I am an expert at overcoming obstacles. My mother and my sister both dropped out of high school and my father was a mean drunk. When I was 10 years old I made a vow to myself that I would not let history repeat itself. I would not be an alcoholic or an addict and I would certainly not marry one. I would get an education, so that I never felt that I had to stay with a man for security.

As far as I know, I'm the only person on my side of the family to get a masters degree, a Masters in Counseling which I received in 1987. I broke the cycle, and I am more proud of this than any other achievement I have ever made.

Because I did the work to recover from my childhood, my children are free to live their lives without having a cloak of addiction and codependency covering them, reducing their ability to see themselves and life clearly.

Did I mention that both of my children are college graduates? My daughter is an events manager for the Rose Quarter in Portland, her dream job. My son has a PhD in computer science and works for Google. These are important accomplishments, but more importantly, they are good people. They know how to have fun. They know how to love and be loved.

When my mother was 40 she went blind from a rare genetic disease. She was misdiagnosed, so the rest of her family was told it was not genetic and we had nothing to worry about. This turned out not to be true. When I was 37 a blood vessel burst in my left eye, and I knew I had my mother's eye disease. Shortly thereafter, I lost central vision in my left eye. In 1994 by loss of central vision in my right eye, I became legally blind.

At the time I lost my vision, I was going through a divorce, and my job as a counselor for a school district was disappearing underneath me. I was terrified. I slept with the teddy bear. I was quite serious about sleeping with my teddy bear.

Plugging a cord into an electrical outlet was so difficult for me that I would sometimes break into sobs. If I couldn't plug in a toaster, I thought to myself, how was I going to handle the rest of my life?

Some people would say that I brought this vision loss upon myself because I was afraid of being seen. Maybe so. All I know is that this adventure of blindness has been an amazing gift. I have had to learn to ask for and receive help graciously. I have learned that receiving is more difficult than giving.

When we give we are in control; when we receive we are open and vulnerable and receptive. When we receive we allow other people's molecules to mingle with ours. We are changed forever. Since giving is safer than receiving, it is no wonder so many of us are addicted to over-helping.

Ode to Blindness

As a child I never could have dreamed the life I live now.

I am an international keynote speaker, a singer-songwriter, an author, a very happily married woman, and the mother of two fine adults. I write songs and stories and poems that make people laugh, make people cry, and encourage and inspire people to become who they were meant to be. I am humbled by this fact. I am in awe of where my trusting the Divine in me has led me.

I have learned to trust courage, compassion, and curiosity in this journey of mine. I have learned to practice gratitude every day. I have learned to try to find the joke as quickly as possible. I have gotten very good at this.

My lack of vision has forced me to use my other senses more acutely.

I don't get distracted as easily as my friends who see well. I am in soft focus all the time, and soft focus is how we are when we're listening better.

I have learned to listen deep, to hear what is unspoken and sometimes hiding between the lines.

As funny as it may seem, this kind of deep listening leads me to have visions. Often when I'm listening to someone, I will have a vision about what they could do to set themselves free.

These outrageous visions are almost always funny, often in a slightly wicked way. These visions and songs that I hear as I'm listening to a client help me see how I can help my client remove the debris that is in the way of their living their deepest purpose.

I'm fast. (Which is good for you!) If you are willing, I can help you shift things very, very quickly. If you let me, I can help you overcome all of your fears; Fears of public speaking, writing, singing, dealing with conflict, learning technology, standing up for yourself, making a fool of yourself, making mistakes -- and all those secret worries you may not even let yourself know.

All the stories that are in your way; all those stories that seem so true, I can help you shift these stories in the blink of an eye. And make if fun, too!

We take ourselves and our troubles way too seriously.

If taking ourselves or our problems seriously worked well, I'd say keep it up. But often our seriousness just bogs us down. We find ourselves in the same old ruts, hanging onto the stories in our brain, the stories of our limitations. Do you know the story? It's titled "Get Practical." Our brains know these stories well. And the more we practice telling ourselves these stories, the more neural connectors we build in our brains. Breaking those connections can be difficult, but it can also be fun. In fact, it needs to be fun.

I know how to put joy in almost everything, and I know how to do it fast. I know how the brain works, how recovery works, and how self-delusion works.

If your illusions are precious to you, I am not the coach you want. If you are willing and ready to set yourself free, and you have a sense of humor or you would like to have a sense of humor, then I am the coach of your dreams.

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