I think of myself as a story listener. I have been listening to people’s stories for many years. First as a nurse’s aide assisting the elderly while working my way through college, I listened to elders tell their stories. There were stories that lingered in their minds and were often shared over and over again repeatedly. Those stories are significant. Secondly, I have worked in the health and beauty industry for over 35 years, as a massage therapist, a nutritional counselor and as an Esthetician. In these types of intimate situations, giving someone a massage or a facial, dealing with eating habits, stories get revealed.
There are moments and details in people’s stories that are particularly touching, heart- warming, and heart breaking. Big events occur and happen to everyone and those events can be life changing, forcing you to take a new direction.
In college I was lucky to have an inspiring Professor of History. He taught a “How To” class in writing history: how to collect facts, analyze details, recognize “frame of reference”, and most importantly, how to fill in the missing pieces. I think fact telling is not that interesting. It is the ability to form a thesis, create a theory to link events - this is interesting!
What is it exactly that causes humans to seek knowledge, to choose a career path, to have the will to move forward after experiencing a tragedy? I find these questions of basic human nature to be fascinating. My own course of study in college was Art History. I considered pursuing a purely academic life and becoming a Professor of Art History. Art History tells the biography of a culture. And I knew at a pretty young age, that I would become bored if I spent my life continuing to tell the old stories of people and cultures in the past. I decided that I wanted to be current and I wanted to work with people.
I assist people in telling their stories, in doing their soul-work, and becoming conscious of the threads linking their “pearls”. I want to assist in the making of new Art! Your life is a work of art. Know it and share it.