Remember the kitchen where, as a child, you enjoyed meals with your family? You watched TV or played with your siblings on the couch in the family room. Your bedroom is filled with your favorite books and cherished bed covers. The yard where you played with your dogs or friends.

The barn where we kept the horses was a daily sanctuary for mother-daughter conversations, a place that always felt safe and comforting.

Reflect on your school and the friends in your neighborhood, the local ice cream shop, and the park where you ride your bike.

Then, imagine it all disappearing in 24 hours—no home, animals, clothes, friends, horses, school, or mom. No safety.

The day after my Aunt Connie’s piercing scream, our living room […]

I mask. As someone who is an intuitive empath and introvert dealing with grief, I often hide my true feelings—a lot. It’s incredibly exhausting; however, I do it because I’m afraid of losing friends should I reveal what I’m going through.

Right now…

Hiding my feelings means concealing my deep and unbearable grief, guilt, shame, and trauma daily. It means finding the strength to avoid having a meltdown at the store, in my car, with friends, or at home because I miss my brother so much.

It means holding back tears before every meeting or phone call.

It means masking my pain with laughter and smiles.

It means not mentioning the loss after two years because I feel I need to be over it by […]

Mark Twain famously said, “If you always tell the truth, you never need to remember anything.”

What happens when you need and want to tell the truth about things you can’t quite remember?

This blog documents my many attempts to remember and to tell the truth. Most of my family members never reached this point. It also chronicles the numerous times I didn’t tell the truth. I was taught to lie, and it almost destroyed me. The cost was more than I ever imagined.

I hope this journey will help you find the truth in your life.

My grandest intention is that this imperfect yet sincere truth-telling will liberate you in whatever ways you need.

Some of the truths in this blog may seem like […]

At 10:40 P.M., my mother passed away at our home on 1034 Pumalo Street in San Bernardino, California, leaving us uncertain if anyone was by her side during her final moments.

My brother, George, and I spent the weekend with our Aunt Connie in Hayward.

I was nine years old, and George was six. I have faith that angels were with her in her last moments.

At 2:24 A.M., a piercing scream from my Aunt’s bedroom shattered the night.

It echoed through the entire house, a sound I’ll never forget.

I don’t know how my mother’s final breaths sounded.

Were they gasps or sighs? Was there a rhythm to her breathing? When did her last breath occur?

As I lay in bed, confused and scared, my uncle […]

Gratitude can transform what we have into enough, and that’s the intention of this blog – Why Wisdom is Harder Than You Think.

The blog posts reflect everything I’ve learned over the past seven decades—my lessons and insights.

While they aren’t rooted in any specific faith, I share my explorations into various belief systems, including Atheism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Christianity, Episcopalian baptism, Judaism, Mormonism, Muslim teachings, and Scientology, for example.

Each has inspired me in different ways. My life has intended to grow in understanding and deepen my love for all beings.

I’ve focused on training the mind for six decades and sought spiritual guidance free from dogma and rituals for five decades.

This blog’s content is intense and may be difficult to read. Please be […]