Look and Listen

Biography

I grew up in a time of rapid cultural change. My freshman year of high school demanded neck ties and jackets with pants over the boot as well as hair above the ear. That was 1967. By 1971 we had tossed our ties and wore everything from cowboy boots to jeans and shorts and were smoking in the school yard with hair down our backs. Though seemingly the superficial whims of the younger generation of the time, simple manifestations as these symbolized a change in thinking. A questioning in perception. Though there had been countless wars throughout history, we existed in our timeline and Viet Nam was exploding in our faces every day and night on TV news. One of the questions was, "why do we think the way we think as the human race?" For me, that opened up a pathway of soul-searching. Not only because there was and is strife in the world, but I also had my own personal thorns that demanded what I now know as reconciliation. I questioned the vagueness of a fear-based religion and what gave it control over people's state of mind, particularly mine. At 17 I was reading about laws of perception and the crossroads of psychology and spirituality. I was no saint. There were addictions to everything from substances to people to work and a lot of ups and downs in between. That was over 30 years ago (wow) and I'm fortunate to have made it through. Many, many of my peers did not. It is my belief that strength born of knowledge is indeed inspired by the willingness to overcome the discomfort of ignorance. I never gave up on my search for truth. I looked everywhere except where it was. Now and then I would be pointed in what seemed the right direction, but I didn't quite connect with what it meant. I explored more religions than Carter's has liver pills. I read many books, some that were inspiring in concept, but I wasn't experiencing their truth. I did "A Course in Miracles" for about 5 years. Then I didn't do anything. During this time I realized I had to slow my mind down and be still. I couldn't live anyone else's truth. I had to go within alone with what I knew and let the bull fall away. I found I had been holding onto so much of other people's thoughts, beliefs, and ideas of who and what they thought I was or should be that I had lost a sense of my own identity. Then I realized that those same people had bought into other people's thoughts/mindsets, etc., about how they should be and so on and on. Talk about a "bittersweet symphony." I see through my own eyes now. What anyone else thinks of me is really none of my business. It became quite simple. The Golden Rule. I went to "The School of Healing Arts" in San Diego to learn massage therapy in 1991. The place was Eastern based in theme. I knew the first time I placed my hands on someone I would be doing this work for the rest of my life to some degree. Much later I took an 800 hour course and subsequently taught in a massage therapy program for 2 years. I have since started my own business which is growing nicely. Comfortable at my profession and progressing. I am also a sales rep for Revitalight LED photopulsation, which is an anti-aging, anti-acne light therapy and it's awesome. It beats delivering bagged ice in southern California, working asphalt, laying concrete slabs, filling candy and soda machines, and wearing a space suit in a Texas Instruments' cleanroom for 7 years.

Inspiration

A Course in Miracles, the thread of truth that runs through mainstream religions. Basic new age philosophy.