Profile
In my life and my work, I strive to be present (in body, mind and spirit), engaged and intentional, and able to make connections through love and compassion.
One of the gifts I bring to my work is the ability to see connections and patterns that others may miss. This enables me to help others re-connect what is/has become disconnected at the individual psychological, interpersonal, group and systemic level. I do this by guiding others through transformational change.
Life, and living life fully, is about being able to effectively navigate and respond to change and differences. Rather than choosing to resist or demonize change and differences, I strive to engage, learn, and grow from my experiences. In many ways, my life experiences have been about moving toward change and differences. Physically, this includes my choices to leave my hometown of Brooklyn to spend two and a half years living in Japan and four years living in Anchorage, Alaska. Mentally, this includes my choices to study multiple fields and engage in multiple careers. Psychologically and spiritually, it includes developing relationships with others who differ from me in almost every way (ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, physical ability, economic status, nationality, etc.). In my work, I guide others who wish to do the same.
Among the learning I have gained from my experiences is an understanding that certain differences carry more societal weight than others. Early in my life I came to realize that I had been given unearned privileges (and the power that comes with them) in this world because I came into it as a white middle-class American. I also came to see that others not only were denied these privileges but had obstacles put in their paths that were never placed on mine. So, just as I work to see and weave together what is disconnected, I also work to see, bring to light, and unravel systems that are toxic, life threatening and oppressive and disentangle those who are bound and strangled by them. I see this as the only way to create a just and inclusive society/world in which everyone shares power and privileges.
I have had personal experiences that have left me feeling shamed, humiliated, and powerless. I want to guide others through the territory I have walked to move from there to feeling proud, whole, empowered, and able to forgive others and ourselves for our human frailties and imperfections. I have seen my own personal power gradually and steadily grow and develop and want to guide others in recognizing and owning their own inherent power and releasing their innate potential.
I have also lived my life refusing to be defined by society’s norms, often living “between the lines,” outside the limits of the existing categories. Perhaps this is why my work involves guiding others in their search for different ways of being and doing. By bringing a willingness to collaborate in creation and innovation, I guide others in their journeys to reframe and re-story their lives and work places.
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For information about Deb's book, The Quilt of Humanity: A Metaphor for Healing and Reparation, click here