Meet your instructor

Hi!

I’m Kathryn.

Curious by nature, I love exploring new ideas, discovering new insights, taking adventures, and helping others live happier, more fully, and more fulfilling lives.

Mental Health & Well-being

As I very young kid I became aware of a few important things:  1.  life delivers challenges to all people; 2.  people’s responses differ widely; 3.  responses have a greater impact over outcome than do circumstances; 4.  I wanted to help people handle their situations better so they could live with more ease and joy.

Paying Forward

Each and every day, countless seen and unseen hands, both past and present, contribute to necessities, comforts and conveniences that make contemporary living better and easier.  Then too, are those who contribute personally, teaching, guiding, protecting, celebrating, extending opportunities, and sharing in the experience of community.  As the abundance of goodwill is veritably impossible to repay, paying forward goodness just seems to be the natural order of things.  While providing tangible support to others, the alchemic effect of gratitude-in-action creates a kindred spirit, growing good feelings exponentially and making the world a friendlier, lovelier place for all.

Personal Responsibility

For me, personal responsibility is more than just meeting commitments and responsibilities; it involves examining the myriad of decisions made each day, both big and small, to learn from the results and ensure actions align with intentions and goals.  Nothing highlights the importance of this more than the relative brevity of human life, which was made clear to me at the age of seven when my friend and classmate died and I soon after experienced a near fatal horse-riding accident that left me wrapped as a human Q-tip for the months of summer and beyond.  I realized then that life is fragile, has no guarantees, is as precious as it is literally priceless, and therefore not to be squandered…not even for a single day. 

This understanding was further refined when, fresh out of graduate school, I worked with people dying from cancer.  As we addressed end-of-life issues, one of the things that became clear was that people generally leave life in one of two ways:  with regrets or without, feeling bitter or satisfied, remorseful or content.  My charge was to help people come to terms with their lives so they could meet their last days with as much peace as possible.  However, sometimes I felt that it would have been far more beneficial had some considered the impact of their decisions much earlier on, most especially with regards to how they conditioned their minds. 

Of the principles I hold supreme, good stewardship over the precious gift of life places personal responsibility center-stage.  

Global Citizenship

With exponential population growth and the amplification of our interconnectedness, global citizenship is more than just a nicety, it’s a necessity.  Neighborly living involves respect in action:  learning about others’ cultures and the way they view and value life.  Global citizenship also involves collaboration as we come together to protect our planet, nature and the well-being of all.  Ultimately, this responsibility falls upon each one of us, and it’s more important now than ever.

A Few Unique & Key Experiences

As an undergraduate student, I spent a year studying in Japan during which I had an opportunity to stay and serve as a volunteer in a Japanese colony for people suffering from Hansen’s Disease (leprosy).  Initially, their severe disfigurement terrified me, but, their graceful kindness, sincerity, and positivity dissolved that fear and repulsion, and filled me first with awe.  I marveled at their resiliency:  How was it that they, who were robbed of their sight, fingers, toes, and noses, could be so serene and loving, free of the slightest trace of bitterness?  As I listened enraptured by their personal stories and poetry, my admiration grew into a deep reverence and love for these most exceptional beings…beings who  by sight would be shunned and avoided, people who had in fact been locked away for decades, written off as dead to protect the marriageability and standing of their families.  The experience left an indelible impression that I would carry with me and into my work.  It was a profoundly powerful example of the role that mental, emotional, and spiritual maturity plays in life, demonstrating that response is as, if not more, impactful over experience than circumstances themselves.

After completing college, my plan was to spend two years in the Peace Corps serving in the Ivory Coast followed by an international relations program at Georgetown University.  With these arrangements in place, I went to Honduras for the summer to volunteer in the administration of free eyeglass clinics for the indigent people living in the remote regions of the country.  Five weeks in, I experienced a harrowing incident involving a kidnapping and attempted sexual assault from which I was ultimately able to escape.  Greatly relieved, I chalked it up to grace and good fortune that the outcome was the best of all possibilies, and continued on with the program, less daunted than happy to be safe.  That sense of safety was short lived.  Three weeks later, just as I blew out the candle and slid into my sleeping bag, the ground began to rumble.  My first thought was of a rolling earthquake, but then the sound became more distinct.  It sounded like a stampede.  Soon after, we began to hear men shouting and howling what seemed to be a battle cry.  With the noise growing louder, it was clear they were headed toward us.  The adenaline rush jetted us into action.  Matt and I wedged one of the picnic table benches, one of just three items in an otherwise barren room, against the single door of the open-air auditorium, and used the table and the other bench to form a make-shift barrier between us and the couple dozen Nicaraguan militia infiltrates who intended to extract their vengence against us young Americans for President Reagan’s support of a clandestine guerrilla for the .   Americans who represented sprayed bullets all around us.  Fear shook my body with a violence I hadn’t previously known nor did I think possible to survive.  While pleading silent prayers, I was certain I’d die of a heart attack if not by one of the thousands of bullets that whizzed all around us and caused shards of concrete floor slab and wooden splinters to fly helter-skelter.   kpinging off .   of  I had the realization that I lacked the courage needed to live and work full-time in environments where I would be easily identified as a political pawn by ill-willed people, and that I’d be more effective alive than dead.  My future plans imploded, leaving me without direction for the first time in my life.

Career

Over the last four decades, I’ve worked in the capacities of psychotherapist, program developer, administrator, educator, consultant, and life coach with more than fifty-five hundred people welcoming me into their minds and hearts, openly sharing their hopes, dreams, fears, pains, and disappointments, and teaching me about human frailty and the grit and grace of resiliency. 

Meditation & Yoga

In 1983, I began to study and practice yoga under the guidance of a meditation master from an ancient lineage in India.  Since then, contemplation, reflection, and study of sacred scriptures and texts have been essential parts of my daily life which begin each morning with study and recitation of prayers followed by meditation.  I’ve participated in hundreds of trainings, and have supported programs in the U.S. and abroad.

Volunteering

Growing up listening to stories about Christ as well as other great world leaders, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and watching news reports about the good works of  Mother Theresa, and George Harrison and Ravi Shankar’s famous Concert for Bangladash, inspired me to find my own ways to serve others, understanding that it is the duty of all of us to support and uplift each other, and most especially, those who are facing tremendous hardships and challenges.

It didn’t take long to learn that any effort, however small, returns a thousand fold.

Giving from the heart makes the heart grow bigger, and enhances a sense of connection toward others and toward the life process itself!

Making Art

Making art is one of my favorite ways of staying focused on the beautiful aspects of life.

Creating A Beautiful Home

Making my home a sanctuary is one of my favorite pastimes.

Pilgrimages

Experiencing the concentrated intention, prayers and worship of God in holy sites, whether they be Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, is always inspiring.

Outdoor Enthusiast

I love the captivating beauty of nature, feeling the sun on my skin, and experiencing the awesome power of the Pacific Ocean.

Living with Purpose integrates Western psychology and Eastern philosophy to provide you with effective strategies and techniques you can use to increase your enjoyment of life and your well-being.

Living with Purpose provides content rich courses curated from more than forty years of experience helping people transform their lives and reach their goals.