journeying...searching... learning

“Now dry your tears, stand up with your head high and face your problems….look at yourself in the mirror and if you cant look at your self in the mirror is because you have done something beneath you so you need to correct your actions” these words, this teaching from my mum will always resonate with me in whatever I do… As part of our journeys in life, part of our growth is to fall because it is the only way we can get back up again and see things with a new set of eyes…
My awakening began in the 80s living in Chile and being a witness to injustices, human rights violation. Growing up in a society with massive inequalities, you know something has to change! At the time one of the books that really marked me was the diary of Anna Frank and the importance of perseverance and belief. I’ve always wanted to help people which drove me to study psychology. This gave me the opportunity to get to know myself more, my own hang ups (damn we all have them  but most importantly to have the skills to be more aware of all of the different walks of life and how to help. I had a great mentor, a female psychologist who was so amazingly accurate when it came to analysing people that you would drop your jaw in awe! The most important lesson here was that we all have a degree of responsibility, the ability to change thereby we can all do something about it to better ourselves and help others! No matter where we all come from, we all share a common denominator…our humanity, our need to love and be loved. I worked in the area of addictions for a while and even though my clients at the time did not find the most helpful way to help themselves, my role was to facilitate for them to want to help themselves and take responsibility for their rehabilitation. I also started running psycho-educational groups which then led me to my next job to run training sessions for unemployed people. I also had lots of contact with new immigrants and was able to get inside their experiences and see the discrimination and injustices they faced! Therefore the latter encouraged me to get into Human Resources so I could make a difference at a larger scale. I completed my Masters degree and moved to the UK for a couple of years to be challenged and so I was! I was completely on my own, jobless, I was staying temporarily with an unknown family, I only knew one person in London (a friend) and was under pressure to find a job as I had little money. However I believed I could stick it out and make my life work and so I did! Now After several travels and amazing experiences, I continue to learn and grow to be a better person and hope help others help themselves!