The Gentle Souls Revolution

Dear Gentle Souls - I became a therapist for many reasons that didn't include I’ve got this life thing all sorted out.  For years, adulting confounded me. The inner mantra, "I feel like I don’t belong here” echoed inside. I felt as though everyone understood some secret code that I didn't get. I heard adults say, "be kind", but saw cruelty applauded. Those vulnerabilities attracted many narcissistic manipulators long before my cult misadventure. I was always  trying to fix th

For almost two months, my life has been Facebook & Instagram free. NOT missing it. I am calmer, have more time and mental clarity, and I’m playing more music , which makes me happy. Still, social media, trolls my brain. When I open a web browser, I start to check Facebook . I must remind myself that I can’t, even though I don’t really want to—something pulls on me. Such is the power of high-tech social engineering. Photo by Magenta on Unsplash This Stanford University Medi

Learn to self-protect against abusers, manipulators, and controllers.

Like so many others, I’m doing the best that I can to keep faith that the current violence and madness will stop.

Honoring Robert J. Lifton, pioneering scholar of cultic studies and author of Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. His insights into brainwashing and coercion transformed my understanding of cult dynamics and helped me heal from my own experience.

So, I pulled the plug early. I deleted my personal Facebook account before my self-imposed September 30th deadline. While I still feel the pull to check Facebook every time I open a browser (which is an interesting study in how addictive these sites are) I don’t miss it. I am calmer. My mind is clearer.

Steering towards calm, clarity, and empowerment is the reclamation/recovery.

Protecting time, space, and energy is recovery. Take it back. Protect it.

Have you heard of rage bait, rage farming, and rage seeding?

The 3 word boundary I learned that stops people dead in their tracks.

Fairy recently, I decided that I had to balance my life. For so many reasons, all cults, all the time is NOT good for my mental health....

Many former cult members hesitate before sharing their experiences. I get it—there are good reasons! That said, I’m writing to encourage you if you are feeling the need to share and are constrained for whatever reason.

Value your time and safeguard your energy.

Victim blame seems embedded into human psychology and society. So, relational trauma survivors struggle with questions like, “how did I...

Sometimes I wonder why I keep writing songs. But the songs show up.

Dear Gentle Souls, It’s interesting that—like Hitler—Elon Musk is afraid of empathy. Musk recently called empathy “the fundamental...

Struggling to unplug? A simple digital detox can boost calm and focus. Try screen breaks, tech-free spaces, and mindful unplugging.

At some point in my life, I started noticing a pattern of behaviors, beliefs, and traits that I shared with certain people. Over time, I...

In 2007, my now husband (then fiancé) and I celebrated our first Valentine’s Day. I wrote (probably) my worst song ever. It was called...

Well, folks, 2025 is already a firehose of bad news. So, I am returning to a message that I posted in November on my website’s blog. The...