If you’ve ever put a puzzle together, you know it takes time, focus, many attempts, and a lot of trial and error. Regardless of how it is put together, there is no right way, and you can take it apart and put it back together as many ways as there are pieces. Meanwhile, the puzzle pieces remain the same parts of the completed whole.

We are the most magnificent, spectacular, and tragically beautiful puzzle.  We grow, transform, heal, love, grieve, change, laugh, weep, sing and scream through the seasons of life.

The experiences of life shape us but they don’t have to define us.  The human experience is more than a single moment, a diet plan, job title, education, birthplace, genetics, or philosophy.

We are so much more.

The human landscape is a kaleidoscope of limitless possibilities that twist and turn, rise and fall, and ultimately creates a stunning piece of art.  One thing is for sure, through the everchanging chaos and calm, there is a place within each of us that holds our deepest truths.  What this is for each of us ……is part of our mystery to explore.

Although sometimes it feels we are broken to pieces, the truth is, we are whole.  Each time we begin to pick up the pieces of the puzzle and rebuild ourselves it will look and feel a bit differently.  That is what shapes us.

And yet, each of the pieces is interdependent on the others to create the whole.  As are the many parts of ourselves.

We need the reminder – we are built for this.  With so much of the world telling us we are “broken”- a mirror reflection prompts us to look deeper and see the bigger picture.

Our mind informs our actions.  Our heart informs our actions. Our soul informs our actions.

Our actions affect our body, relationships, the environment, and our MIND, HEART, and SOUL.

Everything is connected.

And so, if life carves us…..how would you like to pick up the pieces and rebuild yourself this time?

Life is a series of transitions moving us through seasons,  places, and situations. What began as a passion for clinical medicine has grown into a holistic big picture approach to the healing arts.   As a Community Health Educator, I wanted to be on the side of prevention and empowering clients to live healthy through diet, exercise, and stress management.  Witnessing the profound changes that people experience when they are facing a new diagnosis, injury, or attempting to prevent disease, it made sense that our health was so much more than prescribing food and exercise.

We have a heart, body, brain, and spirit.  We are connected to the earth through our food, energy, breathing, and chemicals. Our culture, community, and ancestors inform us.  Life experiences, our passions, relationships, and intuition reflect how we relate to the world.  This is WHOLE living.  Everything is connected.

Personal health and life-altering events led me to ask those big life questions and ultimately expand my understanding of wellbeing.  Adding to the clinical health education and personal training skills, I’ve spent the last 15 years exploring the spiritual and emotional aspects of our health.  This is where the power of ceremony and rites of passage found a place within this circle of healing whole.

And they are one of my favorite tools to facilitate the whole being journey. Ceremonies, whether personal, cultural or community-based, give us an opportunity to experience something that cannot be understood by the brain yet fills the soulful spiritual aspects of ourselves.  They honor and witness deeply meaningful moments, transitions and connect us to something larger than ourselves.

Explore the relationship between mind, emotions, body, and spirit where life may serve as a catalyst for personal growth and transformation.  We navigate life with our individual truths that also honor the diversity of the collective community/world. We’ve forgotten how to face adversity, loss, change and grief while understanding it is a normal important aspect of our human life.

When life stops you in your tracks, leaves you staring at a blank slate and wondering how to take the next step, it can feel overwhelming.  In the moments we find ourselves scanning all the broken pieces, wondering how we will ever put this puzzle back together again, this is a time to begin exploring the inner landscape of ourselves and life.