Questions from a Life Watcher: Insights on Cultivating Inner Wisdom

By Mary-Beth Klastorin MSW LCSW

This book is my treasure. It represents wisdom spiritually anchored in the souls journey inward. So I invite you to come with me as we enter the realm of self-exploration, where I pose questions that explore the hearts quest to feel complete. This book wrote me. The questions and insights presented themselves as fine-tuned instruments playing counterpoint in the orchestra of my life. The music created an experience that took me on a great adventure. I discovered that we can truly evolve into who we were meant to be by paying attention and observing ourselves, others, and our environment. I realize now that any one of us can change if we choose to become a life watcher.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Nov 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504384605

Mary-Beth Klastorin MSW LCSW

Mary-Beth Klastorin is a licensed clinical social worker living in Denver, Colorado. She received a BA in Early Childhood Education from Kean University, and an MSW in Social Work from the University of Southern California. Mary-Beth is licensed to practice in Colorado and New Mexico. She began her career in social work with the United States Marine Corps where she taught classes promoting family wellness, and developed a base-wide prevention program to reduce incidents of family violence. She later went on to work in the public-school system with students whose emotional and social development had been identified as barriers to academic success. After leaving the public-school system, Mary-Beth worked with children diagnosed with Autism, teaching social skills to those 6 to 16 years old. Most recently, she worked in Community Mental Health supporting children and their families. Mary-Beth is now focused on developing emotionally supportive gifts that offer inspirational words of healing. She believes that words that inspire are art for the soul, and can nurture greatness from within. Website: www.life-watcher.net

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Copyright © 2017 Mary-Beth Klastorin, MSW, LCSW.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8459-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8460-5 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 12/15/2017

This book is

dedicated to those courageous souls, brave enough to shine light on the shadow side of self.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

An Invitation

What Does It Mean to Nurture Myself?

What Can a Tree Teach You?

Are You Curious about Your Life?

What Life Lessons Can You Learn?

Do You Know Your Life’s Purpose?

Are You a Life Watcher?

When Does Personal Growth Begin?

Is the Voice Inside Your Head Your Friend?

What Beliefs Are Creating Your Life Story?

How Can Universal Energy Help Create Your Life?

Do You Have an Energetic Pattern?

Can Change Promote Transformation?

Can You Let Go of Your Story and Create Something New?

Do You Ever Get Angry?

How Can I Learn to Forgive Myself and Others?

How Do I Give Away My Personal Power?

How Are You Resilient?

How Can Feeling Broken Manifest Hope?

How Can You Surrender the Burdens of Your Heart?

Is a Wound from Your Past Stopping Your Chi?

How Does Your Body Communicate with You?

How Can Breathing Help You Cope with Life’s Challenges?

In What Ways Do You Have an Inner Life?

In What Ways Are You an Artist?

How Do Emotions Affect You?

How Do You Love Yourself?

What Do You Crave?

In What Ways Are You Addicted to Something?

How Do You Cultivate Gratitude in Your Daily Life?

How Can You Be a Better Parent?

How Do Your Relationships Navigate You Closer to Your Heart?

Have Life’s Loses Fostered Your Personal Growth?

What Is It Like to Experience Self-Awareness?

What Is the Function of Human Emotions?

What Does It Mean to be Courageous?

What Can Your Dog Teach You?

How Does Trauma Affect You?

What Has Suffering Taught You?

How Can Faith Be Integrated into Daily Life?

What Are You Thinking?

How Might You Live Each Day Like It Is Your Last?

What Is Your Intention?

What Makes You Sad?

How Are You Able to Recognize Your Own Fear?

What Is Your Experience with Money?

What Does Your Heart Know?

What Are You Willing to Accept?

Epilogue: Will the Questions Cease?

Acknowledgements

I KNOW THAT NOTHING GETS born into conception by itself. This process requires the help of others to breathe life into any creation. I ask the question, How do I adequately thank those who helped to provide the spiritual nourishment to document my journey? My inner voice says to simply say thank you. So with grace and gratitude, I would like to acknowledge those who were instrumental in helping me grow as a person and as a soul.

First, I would like to thank my husband, Howard Elliot Eckstein, for his unconditional love, encouragement, editing support, and the space I needed for self-reflection. Without his love, this book would not have been born.

I wish to thank my editor and beloved friend, Pamela Accetta Smith, for her professional input and belief in my quest to find meaning.

My deceased parents, Milton and Janet, I thank for my life and their best efforts to love and nurture me. I want to particularly acknowledge my son for giving me the impetus to dig deeper, from flesh to heart. Thanks also to my two sisters and nieces, all of whom are mirrors that helped me to understand my roots and witness how energies from previous generations still live and thrive.

To my friends (you know who you are) I extend deep gratitude for seeing my goodness.

And lastly, my appreciation and thanks go to those teachers who held space for spiritual contemplation which became the impetus for self-examination and awareness. A special thank-you to Lawrence Phillips, my Feldenkrais® instructor, for the heart-felt space he held for me to practice the art of being a Life-Watcher.

With deepest gratitude, I thank all those along the way who helped to remind me to know thyself.

Foreword

"T HE JOURNEY OF HEALING, like so many journeys, begins with humble, initiating steps. The healing of body and mind, heart and spirit is one of humanity’s most noble endeavors and requires that we begin at the beginning, a process that is whole-heartedly embraced by Questions from a Life Watcher . The author, Mary-Beth Klastorin, LCSW, draws from a lifetime of clinical experience to provide pithy explorations into many of the themes involved with learning, healing and transforming. Accompanied by many of the great gems of humanity’s wisdom, each chapter uses evocative quotations and probing questions to encourage a hands-on, heart-engaged exploration—a perfect primer and adjunct for psychotherapy, and is also elegantly functional for self-motivated students of the inner journey as well. Engaging our deeper selves on the path of healing is well served by drawing from this very useful and inspiring guide."

~ Lawrence Phillips, for over thirty years a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner®

An Invitation

T HIS BOOK IS MY personal story about change, one that is universal, documenting my search to find meaning, purpose, and an understanding far greater than the small self. I invite you, the reader, to join me as we explore a sense of one’s inner life. Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist best known for his work, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, said, Human life will never be understood unless its highest aspirations are taken into account. The striving towards growth, self-actualization, health, the quest for identity and autonomy, the yearning for excellence are a widespread and perhaps a universal human tendency.

All these needs are identified by Dr. Maslow as important parts of human growth and development. However, without self-actualization and love, the evolution of the soul does not expand. We are spiritual beings in a physical body, born to be both student and teacher in search of our life’s purpose. We learn about ourselves through our relationships as observers of both our stories and other people’s stories. Maslow also said, What is necessary to change a person is to change his/her awareness of self.

My deepest desire is to create a