Marie J. Retherford is a clinician who has spent most of her life involved with healthcare, first as a registered nurse (RN) and later as a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), dealing with aspects of well-being.
She has worked in private practice, at a mental health agency and with the military as a military and family life counselor (MFLC) for 11 years at different installations around the world. Her fascination with how we are designed as human beings to respond, for surviving and thriving, led to the pursuit of personal awareness. She discovered ways to manage unpleasant experiences and have happier ones. This included meditation, body therapies, educational resources and spending time in nature enjoying enriching activities like gardening, hiking or biking in the country.
Having the benefit of over 40 years working in mental health, she gradually formulated a way to speed up people’s transformation by approaching it with a reality-based understanding of what supports change physically, mentally and emotionally. By bringing together concepts from neuroscience and skills that foster the ability to communicate with empathy and understanding, her goal is to boost consciousness and connection, one person at a time, to increase harmony, peace and joy in the world.
I believe people want to be touched emotionally, feel trust, connection and vulnerability as part of personal interactions.
We are designed to bond over things that make us feel good, and understood, like during spontaneous moments of playful fun or when helping each other in supportive ways.When we are safe and our reward system is triggered, sensory pleasure and feelings like contentment, happiness, inner peace and joy occur. This is often felt in nature or when falling in love. They represent the kind of experiences we crave more of.
It’s the positive moments in life that uplift and bring people together. They leave us in a better place physically, mentally, emotionally/socially and spiritually because of them.