A New Chapter.....

After my caregiving chapter ended, I started a job in an area I never envisioned me being in mental health working with kids with developmental conditions. I was doing Applied Behavior Analysis. It is based off of reward and punishment, mainly with food items (which tended to be sugar). There were many things that I did not agree with.

As a result of digging into my purpose with the help of Anna Hall of the Purpose Equation I am learning what aspects of a job makes make soul sing. Working with developmental kids, pushing gluten and sugar on them is not ethical or in my area of interest. Although this was not a fit for me, I am happy I had the experience because it taught me what I don't want to do and what is important for me.

Honoring my purpose and who I am with my strengths gives me energy and joy. As I have been working with Anna, I have been categorizing my values (and at first had some difficulty understanding the difference between an important value and an essential one. Now I know important includes those values that are part of everyday life, and may be ones that I think about. One the other hand, essential are the ones that make me....and give me joy. I am happy to say that my core essential values are: Spirituality, Learning, Relationships, and Creativity. It is out of these values, that I will make future decisions for opportunities.

At 53, I am at a turning point, I went through a number of paths, some that were clearly not my path, and others that were a bit fuzzy. It took losing my dad to become in touch with who Dr. Cybele Wu is. It is this man that is still guiding me along my path:

Thank you Dad for being who you were in life! I love you!!