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New Year, New Beginnings

It’s the start of a new year, and with this comes new energy. According to society’s traditions, the New Year is a time to make resolutions that we hope we will stick with.  Rather than this being a momentous, once-off occasion, I invite you to embrace the energy that comes with a new year –

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Holiday Wishes

My wish for you this Holiday Season is to claim who you are, unapologetically and proudly.  Whether this has been a good year, or a year full of trials, you are still here,  surviving – that is thriving.  Every day is a new day for you to say YES to yourself and choose what you

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Holiday Wishes

Holidays can be fun or they can be a difficult time of the year.  Either way, they bring up a lot of emotion and may open old wounds.  There is so much expectation from society, the people in our lives, and even the area we live in, about what holidays need to be.  We are

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Filling your Cup with Abundance

The holiday season can be a distraction from life or make one hyper-aware of one’s current life.  Instead of losing ourselves to distractions, we can create something new by becoming more aware of how much abundance is waiting and ready for us to claim. When we actively look for something, we find it. As we

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Doing it your way!

Have you been dreading the holidays?  Or are you brimming with excitement, planning all the wonderful things you will be doing? Either way, this year, I invite you to do it YOUR way!  If we have gained one thing from the last few years, it is the knowing that breaking tradition and doing things differently,

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Emotional Self-care

We’re at a time of the year where all the holiday deals are being revealed, and everyone is looking to stock up on things.  This holiday season, instead of filling your environment, fill your emotional cup.  Take time to feed your Soul and do what feels good.  It won’t require any capital and the payoff

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The Gratitude Experience

Thanksgiving is coming up in the U.S. next week.   While this means different things to different people, the universally recognized experience is that it is a time of gathering.   Gathering with family and friends can be a trying experience, especially if the people around you don’t feel like your tribe. You are the most important

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Holiday Harmony

What do the upcoming holidays mean for you? At this time of year, there is a special energy in the air around the holiday season that we can tap into.  You either love this time of year, and look forward to it, or it can be a difficult, stressful, and traumatic time. Often, we fall

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Finding Peace

Finding peace in the craziness of our world is a learned skill.  We are born knowing that all is well – as we grow, life experiences teach us to fear, worry, and forget altogether how to reclaim peace. With the current state of the world, it can be hard not to get lost in the

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RUNNING THROUGH DARKNESS
MEMOIR OF A SPIRITUAL WARRIOR

BY SANTA MOLINA-MARSHALL ‧ RELEASE DATE: MAY 3, 2022

This debut memoir chronicles a woman’s spiritual exploration and growth as she overcame a disturbing childhood and helped others heal.

Brought to America from the Dominican Republic as a youngster, Molina-Marshall should have led a happy life. Her father was a diligent worker, and his large family wanted for nothing. But the author recounts that her dad had a drinking problem and was a serial philanderer. Molina-Marshall’s long-suffering mother left him for a woman. Then it was all downhill for the bright, 12-year-old girl, who was shuttled between foster care and relatives. According to the author, she was sexually abused by the husband of one of her siblings. This resulted in Molina-Marshall becoming alienated and moody. By 15, she simply tried to survive. In her favor were grit and a restless intelligence. She quit school, rented a room, and found a factory job. Time went by, and for a while she was happily married. Yet when her husband left her, her life truly began. She turned to religion for answers but decided that blaming God for her woes was a cop-out. 

In this absorbing and moving memoir, Molina-Marshall’s vivid storytelling is fearless. She frankly discusses the truths she discovered and the indignities she suffered. These admissions are disclosed with a touch of resignation and plenty of bite. However painful, everything she experienced was a lesson, and she bravely realized that she was part of the problem: “The fear of being hurt, rejected, or abused often led to me feeling lonely and misunderstood. No one knew the agonizing pain I felt being trapped in my thoughts and anger. I was becoming my biggest threat.” 

The author skillfully recounts her intricate spiritual journey. To deal with her psychic wounds, she searched for an inspirational system. Her open-mindedness led her to the interfaith concept—cherry-picking from various religions and spiritual movements, yoga, and Indigenous beliefs as a way of finding peace. Along with her female partner, she built a therapy practice, making use of every spiritual element that aided her and others. The road was bumpy, and she found that women of color in same-sex relationships were not welcomed everywhere. To do good works—and finally live on her own terms—she effectively overcame bigotry.

An engrossing, cathartic account of empathy and success through determination and confidence.

Pub Date: May 3, 2022   |    ISBN: 978-0-578-38315-6  |   Page Count: 264    | Publisher: From Trauma to Triumph  |   Review Posted Online: June 13, 2022