In the summer of 2000, I participated in a drumming circle for the first time. In that experience, I journeyed with a lion spirit animal over meadows and mountains, landing at a great bonfire where people were singing and dancing in celebration. As we landed, I shape shifted into the lion and we joined these joyful ancestors. In 2009, I went to a retreat centre in Colorado –  Gold Lake – a place I had never heard of before but was drawn to as a result of an invitation to an event. I experienced a one-day vision quest on the land with a dear friend. As I walked on the roads and pathways of Gold Lake, I could hear a drumbeat. It persisted and got louder as the days went by. Then I had a realization. Gold Lake was the land I flew over in my vision almost a decade earlier. The ancestors had drawn me there so we could meet and I could remember.

A lot happened over that decade – and a lot more since. Growth, turmoil, divorce, my mother’s death, spiritual development and healing. I have written about much of it in blog posts on my book site. As I pursued my healing journey, I discovered gifts and talents I either didn’t know I had or had forgotten I had – the essence of my soul journey. It inspired the title of my memoir, Embracing the Stranger in Me: A Journey to Openheartedness.

When I talked about my memoir, I realized that I didn’t lead with it being a spiritual journey. I led with all the other threads – finding out I was adopted in my mid-forties, divorce, job loss, starting a consulting practice, my mother’s journey with dementia and her death. I didn’t talk about connecting to spirit guides or helping others do that.

Although my spiritual journey and practices are a big part of my life, I also don’t lead with this in my professional worlds, which is perfectly okay. Although, I have often wondered how and where these two big streams in my life come together. My spiritual self does not go away when I work. It still infuses who I am and how I show up. The organizational work I do in my business – Worldview Intelligence – and with my business and life partner, Jerry, is also a fundamental part of who I am and what is important in my life. It also shapes and defines me, even as I shape and define it.

My spiritual journey has been one of ebbs and flows, of barely there to intense practice – and this has been a pattern over decades. Yet it continually tugs at me. My beliefs flow out whenever the discussion turns to spirit, spirit guides, magic, tarot, energetic healing practices and the nature of consciousness and of life and death. 

In this moment I am feeling more deeply called to embrace this part of my identity and create or co-create spaces – in this case with Dana – where those of us who feel there is something more to be accessed or embraced – inner wisdom, inner healing power – can do so freely and openly. Where we can step boldly into who we were born to be. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t speak to how important relationships are to me. In particular, I want to honour the relationship I have with my partner, Jerry Nagel, and the relationships I have with my family, of whom I am now the elder. As a mother and grandmother, the relationships I have with my children, their significant others and their children – my grandchildren – are deeply cherished. Being an active grandparent with many sleepovers is a privilege and a joy. I have a part to play in their evolution as humans. Having strong and supportive extended families is a gift not everyone has access to.

 Praise for Embracing the Stranger In Me: A Journey to Openheartedness: “This is an empowering – though at times heartbreaking – work, that seeks to encourage others to embrace their inner selves in the face of adversity. It illuminates how we make meaning of our experiences by the stories we tell and how the stories of human tragedy can be transformed through the perspectives of soul journey with the potential to shift the shape of your life.”