Meet Denise
I have spent countless hours with individuals and families struggling with grief, loss and trauma.
Although everyone’s story is unique, there are certain feelings that seem to be universal. First is the shock and disbelief that we have lost someone or something so valuable to us. When the numbness of shock dissipates we are slapped with reality - life will never be the same . Fear of the unknown creeps in, but if we listen closely there is also a whisper. The whisper of HOPE. The idea that life goes on. How? How do we move forward while holding tight to memories and dreams that seem so far away now?
If this sounds familiar to you, I am your huckleberry.
My Story
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My Story |
On the eve of Sept 11, 2001 my husband kissed me goodbye, left for work at his firehouse in downtown Manhattan and I never saw him again.
He left behind 3 small children and made me a 32 year-old-widow. I felt as if my life came to a complete stop. Not living, not dead. Learning how to navigate this new life was difficult, to say the least.
The journey over the past 20+ years has been nothing short of miraculous. When we experience a tremendous loss or trauma, the grief is all-encompassing. Trying to find your way out is similar to climbing a mountain. It certainly helps to have an experienced guide. I didn't have anyone nearby who had walked in my shoes. The internet was just beginning to pick up momentum so virtual groups were not popular. My husband was a lover of quotes and one day while going through one of his notebooks (just so I wouldn't forget his handwriting) I found a quote scribbled across the page: ”Know Thyself.” It felt like a brick hit me in the head. This was it. Digging my way out of this pile of shit named “Grief” wasn't about getting over him. It was about finding myself. I learned mostly through trial and error. (Lots of error) The closer I came to my own truth, the clearer everything became. I was able to see how my entire life was a series of moments that gave me the tools to survive what was the most debilitating pain I had ever felt.
LET MY EXPERIENCE BE THE LIGHT THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.
If you would have told me on Sept 12, 2001 that I would be living a life overflowing with joy and abundance, that I would be telling my story as a means to connect and create a healing community, that my experience would be such potent medicine that it could save lives and that I would be unrecognizable to myself and concurrently more myself than I ever was before, because my heart had been expanded rather than broken into a million little pieces…
I would have told you that you were crazy.
I didn't even know how I would make it through another night without him, never mind creating a whole new way of being. Yet, here I am living a life that I never knew could and would be possible. The best part is this: I am no one special. If I can do this, so can you. I can give you the tools you need. I can help you climb the mountain that has been placed before you, because I have been at the bottom.
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all about me
MOM OF 3
GRANDMOM OF 1
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LOVE HIKING, PADDLING, KAYAKING
HONORED THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 by WALKING 250+ MILES FROM BOSTON TO NYC
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Mentors and Lessons
My first spiritual teacher was Lorraine Ellison. She taught me about the power of my “withinity” long before my husband died. She was responsible for planting the seeds of curiosity around the complex nature of being a soul having a human experience.
My saving grace was my therapist, Mariann Pello. She literally saved my life, in the aftermath of 9/11, with simple tools like journaling and teaching me that self care was not the same as selfish.
My next lesson was about “creating a life I love to live” - the idea that I am the co-creator of all my experiences and the meaning they hold thanks to my first Yoga teacher training mentor, Wendy Gross Pinto.
Tiffany Carole has been my mentor for the past few years. The scope of the knowledge she has shared with me is too plentiful to put into words. She has helped me reach a level of self love that I never knew was possible. It is from this sacred place that my work now flows.