Influences
If we are lucky, our journey on this planet is a long one. We've all been influenced by people, situations and works that have resonated with us. Here are some that have influenced me, that can give you a sense of my journey. Maybe some of them resonate with you?
Dreams
One of my earliest influences was Gayle Delaney and her classic book: "Living Your Dreams". I was just out of grad school and this book found its way into my hands when I stumbled on a small section of a local bookshop - remember bookshops?! I sure do miss having more of them around...
The Seventh Academy
I have had the fortunate opportunity to be part of the Seventh Academy from its inception 17 years ago. I first met Chris Largent, a co-founder of the Seventh Academy when he and his partner, Denise Breton were teaching in Wilmington, Delaware. I attended a class they gave on Mysticism held at a quaint store filled with the kind of books I love to read, called Sandy Hollow. They introduced me to self-learning as a path. This was exciting and the learning went so much further than anything I was taught in my 19 years of formal education. I have always had an interest and a draw to have a bigger picture of the world, to make more sense of how things worked. This is what brought me to their class on spirituality and intuition. I wanted my own direct experience and sense of the Whole. That first class put me on a journey to view the world with ever bigger and bigger lenses. It was like being upgraded to a large telescope when I’d been used to looking through a magnifying glass! I will be forever grateful to have found my way there. Several years after that Mysticism class the Seventh Academy was co-founded by Chris Largent and Susan McClellan. It was created with similar intentions – to promote self-discovery and a bigger sense of the Whole, to expand our view, our perspective. The academy carries on to this day with Chris' facilitation and leadership.
I am so grateful to all of my teachers, yet none more so than Karla McLaren. There isn't anyone I know who has a more grounded, practical, and nuanced way of looking at emotions.
I reference and utilize the first book of her's I read, The Language of Emotions on a regular basis in my daily life. Emotions are a gift, they are useful and true information that if we pay attention to them, can yield a great bounty. We don't have to act on our emotions. Yet - I have found that like our night time dreams - if we ignore them, they just tend to get louder! The banging on the door becomes a signal you can't ignore. Karla was the person who taught me to recognize emotions in their subtle states and heed their messages early so that I didn't have to feel battered about when these same emotions grew into their feeling states and then, if further ignored, into intensified states, like panic. Still, no matter where the emotion resides on the continuum, it's all information that we can use and make choices with that are aligned to who we are and what we need right now. Emotions are part of your inner genius.
Parts Work
I was introduced to and studied the self-led method of Internal Family Systems (IFS) several years ago. Internal Family Systems is often called "Parts Work", which is the name I like to use. The practice was developed by the systemic therapist Richard Schwartz, Ph.D. and has been a real game-changer for myself and my client-partners. Using Parts Work I have been able to shift how I think of myself. Most importantly I have come into partnership with all the facets that make up what I had previously been calling and thinking about as just "me".
PartnershipPartnership, what it is, what it looks like, how to foster it, why it's important - has been an underlying current in my work and my life for as long as I can remember. The people and resources that have influenced my understanding, approach and desire for partnership are vast. I'll share a few when you read on:
- Non-Violent Communications - Marshall Rosenberg
- Conflict Partnship - Dudley Weeks
- Kinship With All of Life - J. Allen Boone
- Partnership Culture - Riane Eisler
- Tao of Equus - Linda Kohanov
Bright Lines
Bright Lines. It's a legal term. It means a clear and unabiguous line you do not cross. I've found the concept, which I learned through a program called "Bright Line Eating", to be incredibly useful. It turns out that for certain things we want to change, creating a bright line can mean all the difference in finding freedom from a habit that has become long ingrained.
NEW! To learn more about my journey with releasing 90 pounds and getting off of sugar and flour - check out this discussion I had with Florence Christophers for her Kick the Sugar podcast (56 mins): audio version / video version.