Because a successful coaching relationship is such a significant personal connection, I believe it is important to share a snapshot of my own story here, in the form of three "themes" which deeply inform the person I have become.

Theme I: Get Real!

Some of my earliest memories are of the nursing home that my grandmother owned, a place I spent many hours since I was an infant - talking, playing, and working with the patients and becoming familiar with the realities of being physically and/or mentally challenged, old age, death, and the dying process. As an adult, I spent 25 years in the field of nursing, caring for patients and their families in mental health, trauma, rehabilitation, bone marrow transplant, oncology and hospice settings. Not so long ago, I cared for two cherished friends who fought long hard battles and in the end lost their lives to cancer.

My rich experiences with people making their transitions into death has sharpened my sense that our lives are not infinite, that our choices matter, and that it is never too late to get honest about who we are and what we want to offer the world. On a deep level, I see the real equality of all human beings; regardless of our titles, roles or accumulated "stuff," the bittersweet truth is we are all on this planet for a finite period of time and we are all connected.

So, when I ask my clients "when you are on your death bed, what will you say about your life?" Will you be able to look back with a smile and say "what a great life I had... I came into being, I really lived, loved and gave it my all, I gave the world my gifts with joy and we are all better for it!?"
.... this is not an academic question. It is a "get real" question born of intimate awareness of the reality that you have powerful choices to make about how you will use the precious minutes and hours you have of this life.

Being present for people and their families during their sickness and death is an incredible experience for me. Even more incredible... I have been blessed with the opportunity to be present, to inspire and facilitate people transitioning from living... what one could barely call life, to thriving... going from living in hell (wishing to die) to living in heaven on earth.

Theme II: Becoming the Friend You Long For

I believe so deeply in the power of having a person in your life saying "Of course you can!" "You matter" "You are beautiful" "You are inherently worthy" because I lived far too many years with the opposite messages ringing in my ears. One of my greatest thrills as a coach is to play the "cheerleader" role because I have experienced the deep hunger for that kind of unconditional certainty of my worth and beauty, and I have felt the great joy to have had a few who helped hold that truth for me. My goal is to ensure that each of my clients comes to have that sweet, compassionate voice forever echoing in their own head.

Theme III: The Power of Truth-telling

The more I've allowed my true spirit to speak through my life, the sillier and deeper my life has become. As an "easily over-stimulated" being and young single mother working in the nursing field, my focus was too often outside of myself, and my own mind, body, and spirit were too often neglected. Many of my entrenched habits were not serving me well, yet I was willing to pretend they were, rather than admit the need for change.

After my daughter started her own family and I experienced the deaths of my dearest friends, I recognized that I needed to stop in a dramatic way and re-build my life on very different terms.

I gave away everything I owned, walked away from my career, and began a multi-year journey of healing and recovery. Through this profound process of reinvention I experienced a transformative homecoming to a self I had never fully known and certainly never fully loved.

The more truth I let into my life, the more I learned to see the relationships between my own feelings and my habitual patterns of thought and action, the more certain I became of the tremendous need we all have for a mentor, coach, guide, and advocate. I recognized our shared need for a nonjudgmental compassionate "partner" to see us through our personal journey, whatever it may be.

You don't need to experience a dramatic turning point, as I did, to experience the kind of reawakening that truth-telling can bring. There is always room to shine the light of honesty into whatever corners of your life you'd like to free.

Today, I live a life I never thought to imagine for myself. I am here to assist you in creating the shift to mindful, conscious, purposeful living, and I am here to say that I've lived asleep and I've lived awake, and awake is infinitely better!

I wish you peace~harmony~laughter~love
— Juli An Panfilio