolio of teaching and coaching is broad-ranging. It includes music, human behavior, therapeutic modalities, community organizing and change, diversity and inclusivity, parenting, nutrition, stress management, change and growth, mindfulness, meditation, and Self-Care itself. My social work code of ethics requires me to practice Self-Care. My social work, teaching, and coaching require me to be a leader and a model. I believe this path of wellness and Self-Care and love is one of the most important and foundational directions we can walk to change the course of fear and violence we are on right now.