During a recent trip to the east coast I had a revelation that opened my eyes and my heart.

Ya gotta know the beginning before we get to the juicy part…

I was born in Brooklyn, New York and then moved to Holbrook, Long Island with my family when I was 14. That was a lifetime ago and yet - I still identify with those roots.

“Yeah, I’m from Brooklyn and Long Island.“ stating it like I’m wearing a badge of honor or some such shit.

That is up until quite recently when my wife and I visited the East Coast. We went to Vermont for the total solar eclipse (phenomenal and breathtaking) and then down to Long Island for a few days of visiting places that I haven’t seen in many years.

We had a great time visiting the Long Island Music Hall of Fame https://www.limusichalloffame.org to see the Billy Joel – My Life, A Piano Man’s Journey – The Ultimate Exhibition!  https://www.limusichalloffame.org/billy-joel-exhibit

My...

Let's face it. "Why?" is a terrible question to ask yourself. Here's the reason.

When you ask "Why?" , as in "Why is this happening to me?" "Why doesn't that person answer my calls?" and questions like that, it gives your Inner Critic a chance to raise it's self-serving head (because it's trying to keep everything the same, and you "stuck") and respond like this: "Because you're a hopeless dweeb." "Who would want to hang out with you? You're worthless."

The things you're told by your Inner Critic are NOT TRUE. It's what you heard (usually from someone else, or the TV, or any number of places), and what you've reinforced throughout your life. It happens to us all. 

Trust me when I say there isn't a person out there who doesn't have some version of a blue-suit-cats-eye-glasses-grey-haired-overweight-overbearing-loud-voiced Critic whispering (and sometimes shouting) in their ear telling them what a creep they are. Mine is named Sally Jenkins (with apologies to every Sally Jenkins...

Part 2
We moved back to Colorado in 2013. After 23 wet years we looked at each other and wondered why we were still in the Pacific Northwest.

We missed the sun, the Rocky Mountains, warm days, the sun! Within a year we sold our beloved home in the actual forest, surrounded by actual cedar and alder trees. Ok, it was green and beautiful up there. We felt like wood elves from a Tolkien story. Sometimes, though, being a wood elf isn't enough. What about the Hobbits?

Now we live on a 40-acre parcel with our family of cats, dogs and horses (always in that order), on the eastern plains of Colorado with fabulous views of the Rocky Mountains. Colorado is heaven. Ask anyone who lives here. (A wood elf might disagree.)

We are steadily building our fan base of clients who come to us for some much needed compassion and empathy. Ashara and I are Master Gestaltists, as are our horses (although being more evolved than us, they didn't have to go to school for four years). More on this another time.