Hello, Friends! One week ago, on 11.11.21, my mentor and dear friend, Katie Gray, released into the world her book “Journey of the Empowered Heart” (https://www.katiegray.com/thebook) I feel compelled to share with you here, with a heart full of gratitude, what this work has meant to my own life. Though it may not be totally obvious, this healing journey is part of what inspired me to launch this platform last year, and to begin expanding how and why I share my work with the world. You may or may not resonate with my story, but my hope is that if you know someone who is struggling, who could benefit from this reflection or Katie's book, you might share this post with them. This post is open to the public, no subscription required, so if you do feel compelled to share, simply copy and paste the URL link. This reflection is also available on my social medias, but as I will be stepping out of the social media world soon...this platform is the best way to share. Journey of the Empowered Heart. Now a published book, THIS the work that guided me through some of my life’s most bewildering moments…moments when I really wasn’t sure I would make it out of the addiction snare, or that I was even worthy of such a thing. Katie Gray is an angel on earth, fearlessly channeling a unique frequency of compassion, curiosity, and confidence which helped dramatically shift the way I saw myself and my relationship to addiction. Our work together woke me up to my own power, to the the non-negotiable birthright of my healing. While I had come such a long way on my healing journey, and certainly had countless teachers along the way (plants, spirits, wonderful therapists and other humans) entering into counsel with Katie was the big medicine that finally brought me home, to myself, to my own loving embrace. This is the work that guided me, with a steady heart and open eyes, through my greatest challenge yet…a deeply entrenched, 15+ year old, eating disorder which kept me held in a prison of secrecy, *immense* shame, and self-loathing. I had moved through my addiction to alcohol (though tendrils of shame persisted), spent years cultivating a path of deep self-inquiry and healing….and yet still the shadow of bulimia (intertwined at times in my high school and college years with anorexia) haunted me in ways I thought I might never overcome. While I had moments, sometimes even years, of reprieve...I had never healed the root of my addiction, and continued to struggle. I was bewildered how, despite all my hard work, I could keep falling in the same damn sinkhole. I wondered if the heartbreak would never end. I kept this suffering hidden away from everyone, from my own consciousness even, stumbling through dark hallways of fierce denial and reactive projection. Some perspectives may tell you this taboo addiction can never be fully healed, or that lasting recovery is rare. They are, without a doubt, absolutely wrong. All addiction is curable. This suffering is releasable. I believe it was Divine intervention that brought me into this work with Katie. I didn’t know about her intuitive counsel work or The Empowered Heart when I reached out to her as a friend (in a nervous, carefully constructed, somewhat vague e-mail). I just desperately needed help and thought she might have a few encouraging words. I didn’t know where to turn. I felt like I was quickly running out of tools and options. I couldn't hide any longer. “When can we talk??” she responded within minutes of my e-mail. We started working together the very next day, and every week for months on end. The year that followed was miraculous. It was not easy, it was not comfortable, but with Katie’s guidance (and the support of my loved ones, and the unconditional love of Source) the healing was unprecedented. If you feel alone. If you are scared. If you believe you can never truly love yourself the way you deserve to be loved. If you are caught in a loop of suffering, no matter *what* that looks like in your own life (or how "insignificant" you think it is)….there IS a way out. You are worthy of your healing. I can’t recommend this book or this work enough. https://www.katiegray.com/thebook
