My Story

 

The Universe is made of stories, not atoms.
— Muriel Rukeyser

 

Each of us has our own story. Here is a little bit of mine.

I’ve always wanted to know more. Not just how the story ends, but what it means. Why we do the things we do (or why we don’t). In a nutshell: truth and wisdom.

There was a time in my life, though, when I didn’t have a clue. At 19, I was a single mom on welfare raising two babies after being abandoned by my husband. I had no support, no job and weighed 89 pounds. But I had my extended family and I had a friend. Lois believed in me. Her presence, love and encouragement gave me the courage I needed at the worst time in my life.

Unfortunately for me, she was moving up north but she didn’t want to leave me behind without support. She wanted me to go back to school and rebuild my life. Since Lois was a play therapist, she knew a child-rearing expert who taught me how to parent. She found me a counselor.

The counselor was perfect for me, very left-brained. In each session, we would make to-do lists because I needed goals and structure. I had my first glimpse of what an astute counselor could do for someone in trouble.

Within six months, she found me a private scholarship that enabled me to go to university. I put yoga on my to-do list and every night after I put the kids to bed, I would learn yoga postures on a towel in the hallway from a book. Within ten days (yes, ten days) I began gaining weight. I found a yoga class and within a year, I was teaching the class! and attending university.

I love to be an agent of transformation for someone else’s spiritual growth. At university, Rabbi Zalman Schachter did that for me. His class intensified my spiritual search. He made spirit come alive and—he taught through stories.

I learned from him that spirituality was about joy, love and inclusiveness. This is at the root of everything I do in my life and my work. You may never know this when working with me. You may come to me to quit smoking, (which doesn’t need to be a spiritual quest—although it can). But it is simply part of who I am and what makes me successful in my work.

Over the past 30 years, my early innocent search for wisdom and truth has matured. What I now bring to bear on my life and my work are the fruits of that search. I look forward to the next chapter.

As for Lois, she was an old soul and she died young. After she moved away, we stayed “in touch” but that was all. Sometimes people come into your life for a specific reason and then they move on. This is the very essence of my work. Because of Lois, I am where I am today and I’m grateful for her presence in my life, however brief.

 

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