I left the security of
family, school, a job and a guaranteed income to choose a path that wasn’t
predicted for me. After obtaining my degree as teacher and Cultural Worker, I
worked in Holland with severely physically and mentally challenged children for
more then 10 years. Many of these children were confined to wheelchairs. Some
could not speak. Many needed to be escorted to the restroom. Some experienced
revulsion at being touched. I visited parents, year after year to encourage them
and to urge them to believe in the gift their child had to offer the world and
from which I benefited greatly.
One day I just ‘felt’
I had to go. I knew there was something else out there for me. I quit my job,
sold everything and flew to America. I arrived in America without American
credentials, without a job and without any friends. I had to start all over
again, from scratch. That has been an exciting and worthwhile challenge!
Now I am an inspirational speaker, Life Coach, a freelance model, an author of several inspirational books for adults and children
and the founder of the Woolly Wizard Foundation.
I never forget how
the children taught me the JOY
for Life. They just sat there
in their wheel chairs, ‘beaming’, without worrying about a bad hair day or
without criticizing anybody. They wanted to live and have fun and challenged me
to give them the steps for how to achieve that despite their circumstances. They
taught me to find ways to communicate directly with the Being without getting
distracted by any limiting conditions.
I always remember
my school principal who said: "Tell me what this child can
do,
don’t tell me what he cannot do!" Now I coach people how to
Feel Alive, how to focus on their strengths and capabilities, which
empowers them to confront any challenge they need to face.