In the summer of 1994, I had an experience that forever changed the course of my life. I had been languishing, feeling frustrated, unfulfilled, and out of place in my fifth corporate job in almost as many years. I knew that I was not in the right career path and that corporate work just wasn’t for me. I had been begging and pleading the universe for support in finding my true path – the path of my soul, and that which would lead to a sense of meaning and fulfillment and which might help to serve the betterment of our world.

The answer came in a startling and unexpected way. While attending mass one Sunday, the pastor, in his homily said, “If there’s something you want to do and you haven’t done it yet, get off your ass and do it now.” I felt his words like a lightening bolt through my entire body as I saw a red brick fly through the air and hit me in the head. Perhaps this was the answer – or at least the invitation. I scheduled an appointment with my pastor and thus began the beginning of the path that would lead me to where I am today.

What began as ministry formation through the Catholic Church led to training as a spiritual director, which then led me on the path of Reiki healing. I secured a paid position with the Church, eventually leaving the corporate world behind.

This, however, was just the beginning. I worked in the Church for ten years, and during that time, applied ancient knowledge and practice into what became a nine-month curriculum in human psycho-spiritual development. Through this training, participants began to discover their unique gifts and how they were being called to use these gifts in the world for the sake of their own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of the world. I saw the results of this training first in myself, and then in those I guided. This was meaningful and fulfilling work and I knew I was on to something.

Then Reiki happened. Suffice it to say that hierarchy and the movement of the Holy Spirit collided. Eventually I had to make a choice between my Church and the calling that God had given me.  I chose God.

This choosing took place over many years with lots of bargaining and excruciating grief, but since 2008 I have been free of institutional constraints and have been leading individuals and groups on the journey of their own psycho-spiritual development using the curriculum that has its roots in my time in Church ministry, but which has unfolded in a way to speak to and meet the needs of a universal audience. Since then, I have published ten books, created over thirty courses geared toward supporting participants in their own journey of self-actualization, and led hundreds on that journey.

I do this work because I have seen the benefits in my own life and in the life of my clients and students. When we take the time to uncover our unique giftedness, discern how we are called to share the gifts in the world, and then move through the inner obstacles to living out of those gifts, we experience a sense of meaning and fulfillment in our lives which leads us to a deep state of inner contentment and joy. While attending graduate school, I learned that the word for this acquired knowledge and experience is self-actualization.  I also learned, and have seen for myself, that self-actualized humans naturally and effortlessly work from their own unique gifts in support of their own fulfillment and for the betterment of the world. Self-actualization in one benefits our world in exponential ways.  It has therefore become my mission to support the betterment of our world by supporting self-actualization one person at a time.

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