I started doing origami, or folding as I call it, when I reached a challenging point in my life at which I needed to learn to be still. I found folding, particularly folding kusudama, the perfect way to meditate and be still. When I say I am folding... my family knows that my head is in the clouds and all is well. Kusudama are ancient Japanese medicine balls. I put lavender in mine to instill calm and well being in the beholder.
I grew up in Spokane WN, and graduated college in Missouri with an MS in Education. I then lived in St Louis with Xerox, and AT&T. I am the founder of DeWayne Allen & Associates Business Consultants and the Business Owners Management Team, working in business brokering and business financing. I later moved to RI for sailing and became a crew member on the refurbished America's Cup winner, the 12 Meter yacht Courageous. I still live in Rhode Island, and now manage FSA for millennials in the art of wealth creation.
I am....a writer, artist, sailor, speaker, advocate, and outgoing energetic woman with a passion of inspiring others to find what makes them want to keep going forward when life seems to have stolen their spirit. My younger brother and sister took their own lives at age 19 and 20, when I was only 22 and 26, living in Denmark, newly engaged, and starting my own adventure. Their deaths inspired me to never say no to a challenge, and to question authority when I felt that a vulnerable person was not being treated fairly with loving kindness. My education took me to nursing, then occupational therapy, then counseling, then as a licensed therapist, and I am now working on my PhD in Health Psychology.When my mom died last year following a short 5-month battle with Pancreatic cancer, I decided I needed to find my center again, and because this was my 3rd [...]
For many of us, the Christmas season is just as maddening as it is joyful. From the rush to purchase the rights gifts, to the stress involved with making plans with loved ones, the hustle and bustle of the holidays can overwhelm us with negativity. A time for celebration, peace, and harmony, some years seems to be everything but. How can we truly enjoy the magic of Christmas when a wall of stress and anxiety is constantly being constructed around us? It's time to break through that wall. Only you truly know how to best succeed at this incredibly difficult task, but we have a tool that can help. A tool that will provide you and your guests with a calming aura that will diffuse their tension. It is not a fancy spiritual device or a harsh artificial chemical, but rather a creation of nature itself. For thousands of years, peoples [...]
This Thursday will mark the 395th anniversary of the very first Thanksgiving dinner. Over these long years, many a tradition has come and gone, yet the celebration of Thanksgiving has continued, and unified our country. No matter a person's creed or color, Thanksgiving symbolizes something that all of us can relate to; for we all have something to be thankful for. Each of has people in our lives that have given their time, money, wisdom, and love to us. This holiday gives us the chance to express gratitude for what we have been given, and that is what we must do. Sometimes we forget, that thankfulness and generosity go hand in hand. Thanksgiving is a day not only to celebrate the generosity of friends, family and strangers who have gone out of their way to enrich our lives, it is also a time to extend the same generosity we have [...]