• Why was it that someone seemingly healthy and successful would begin to appear resentful and critical with little provocation?
• Why was a highly accomplished and beloved colleague starting to take everything personally and become suddenly reactive?
• Why was it that some people can seem to hold all of the pieces of their life together... Until they can't?
• Why was it that many of us saw ourselves in ways that were in direct contradiction to the way others experienced us?
• Why was it so many intelligent, caring people were often feeling disengaged and empty inside despite doing good work?

I know how it feels to be highly accomplished in every area of my life that you could see from the outside.  I held powerful positions of leadership in the hospital and was highly respected by my fellow colleagues and hospital leadership.  My finances were abundant.  I was the mother of two kind and forgiving children who had walked this path beside me with love and grit. But there came a time where I looked around and wondered why this just felt hollow, not quite enough.

I'll never forget the moment 

when a nurse in the intensive care unit told me, with tears in her eyes, that she didn't feel comfortable speaking to me about a patient issue because I was unapproachable, mean and downright intimidating.  I was mystified.

I saw myself as utterly devoted, a fierce advocate for patients willing to pour everything I had into my work. I was ready to challenge the way she saw me – I was ready to rumble!

Yet in a flash of insight I suddenly realized what she was saying was the truth. I had become a version of myself I barely recognized – a stranger in my own life.  That conversation called me to take a deeper look at who I thought I was, who I really was, and who I wanted to be for my patients, staff and for my family – and for myself.  

The starry eyed, passionate and compassionate young woman who had entered Medicine so many years ago was nowhere to be found.  I had lost my way.

My quest to reclaim the qualities I had orphaned somewhere along the way led me to two life-changing experiences.  I started working with a coach who helped me see my own blind spots.  He guided me to an understanding that I could be a successful professional AND live from a more kind space, not only with others, but also in how I related to and spoke to myself.  At the same time, I embarked on a journey to pursue a Master's Degree in Spiritual Psychology with an emphasis on Consciousness, Health and Healing.  I took these principles and strategies with me into the healthcare setting every time I put on my white coat.  I was ready and wanted to be changed.  And oh, how my world changed!

Before my personal transformation,

the majority of the staff would snap to attention to do my bidding whenever I entered a room.  These days, we engage in each other's lives, share our stories and create a circle of mutual meaning and caring – and still do good work! Not only did I start to notice a difference in my staff's perception of me over time, but I actually noticed a different way of seeing myself.  My friends and family noticed, too!  

**Carla, do you want to add a sentence about any lessons you took from your father to tie in the picture?**

Here I am with my newborn grandson.

The person I now saw in the mirror

had an air of gentleness, love and acceptance that I hadn't seen in a very long time.

People asked me what I'd done to create this change in my demeanor.  Then they started asking if I could help them achieve this for themselves and those on their teams.  That's when I became certified in coaching and started mentoring and coaching my healthcare colleagues from all over the country.  I remain the Chair of Physician Wellbeing at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ and for the last decade I've continued and expanded beyond healthcare to offer coaching, mentoring, leadership development training, intensive workshops and retreats all centered around helping the "whole person" live a courageous and meaningful life, while also achieving the professional success they've worked their whole lives for.

“Courageous” emerges from the Latin “cor” – meaning heart.  

In one of its earliest renderings, its meaning was to “speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”  

Courage can express as heroic, big, bold moments and it can also be a more quiet, intentional, gentle process.  

Either way, courage is work of the heart – 

the kind of journey that unfolds from our inner chambers to illuminate our outer experience. 

You have shown a certain kind of courage simply by arriving here with me.

This is the courageous journey I'd like to share with you – the road to creating a seamless inside-out life rather than living from the outside-in! If you are ready for a change that sustains, that is a true representation of who you are, that will continue to lead you forward toward your undivided life with courage, I would welcome the opportunity to explore ways we might work together.

This is the courageous journey I'd like to share with you –

the road to creating a seamless inside-out life rather than living from the outside-in! If you are ready for a change that sustains, that is a true representation of who you are, that will continue to lead you forward toward your undivided life with courage, I would welcome the opportunity to explore ways we might work together.