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Awareness Training for People who Love to Write...
Why Writing for Self Reflection?
I began writing for self-reflection back in 2008 to guide me through my book-writing process. I’d been turned onto Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, writing morning pages until well after my life story black and (A)broad: traveling beyond the limitations of identity was published.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but my book-writing process was a bona fide exercise in journaling. I’d managed to bring up and write about so much of the trauma of my childhood that I ended up seeking the help of a psychoanalyst, who also used many good coaching tools to help me recognize and acknowledge all the hurts that being raised by a single, mentally ill mother had caused. The pain didn’t stop there: I’d also suppressed the grief I was unable to express at the deaths of my beloved brother and sister, who’d died when I was 10 and 13, respectively. He was 21 and she had just turned 15.
Enter Journaling
I found the courage to surrender much of those painful memories and negative emotions and wanted to help others do the same, as I’d discovered a way to journal that bypassed my logical, critical left brain and allowed the creative cheerleader right brain to take center stage.
I had an impulse to become qualified as a life coach so I did my research, found iPEC London and for the next year dedicated my energies to learning how to coach and start up a coaching business.
Right from the beginning I had the urge to bring my unique set of personality traits, personal experiences, skills and talents into a coaching model I could call my own. It didn’t happen over night, but not everything does.
My Professional Background
I earned my Master’s degree in Latin American Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park. I was writing my doctoral dissertation on the construction of the black female body in 19th century Cuban literature when our oldest daughter (now 18!) was born. I was also traveling 3 hours per day to University College Utrecht in the Netherlands where I worked as a tutor and lecturer. It was too much so I made the decision to stop my doctoral studies.
Four years later our middle daughter was born (now 14). I’d come to the realization that academia was not my passion, and after many discussions with my husband, we agreed it would be best for the family if I left the university and created a home-based business. I worked as a Dutch/English translator, I wrote advertorials for a local expat newspaper, I (copy) edited books, blogged and contributed to the well-being column of an expat magazine. But first and foremost, I’m a devoted wife and mother of three (our youngest, a boy, is 9).
I bring all of this expertise, experience and energy to you: a seeker of truth, a lover of writing and an appreciator of depth and engagement.
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Dear You,
I love to write.
I especially love to watch as my pen rolls across my notebook, literally scripting life into whatever’s in my head or heart.
In the last years, I’m not sure whether a day has gone by that I haven’t written, even if it’s only how I want my day to unfold.
I’ve turned that love of writing into my own coaching model; hence, Writing for Self-Reflection.
Dear You,
Dear You,
Why Writing for Self Reflection?
I began writing for self-reflection back in 2008 to guide me through my book-writing process. I’d been turned onto Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, writing morning pages until well after my life story Black and (A)broad: traveling beyond the limitations of identity was published.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but my book-writing process was a bona fide exercise in journaling. I’d managed to bring up and write about so much of the trauma of my childhood that I ended up seeking the help of a psychoanalyst, who also used many good coaching tools to help me recognize and acknowledge all the hurts that being raised by a single, mentally ill mother had caused. The pain didn’t stop there: I’d also suppressed the grief I was unable to express at the deaths of my beloved brother and sister, who’d died when I was 10 and 13, respectively. He was 21 and she had just turned 15.
Enter Journaling
I found the courage to surrender much of those painful memories and negative emotions and wanted to help others do the same, as I’d discovered a way to journal that bypassed my logical, critical left brain and allowed the creative cheerleader right brain to take center stage.
I had an impulse to become qualified as a life coach so I did my research, found iPEC London and for the next year dedicated my energies to learning how to coach and start up a coaching business.
Right from the beginning I had the urge to bring my unique set of personality traits, personal experiences, skills and talents into a coaching model I could call my own. It didn’t happen over night, but not everything does.
My Professional Background
I earned my Master’s degree in Latin American Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park. I was writing my doctoral dissertation on the construction of the black female body in 19th century Cuban literature when our oldest daughter (now 18!) was born. I was also traveling 3 hours per day to University College Utrecht in the Netherlands where I worked as a tutor and lecturer. It was too much so I made the decision to stop my doctoral studies.
Four years later our middle daughter was born (now 14). I’d come to the realization that academia was not my passion, and after many discussions with my husband, we agreed it would be best for the family if I left the university and created a home-based business. I worked as a Dutch/English translator, I wrote advertorials for a local expat newspaper, I (copy) edited books, blogged and contributed to the well-being column of an expat magazine. But first and foremost, I’m a devoted wife and mother of three (our youngest, a boy, is 9).
I bring all of this expertise, experience and energy to you: a seeker of truth, a lover of writing and an appreciator of depth and engagement.
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