I love teaching for so many reasons. I love to share the knowledge I have accumulated throughout my life in my areas of expertise. I love the ability to help students achieve their best... etc. When I was teaching, I gave it the best of me. This can be detrimental to our health because when we are passionate about teaching, we are likely to neglect other important aspects of our lives. For example, our health.

Many times, I took my health for granted, and for a long time I ignored all the symptoms of stress. I bottled up inside me all the things that were not socially or professionally acceptable... feelings and emotions I didn't discuss with anybody, except my journal. I am so convinced that whatever we bottle up inside our hearts can affect our health. So one day I got really sick, and came to find out that I had a terminal cancer, Stage 4. It didn't surprise me when I was diagnosed back in 1994, that my first reaction was to write about my experiences. It was as if my dormant mused had gotten a wake-up call and wanted to record everything that was happening to me. So I wrote. My husband (May he Rest in Peace)  insisted that I needed to publish my story, so I started to do the research. Unfortunately, I couldn't get published the traditional way.

I learned quickly that when you are facing death, you don't have the time nor the desire to play the rejection-letters game, and wait for a traditional publisher to publish your book. Rejection is not an option! The only way to get your message out there quickly is by self-publishing your work. So that's exactly what I decided to do.

My first book was self-published back in the year 2000. It was a collection of reflections on illness, healing, and spiritual awakening. I named it "Breakfast with God."

Then I wrote a dramatic memoir, which I self-published in 2013. I named it "I Won't Let You Die." This book is available for purchase through Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, and my self-publishing company.  To see the books listed in this website, click on the "Books" tab above.  You can also find some of my other books listed on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.

I have often heard that all of us have a writer within. So narrating our stories, our experiences, and thoughts can result in a very powerful and soothing healing therapy. I want to share with you some ideas on how you can encourage yourself and others to tap into the power of writing your story in a narrative form. There are some great reasons to do it. I am convinced of the reasons, because I did it myself. I also do one-on-one online work with anyone who is interested. I offer online workshops in Spanish as well.

Perhaps you are already keeping a journal. Congratulations!!! I believe it is a great therapy. Scientists and psychologists have done a great deal of research on the healing power of writing. Recently, I found an amazing article by Dr. Pennebaker at https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/faculty/pennebak

Read also some of the articles I share in this website by clicking the Reseach Tab. Don't hesitate. Get things out of your system, and put them on paper or in your computer, even if you are the only one who reads them, it is a powerful weapon against emotional illness.

I also want to share some of my knowledge on self-publishing and help you with that, if that is something you are interested in pursuing. If you would like to learn more about my background, here you will find my credentials for the work I do as a self-published writer, and independent bilingual tutor/teacher/consultant. I believe wholeheartedly that personal experience equip us with powerful tools to help others along their journey on a road one has already traveled. For now, here are a few things about me that qualify me for the work I do:

I have been a bilingual teacher for over fifteen years...

I have experienced loss of jobs,loss of loved ones, loss of assets, loss of money, etc...

I have faced and dealt with grief in its different manifestations...

I have survived a terminal cancer through the healing power of God...

Prognosis was six months to two years... that was TWENTY years ago!

I have written three books and countless (unpublished) personal reflections and journals.

I have self-published three books using three different venues...

There is no doubt that our lives are full of challenges. We all face trials and troubles. I would like to encourage you: If you want to help yourself and others, you can start by writing your stories! I will be delighted to help you along this long, and sometimes, difficult process. I can help you designed a map for your journey. I can help you develop the habit of writing for the purpose of healing. Most of my expertise comes from my personal experience, and the fifteen plus years of teaching and working with my English ESL and Spanish students in different classroom settings. I can guide you tap into the power of the writer that is within you to help transform your suffering into peace, your grief into consolation, and your illness into health.

Let me finish here by quoting from Pat Schneider book with Oxford University Press, “How The Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice”:

"Writing can be a spiritual practice. To write about what is painful is to begin the work of healing. To write the red of a tomato before it is mixed into beans for chili is a form of praise. To write an image of a child caught in war is confession or petition or requiem. To write grief onto a page of lined paper until tears blur the ink is often the surest access to giving or receiving forgiveness. To write a comic scene is grace and beatitude. To write irony is to seek justice. To write admission of failure is humility. To be in an attitude of praise or thanksgiving, to rage against God, or to open one’s inner self and listen, is prayer. To write tragedy and allow comedy to arise between the lines is miracle and revelation..."

 "I know from personal experience how fear and low self worth can cripple one's ability to succeed in life.

But with a little support, caring and inspiration, miracles can happen."

~Richard Hatch 

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE HEALING POWER OF GOD IN MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE!