Today we’d like to introduce you to Anne Redelfs.
Anne, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a retired psychiatrist, who trained two years in a pediatrics residency before switching to psychiatry. My field of expertise is human development and the trauma that so often interferes. My knowledge has come from a tremendous amount of experience with that interfering trauma. I was born into an extremely dysfunctional household. It has taken decades of inner journeying and outer searching for skilled professionals and working with them to transcend my past. In my desperation to find help, I’ve discovered there is a skilled professional within each of us – it is the healthy soul! I am so grateful to these “professionals” guiding me into who I am today. This is my daily practice–to listen to soulful guidance and apply what I hear.
Has it been a smooth road?
My path has been exceedingly difficult, I’m sorry to say. The greatest struggle has been freeing myself from the clutches of a psychopathic father. Another struggle has been to fit into a world where we don’t speak about such harsh realities. The epidemic of child abuse is finally surfacing in our nation, but the statistics are still quite low considering the enormity of the problem and the vast repercussions. I wish I could say that I was my father’s only victim, but there were MANY. And he had many friends who were like him.
I find so many people want to focus on the positive when the positive isn’t where the problem lies. To me, most problems can be reduced to people suffering from unresolved trauma. This unresolved trauma stunts our psychological development, and we suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress, either consciously or unconsciously. By unconsciously, I mean that most people hide their worst traumas and the most traumatized parts of themselves away in the unconscious mind and forget about them. People then consciously or unconsciously act out these unspoken traumas–a soul’s way of seeking attention and help. Unfortunately, we typically look no further than a person’s behavior, so the underlying problem of unresolved trauma is never treated. Because of my own extreme past, I know that we humans are capable of surmounting the worst of circumstances… it just requires our willingness to do whatever it takes to recover! By the way, I just completed a book with two colleagues, entitled, What the World Needs Now: Healing Trauma in Ourselves and Our Children.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with What the World Needs Now – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
My business is called, “What the World Needs Now.” I supply products and services that are life-changing and therefore world-changing since we are each part of the greater world. For example, I’m writing a series of books, each of which addresses one of the major social problems in our world.The Awakening Storm is the story of my evacuation from my home in New Orleans to escape Hurricane Katrina. It also illustrates how trauma affects human beings and how to resolve these traumas. Illness Can Be the Cure shows how our souls communicate through symptoms and disease processes. It teaches readers how to listen and respond. With Every Addiction, “Infants” Are Trying to Meet Their Needs is a developmental approach to healing addictions.
I’m putting together a series of workshops and speeches with a group of colleagues. The first all-day workshop is on September 21, entitled, “Growing Healthy Children in a Toxic, Pressure-cooker World.” (Community Missionary Baptist Church in DeSoto, 8:30-3:30 PM) The speaker series is the first Sunday of each month, starting in October, 1-2:30 PM at the Health Collective. We call ourselves “The School of Soul.” We seek to educate in regard to our souls–how they are severed and otherwise traumatized by society, and what we can do to regain our health and wholeness.
To me, our soul is that part of us that is connected to our Divine Spirit. It knows we’re on this planet to fulfill an important mission, which includes the evolution of us all, individually and collectively. Our soul is ever-speaking to us through our life circumstances, whether physical illness, emotional upsets, mental concerns, or relationship problems. It is ever-guiding us to grow. In my business, I listen to people’s souls. I help them to hear too so that they might have the rich, flowering and fruiting lives that are our destiny when we fulfill what we are here to accomplish. I call myself a gardener of the soul. What sets me apart is that I work diligently and deeply on myself, and it is this hard work that I am most proud of.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I am new here in Dallas (I moved in May). I like that Dallas seems to have EVERYTHING! I’m enjoying the diversity of people, places, and activities. I’m impressed with the quality of what I’ve experienced, from great food to impressive performances to interesting people. I like the friendliness, helpfulness, openness, and curiosity of the people in general, who have shown an interest in and support of what I’m doing.
I know this sounds mundane, but I don’t like the traffic, and the expressways can be downright scary!
Contact Info:
- Address: I work at the Health Collective: 10830 N. Central Expressway, Dallas, TX 75231
- Website: Currently out of commission
- Phone: 903-306-5286
- Email: annethelistener@yahoo.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/gardenerofthesoul
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/1soulgardener
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-redelfs-gardenerofthesoul/
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