Conversations with Santa

Mindful Moments: How to quiet your mind and renew your energy

We are thinking beings, collecting and collating information all day long.  Our minds are constantly thinking, sorting through data collected, and assessing what needs to happen next. In our busy world today, with so many sensory inputs, we are always switched on and constantly mentally running.  Being in this state adds stress to our nervous

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Solstice Healing

With the June solstice coming up soon, bringing us the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, we can use this as a catalyst for renewing our energy, and resetting ourselves and our year. When life feels like it is on a loop, using energy shifts like the solstice, is a powerful way

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Reflect and Renew

Life is constantly busy and, as we settle into our routines and responsibilities, days seem flow into each other, blending into weeks and months.  In business, taking stock ever so often is recognized as good business practice.  We do this for our own careers when seeking a promotion or growing our own businesses, looking at

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Choose your Reality

We are taught from a young age to acknowledge and own the limitations we perceive as true – those about ourselves personally, and the limitations of a given environment. We are given parameters about who we can be, based on what the adults in our lives perceive as true about us.  We often unconsciously internalize

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You Were Born to Stand Out

We live in a world where we are encouraged to fit in and keep up with current styles and trends.  We learn at a young age that being different means being teased or put down. Careless phrases we heard as children, or as adults from colleagues or in our personal relationships, may still be having

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Why you say NO to yourself

How often do you talk yourself out of things?  We are taught from a young age that putting ourselves first is selfish and that we need to earn the right to go after an opportunity.  This teaching creates the mindset that, for example, we are not enough to go after that dream job, or that

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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