My Story
A little backstory to get to know me...
We all have a story, a journey to where we are today. And where we travel is often a response to where we began.
For me, the playful and sensitive nature of my young self was squashed early by the tense status quo of an alcoholic home. By the time I reached college, the schism between my conscious life and what I was suppressing led to my first nervous breakdown.
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My first experience of unconditional love came when I married my best friend, Mike. But moving three times in four years and a pressure-cooker career gave way to nervous breakdown number two.
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Life became a bubbling caldron, filled with one high-stress experience after another, what I now refer to as “front burner living.” What I couldn’t see then was that my internal pressure was building, and the lid was still tight...I thought I was doing everything "right."
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Whether conscious or not, our internal guidance is persistent, and there’s nowhere the light can’t reach...
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Continued...
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A recurring dream inspired me to radically change my life trajectory, and I enrolled in a graduate program in religious studies. While I tried to balance school, marriage and motherhood, my own mother died. Then I was diagnosed with MS.
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My new calling was to connect my pastoral studies with my personal experience of MS. Again I traveled, this time to hospitals, conferences, and community outreach programs, to share my own story and support others on their journey with MS.
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It was when my father’s health declined that the lid on my internal pressure wouldn’t stay put. Repressed memory flashbacks began erupting and a “perfect storm” shook the foundation of my identity, plunged me into dark waters and initiated my search for the light.
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The flashbacks indicated there was much I didn’t know; there was a far broader picture that I needed to see. What was diagnosed as MS would eventually guide me to do that.
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As I sought support from both Western and Eastern modalities, I was introduced to the notion that my true foundation lies within. The process of slowly relinquishing my focus on outside authority and practicing internal self-affirmation helped me turn off the heat and reduced my internal pressure. I could then remove the lid and consciously begin looking inside; facing things I’d hidden from myself for a very long time.
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In my search for healing, I was introduced to guides who continually support me. And a trip to Heceta lighthouse on the Oregon coast became the symbol of my inner journey.
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I received a Master's degree from Seattle University in Pastoral Studies and spent time serving as a chaplain in the years that followed. Since then I've gone on to study and train my energetic, intuitive capacities.
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My work through My Inner Lighthouse is the way I’m currently called to serve the light, to share my own story so that it may support and inspire others in finding their own light.
Follow My Inner Lighthouse