My spiritual light started getting clouded before my birth! Soaking up my mom’s energy of a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem, her desire to be accepted and loved and to have my biological father abandon us at the beginning of the pregnancy. The fog continued to thicken as I was born into an unhealthy relationship that involved an abusive step-father. That marriage ended and then a second marriage consisted of….ya, another abusive step-father. All of this lasting until I was around 11 years old. During these years I didn’t feel accepted or loved which meant “I wasn’t good enough”. So, the journey began of “looking for love in all the wrong places” (yes, those are words from a country song).

At the age of 14 I was molested and from that point forward depression set in and suicidal thoughts became the daily norm as did anger, shame and guilt.  Feeling emotionally lost and believing the “I’m not good enough” story, I questioned what life was all about. I had these burning questions of – was I to be born and then just live a life filled with pain, anger, guilt, shame until I die? And then what? What’s the point? I wasn’t raised in a “religious” family so I didn’t have a very good understanding about God or a “higher-power”. IF there was a “God”, any belief I did have went out the window by this point! “Something” in me was telling me that there was more to life. However, not knowing what that “something” was I turned to alcohol.

Alcohol became my addiction as a way to put a bandaid over my emotions and be the life of the party. I really had a good time when I was intoxicated! Then, the next day, with a hangover, my emotions were still consuming me and the suicidal thoughts started playing again. I knew I needed to do something different, but I just didn’t know what direction to go, who to turn to or what changes to make.

At the age of 28 is when I began, what I call, my “conscious spiritual journey” – and it all started with Sylvia Brown’s book “The Other Side and Back”. An amazing world opened up to me about a spirit based life. That book was like a new beginning to me! It led me down a rabbit hole that kept getting more and more interesting! Book after book, teacher after teacher – I was learning about

• being a spirit choosing to live a life in a physical body
• the spirit realm (Source, guardian angels, spirit guides, master guides)
• hypnosis and past lives
• being an empath
• being psychic (or a softer word – “intuitive”)
• being a medium
• chakras and meridians
• energy healing (Reiki)
• manifesting (“Law of Attraction”)

and so much more!!! I was captivated!!

Louise Hay played a significant role in my life with her book “You Can Heal Your Life”. She is the affirmation queen – her infamous quote being “I love and accept myself exactly as I am!” That statement did not jive very well with me and it took quite some time to believe it. The main thing I loved about Louise was her teachings about “everything is energy” – your thoughts, words and emotions – and it all is internalized and affects the body. In her book she shares about being molested and later being raped, developing cancer in her reproductive organs and by changing her eating habits AND how she talked to herself she was able to heal. OH SNAP!! I knew right then and there that I needed to change my mindset otherwise I may end up having physical issues that stem from the unresolved emotions relating to abandonment, abuse and molestation.

Then OMG!!! An event occurred that catapulted my desire to know more about the spirit world. I made an appointment with a psychic/medium. Let me be clear on the info she had about me – my name, Amie (which, FYI, is a nickname) and my phone # – that’s it! She used traditional tarot cards and proceeded to tell me about the significant events that took place in my life, without me saying a word and tears rolling down my cheeks….including the molestation (my biggest secret!! I hadn’t told anyone!!). Over the next few years we formed a friendship and she helped me through a lot of my healing. That was in my early 30’s and we’re still friends to this day!

WOW! What a journey it has been!! I have gained a new perspective about all that I have endured, learned a variety of ways to release my bondage to the past experiences, received many certifications along the way and I can declare “I LOVE MYSELF!!”.

Looking back, I know that my spirit (that “something”), as clouded as it was and very dimly lit, was nudging me to keep going – my mantra since my teens has been “just keep going”. I am thankful now that even though my human side wanted to give up and give in, my spirit was stronger-willed and I had the resilience to keep showing up everyday – I didn’t like it very much but I kept doing it.

I believe that we are spirit in body having a human experience and our spirit is of the essence of pure love and joy however the life experiences that we are born into diminishes our light and then we get so wrapped up in our human emotions that we feel completely disconnected from who we truly are….SPIRIT!

• My journey of healing and creating emotional resilience has taken several years. At the time I jumped on the path of self-discovery, there weren’t classes, workshops or coaching available in my community; my family and friends weren’t the people that I could go to to have a conversation about what I was learning about myself and the changes that were taking place from within. I knew there were many more women out there with similar experiences that would benefit from the information and knowledge that I have gained, so I have stepped into the coaching and teaching world to be a beacon of light for those that are seeking solace within themselves.

Certifications received during my journey:

• Bennett/Stellar University of Neuro-Linguistics & Hypnotherapy: Neuro-Linguistic Life Coach, Time-Line Coach & Trauma Release Specialist, Communications & Life Mastery Specialist, Hypnosis Mastery, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Dream Sculpting
• American Hypnosis Association: Past-Life Regression Therapist
• Sunny Dawn Johnston:  Mind, Body, Spirit Practitioner Level 1
• Sunny Dawn Johnston: Reiki Master Teacher
• Doreen Virtue:  Certified Angel Card Reader
• Universal Life Church The Monstery: Ordained Minister
• True North Yoga: 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training
• Laughter Yoga With Gita (affiliated with Dr. Kataria School of Laughter Yoga): Laughter Yoga Leader
• My Life Experience & Journey To Healing!!