Who Am I?From the time of my earliest memories at around 4 or 5 years old, the question “Who Am I?” arose in my consciousness, again and Even though this insight was profound and deep at an early age, there was still a tremendous amount of suffering in my physical, mental, and emotional life, through childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The achingly strong desire to be free of suffering, coupled with a firm inner knowingness of the Truth of who I am, catapulted me into a life path of inner exploration, wanting to close the gap between my inner realizations and the confusing and often painful reality of my outer life. My Personal MissionMy personal mission was born out of that gap: to find my way free of suffering and into wellbeing and thriving, then to share what I learn with as many people as possible so that they may free themselves from suffering and emerge into exuberant living as well. That focus took me into the exploration of many spiritual paths and wellbeing avenues, becoming a minister in an 18-year involvement with a particular spiritual path, working one-on-one with people who were suffering, working as a counselor to help others alleviate smoking, overeating and other addictions, practicing and teaching workshops on co-counseling and emotional release, sitting with several spiritual teachers, working as a care giver with hospice and other patients, studying Shamanism, Ho’oponopono (ancient Hawaiian healing practice), studying and practicing Yuen Energetics (an energetic Chinese healing system), for myself and others, and exploring contact improvisation and other forms of conscious movement and dance. Through all of that I gained many insights and tools that helped me see through the illusion of suffering. Yet, even with all that I had realized and experienced, there was still a gap between the love that I knew as reality and the seemingly bottomless pit of pain that I still regularly fell into. I could sit in meditation and feel exquisite bliss, but then, after I opened by eyes and stepped back into my physical/emotional/mental life, I would get ensnared by negative emotions and depression. Letting It All GoAt some point I felt saturated with all the teachings, books and teachers. I felt compelled to put all the words and viewpoints of others aside and to ask deep within myself, “What is true for ME?” I knew that much of what I had internalized as “The Truth” was actually the insights that came from the particular perspectives of my teachers. I also knew that some of those teachings weren’t really true for me. I had a profound realization that came in the form of seeing all of the Universe, God, Creation as an immense diamond with countless facets. Each of the facets represented a viewpoint and if one were to look deeply into ANY facet, they could look deep into the Heart of God. My heart yearned to find the facet that I COULD look that deeply into. Then I realized that I WAS that facet and I only needed to look deeply into myself. Taking ResponsibilityA short time after that an experience with the Abraham-Hicks material sparked within me another profound realization: all my suffering was self-created. Whatever I put my attention on, believe and fuel with emotion, I create. It really is that simple. This was a giant step for me and my life began to change and improve dramatically as I determinedly practiced the discipline of bringing my thoughts and attention back to what produced a feeling of love, light and wellbeing within me, and learned to withdraw attention (energy) from thoughts that created emotional, mental and spiritual pain. As I continued “training” myself in this way, the periods of emotional pain and suffering became shorter and occurred much less frequently. The ShiftGradually, I began to see some of my most cherished dreams coming true, including the creation of this website as a way to give back after being given so much. The usual vibration of my life shifted from surviving to surviving better, then to glimpses of thriving. Now it is mostly about thriving, with spurts of full-on exhilaration as my outer life shifts to match the inner vibration of joy and wellbeing that I’ve accustomed myself to live in. This is not to say that I don’t experience negative emotions still. I do. But I don’t feel powerless over my life experience any more. I know that no matter what goes on, the one thing that I DO have control over is how I VIEW what is going on, and what I tell myself about the situation. In this website I will share with you what I have learned, that suffering is indeed optional! Whenever I discover something that has helped point me deeper into wellbeing, I just want to share it with the whole world, so here I am on the internet, doing just that! May you live consciously in the radiant light of your own Beautiful Being, every step of your way in this and all worlds. Many Blessings to You!
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again. The answer was revealed simultaneously with the question, not in words, but in the automatic turning into Presence, to Aliveness, to Truth at the core of myself. I knew this that I am is at the core of everyone and everything.
