About Me
How I got into this work:
I was one of those youth who had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up, but I knew I was interested in fields like psychology, sociology and anthropology. I thought college would help me figure it out. When it didn't I dropped out.
The next thing I knew I was reading and completely taken by Maria Montessori, Her Life and Work. I enrolled in the AMI Montessori training course in Mexico City and ended up being recruited to help start a bi-lingual Montessori School in Austin, Texas by my friend Stephen Jackson in 1974. While I sensed that being a Montessori teacher was not a destination, but a stepping stone to what was next, I also felt convinced that I needed to spend three years in the classroom to really "get" it.
In the middle of my second year I was conducting our routine parent feedback interviews, which we did in lieu of giving grades, when a distraught single mother, tearfully complained, "I just don't know what to do. I have a new boy friend who I dearly love who demands that I pick between him and my three kids". Out of the blue it came to me to ask her to imagine herself 30 years in the future looking back on her life and seeing which decision she could live with better. Instantly her face lit up, she thanked me profusely, stating she had been struggling with this for weeks and no one, not even her minister had been able to help her; and now it was patently clear what she needed to do. In that moment I knew I was to be a mental health counselor.
Different teachers that have informed me:
Donald W. Winnicott, Dan Kelleher, Rusty Palmer, Steven Hayes, Virginia Satir, Carl Whitaker, R.D. Laing, Robert Langs, Dan Seigel, Dalai Lama ,Thich Nhat Hanh ,Neil Donald Walsch ,Byron Katie, Ekhart Tolle, Sydney Banks, Adyashanti, Jac O'Keefe, Karl Rentz, Lisa Cairns, A Course in Miracles, Peter Goode, Tony Parsons, Richard Sylvester
My current teacher:
Rupert Spira teaches the direct path to an experiential understanding, through a careful exploration of our current, immediate experience, of our true, non-dual nature, and the true, non-dual nature of our experience.
Why I stay in the field:
Helping people discover their true Self is the most meaningful and rewarding activity I can imagine.
Links to articles I have written and social media: