My first awakening, rude as it was, was in 1979. I was 32 years old, had won first prize in an architectural competition, and I was in a mental health facility as an inmate.

Depression… I was depressed…

I didn’t know I was an empath, so I have no idea how much of what I felt was mine…

One day in the big circle I said something that got me thrown out of that big circle group.

Next day I was asked to do a test: find out what I like and what I don’t. I spent a lot of time with that test, because, honestly, I didn’t know. I didn’t know what I liked and what I preferred.

They made me retake the test, and I failed again. Holy Mackerel… I had no “I”. I mean I did have an “I” that threw its weight around, that won competitions, that got thrown out of groups, that pontificated and sympathized with people…

And yet there was no solid “I”… an “I” I could return to to be true to myself, to refuel myself, to be free to be myself.
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