Hi Jackie,
I Thank You for helping me. As I walked from your office
to my house after we talked, I felt good. Better than I’ve felt in a long time.
I went into my house and said to my wife that I would go with her to the dinner
  the following night that was planned with her new Chairman and other Doctors
  she works with. It was important to her. As I explained to you during our
  conversation, I have been unable to socialize for the past month or so because
  of depression suddenly blind-siding me. The past few years were difficult, but
  I was cleared four months ago only to be hit again. As we talked, and I say we,
  because you brought out of me wonderful experiences when growing up. Things I
  had not said or related to anyone. You allowed me to open up by your sincerity,
  I could see it in your eyes, and in the questions you prompted me with. I was
  very comfortable explaining what I was experiencing and having a rough time
  with. I not only went to the dinner party, but I participated in most of the
  conversations and had a good time. My wife did too. She was happy that I as
  making my way out of this malady. What I took away from our chance meeting was
  that I HAD A CHOICE! It was mine to make, I am in control of myself, nothing
  outside of me can effect me unless I choose or it to do so, misery or
  happiness. Depression is a result of a wrong choice. I must recognize in its
  disguises.
THANK YOU.
September, 2013

I am excited about my forthcoming book,
Kathy Said, You’re Not Lost to Me!

This is a self-help book that gives insight, hope, and
 healing from fear, anxiety, depression, and childhood trauma. 

When family, friends, and even God feel too far away to
reach and emotional pain seems to take over, Kathy
Said: You’re Not Lost to Me is a book to be read, and then referred to again
and again, for solid guidance and inspiration. Readers will be validated, calmed
and inspired, reading the words and experiences of someone like themselves, who
triumphed over extreme emotional upheavals, hopelessness, and
depression.

This small, succinct, and healing book is formatted with
one page for each bit of wisdom that Kathy, my therapist, said, and
a situation in which it helped me. 

Having healed from a “fragmented psyche” and post-traumatic
stress disorder (resulting from a childhood of violence and abuse)
I now lead a peaceful, happy, joy filled life every day. Kathy’s advice
seemed to run through many of my conversations with other people. I often
 heard myself saying, “Kathy said this” or “Kathy said that.” 
My clients, as well as friends and associates, find these bits of wisdom
helpful, and I believe others will also.  

Wishing you love, joy and Peace.


 
  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  

Last weekend I attended a spiritual retreat at lake Ontario lead by Ramana, a spiritual teacher from Buffalo, NY.

I have attended several Satsangs led by him over the past several years. Satsang is a Sanskrit word meaning “gathering for the truth” or “being with the truth.” It is meant to open the heart and quiet the mind. Ramana spoke of being present and living in the moment. Then we spent about one and one half hours in silence.

I, like several others, walked the beautiful property by the lake and just stayed silent. As I sat on a dock and watched and listened to the waves lapping up against the shoreline, I could feel the waves of feelings flowing through my body. They seemed to be calm and serene like the water, and vibrantly alive at the same time.

Then, sitting on a driftwood log, I played with the stones on the shore. As I held one russet and white colored stone in my hand, I thought about the fact that everything is made of atoms and atoms aren’t solid, they are mostly empty space. Every time I thought that thought, the smooth oval four inch stone seemed to pulsate in my hands. I could see the top of it pulse up and back down like the top of a soufflé.

Was it really moving enough for my eyes to see? It seemed that way. I want to believe the Universe was sending me a little bit of insight into Itself.

Silence is a rewarding way to spend a few hours and get in touch with our true selves (the peaceful part of us), beneath all the busyness of daily life.

How often do we judge another person’s worth by how like or unlike ourselves, he or she is?

Isn’t that what judgments are all about? We judge ourselves by what we think we should be like. Then we take the things we have mastered (or partially mastered) and make them a measuring stick for others.

“If I can be honest, why can’t other people?”

“I lost 20 pounds, why can’t other people control their eating and exercise habits?”

“I don’t cut other drivers off on the expressway, why did that jerk just go barreling past me and then cut back in front of me so fast I almost hit him? “

Everyone is doing his/her best with their awareness and beliefs at the time.

Just because someone is not like me, and has different beliefs than I have, doesn’t make them worth less than those who believe as I do.

Let your judgments go and life will be easier and happier.

As a child and teenager, one person believed in me.

That person was Rev. Darius Ratcliff, pastor of Bristol Springs Free Church in South Bristol, NY. Rev. Ratcliff picked up the children in our rural neighborhood once a month for a "Children's Meeting." These were held at heighborhood homes with the children's moms as hostesses. Rev. Ratcliff told Bible stories with a  flannel-graph board for visual aids. He brought a small phonograph and we sang along to religious songs like Jesus Loves Me and Brighten the Corner Where You Are.  Next, the game records went on, and we played games like London Bridge, and The Farmer in the Dell. It was our only recreation and we loved it. The party ended with special refreshments provided by the hostess.

In the summer, Rev Ratcliff held Vacation Bible School for the children and he told my sister and I how smart we were.  I never questioned his dedication to us. He was pastor of two churches, and I just thought those meetings were part of his job. That his finding us rides to Sunday School on Sunday was another part of his job.

When I outgrew the Children's Meetings Rev. Ratcliff told me he believed I would be good working with the younger children and asked me to help him with them.

He was the first person, and probably the only one, who believed in me as a child and teenager. I am so thankful for that. He lived to be 99 or 100, had few peers left, and there were few of us at his funeral. His adult children were there, and I was the only one who cried. I didn't know why I was crying. He was ready to transition from this earth and happy to go.Today I realize I was crying because he had believed in me ,when I didn't believe in myself. Thank you, Rev. Ratcliff.

I have heard that if one person believes in you, you can make it. I believe that was so for me.