A few more steps and I would be home.  With blurred vision and blood gushing from my face,  my friend had left me to walk home from the hill moments after we rolled to the bottom.  She would limp her ...

There’s an old saying: "Good fences make good neighbors." But I think whoever said that never had to rebuild themselves from the rubble of trauma. Because when you’ve been hurt, a fence doesn’t feel l...

The chaos erupted in an instant—one moment, there was tense stillness, and the next, a blur of teeth, snarls, and frenzied movement shattered the fragile peace we had known. The air was thick with the...

"Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen."   

       ...

Imagine you're on a plane, and the flight attendant reminds you: "Put on your own oxygen mask before helping others." It’s a simple instruction, yet so many of us ignore it in our own lives. We push t...

When the brush hits the paper the bristles lead the way.  The colors are picked randomly as they come to me.  Today I sit in my cold studio and open the palette of options.  Watching my neighbor sweep...

Here I sit in the middle of 1000 people who had consumed the conference learnings for the last three days.  I realize that I am in the middle of the room and escape will be difficult. Sitting in cerem...

"When The Going gets tough, the tough get going."

This phrase came about as a motivational technique to entice athletes to overcome the hardship of competition.  It is meant to encourage those athlet...

"No wasted time, we're alive today

Churning up the past, there's no easier way

Time's been between us, a means to an end

God it's good to be here walking together my friend"

Stevie Ray Vaughan

To...

"I visualize to the point that I know exactly what I want to do: dive, glide, stroke, flip, reach the wall, hit the split time to the hundredth, than swim back and forth as many times as I need to fin...

"I am not okay

I'm barely gettin' by

I'm losing track of days

And losin' sleep at night"

Jellyroll

If there ever was a theme song that describes the life of a trauma survivor, this is it. I ha...