Bren Bell
Finding your passion isn’t just about careers and money, it’s about finding your authentic self, the one you’ve buried beneath other peoples needs.
I was an independent technology consultant for 25 years. It was something I enjoyed and it came easy to me; however, I wouldn’t say I ever felt passionate about what I was doing. Then suddenly, my life path took an unexpected detour after a tragic event that brought my family to their knees. Although, I naively believed that we would all heal together in the same way, I became very aware from the beginning that each member of my family experienced, addressed and ultimately developed coping methods in their own unique way to deal with the event. This realization made me curious, so, after reading hundreds of books, I decided to return to school to study psychology, with a special interest in the behaviors associated with trauma. In the meantime, I became a point person to parents who were grieving the loss of a child.
After receiving my degree, I worked with Kathy Cramer, founder of The Cramer institute and author of “Change the way you see yourself” and “Change the way you see everything”, presenting her process called Asset Based Thinking (ABT) to teenage girls. The premise is to retrain one’s thinking to what is going ‘right’ with enthusiasm and energy, rather than dwelling on what is going ‘wrong’, deficit based thinking (DBT). During this time, I became more and more curious at the reasons why these girls who were academically outspoken and confident in their earlier years, suddenly took a back seat to their male counterparts at a certain adolescent age. Their belief system changed and their self esteem wavered. It was enlightening to see the return of their authentic confident selves after practicing a mindset change. My curiosity and desire to learn more was now intensified and my passion for more knowledge grew.
I then returned to the learning environment and received training as a crisis counselor. Compassionately helping individuals who were experiencing a crisis (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideology, bullying, and abuse) to incorporate the coping methods necessary to help them return to a sense of calm reasoning. I was in awe of every client as they each expanded my understanding of the resiliency of the human spirit.
I then continued my study by reaching the certified master level of coaching from CLCI and furthered my spiritual study by completing the Divine Intelligence Program. So, now after years of counseling grieving parents, offering guidance to those in crisis, and helping young teenagers to reclaim their confidence, I can without reservation say that I have found my passion.
