For Parents, Grandparents, Family, Teachers, Caregivers & Professionals

 

My Motivation

I have been writing most of my life, but I did not become passionate about being published until the school shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Thinking of those children, and all children like I had been, facing fear, terror, anxiety, etc., especially at night, made me determined to share some of the tools that have had such a positive effect on my life journey. Then, with pandemic-induced, worldwide anxiety, my convictions were confirmed that the time for sharing was now.   

My Training

I have a Master’s in Education, a master-level life coach certification and I received numerous awards during my 17 years of teaching public school. For the last 15 years, I have sat under the teachings and trainings of mentor-teachers who have studied the experts on the brain, our thoughts, our feelings, how they are connected and what we can do about the connections. One of the teachings that has made a significant difference for me, is that I am not my brain or my thoughts or my feelings. This truth has put just enough space between me and my thoughts for me to consider that my thoughts are not who I am, they do not define me, I do not create all of them and they often do not represent me and who I want to be. What a life changing gift!  

Here are a few examples:

My brain says, “Junk food!” The truth is eating junk food is a way for me to distract myself. I can feel the feeling or distract in a healthy way.

My brain says, “ Jerk!” The truth is I do not know what that person is dealing with in their life.

My brain says, “Worry, worry, worry!” The truth is the best thing for me and everyone else is for me to do the next right thing in my life.

We all experience varying levels of trauma in life, and addictions of all kinds are often the way people deal with/bury their painful thoughts and feelings. I am not a medical doctor, therapist, nor am I a scientist. I am Traveler on Life’s Road and I have learned that becoming more aware of my thoughts and feelings gives me opportunities to use choice to think and act in ways that are life giving for me and for those around me.  

My Hope

I am so grateful for these ongoing lessons and for how they are giving me a better way to journey through life with myself and with others. I have a will, a spirit, a soul, a personality, and whatever other words describe that we are more than our parts and more than the sum of our parts. You are you and I am me and we have choice. I hope we choose to become aware and awake. My prayer is that we use this awareness to retrain our brains by choosing thoughts that create more compassion, love, acceptance, forgiveness, patience and understanding for ourselves and for the world.