Life Lessons:
Tara Greenway
*Are you happy at the moment?
Yes. I feel a sense of joy and gratefulness and satisfaction in my life that I haven’t felt before. I am not sure if this is because I’ve been through so much that I’ve gained perspective, because my friends and clients have been through so much that I understand how blessed I am, or because between my years of experience and the healing technique that I do (often on myself as well as my clients), a wisdom and joy are settling in that have eluded me in the past. At any rate, I’m glad I can truly answer yes to that question!
*If you could go back and say anything to your 16-year-old self now, what would it be?
“You are enough. Your fears are completely unfounded. Trust yourself.”
*What’s the most important thing you’ve learned this year?
In the last year, I have learned that it is possible for me to remain joyful and calm even when there is stress, confusion, or anger all around me. I used to act as if compassion meant feeling the same emotions as those I am with, and that often didn’t work out so well. I’ve finally learned that I can be compassionate and separate, that I don’t need to participate in the chaos of others’ activities or feelings. It has caused me to be much more peaceful and has also resulted in my becoming clearer and ultimately more able to act with compassion and wisdom.
*What do you most want to achieve in the next 12 months?
I want to continue to find ways of connecting with my children with joy while achieving my goals of reaching more clients and students with the healing technique I practice. I want to change my schedule to include less administrative time and more writing time, and to enable me to pick up my little girl from kindergarten twice a week instead of once a week. I want to make more time for my husband and me to remember the couple that we always have been.
*What’s your secret to happiness?
Sleep enough. Eat well. Go outside during the day and take a walk. Go outside at night and look up at the stars. Treat yourself with as much gentleness as you treat others. Remember your connection to the Universe, and know that you are loved and supported by the Universe at every moment and in every cell.
*What’s one ritual or practice that keeps you grounded?
Every night I go outside on my deck and gaze up at the stars or the clouds and connect to the Divine Spirit for a little while. This changes everything. It gives me the all-important and incredibly elusive quality of perspective. I make sure I go outside and connect no matter what the weather; I wear a coat or use an umbrella… but I go outside and connect.
*What’s your biggest regret?
I regret living with such fear and guilt throughout my 20s, when I could have been experiencing life with so much more love, trust and joy. I had the wrong impression of who God was and whether or not God was angry. And if there was such a thing as clinical perfectionism, I had it.
*What’s the most important lesson you’ve taught your kids?
That they are loved completely and absolutely unconditionally, and thus they know that real love is unconditional, and that they deserve love and can love others unconditionally. Once I overheard my then-6-year-old saying to her friend, “Your parents always love you, no matter what. Even if you’re really bad, they still love you. Even if you go to JAIL, they STILL love you.” I was so happy she got that!
*What bad habit would you most like to change about yourself?
I would like to stop energizing myself with caffeine and rewarding myself with sugar. That would be really good. I have not been able to change these two habits on a permanent basis.
*Aside from motherhood/fatherhood and marriage, what are you most proud of in your life?
I think aside from my family, I am most proud of the book that I have written about my journey from chronic pain and fear to true freedom and joy… now all I have to do is find a publisher who is also proud of it!
*When were you happiest?
I was happiest when I was a very small girl in a loving family in a tiny town out in the country. I had a huge imagination and spent my days inventing games with my stuffed animals, playing in the woods with my brother and our friend, catching fireflies in the field by our house, and falling asleep in the bottom bunk with my arm up in the air holding my big brother’s hand that he stuck down from the top bunk if I got scared. I wish this kind of idyllic beginning to everyone on earth.
*What ten words best describe you?
Loving, creative, intelligent, busy, whimsical, committed, funny, truthful, loyal, tired.
Tara Greenway is a certified Master ThetaHealer® who loves helping people heal. Tara has also trained in polarity therapy, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and NDT (New Decision Therapy) and is an interfaith minister licensed in New York State. Tara has worked with children for over 25 years, including teens at the ‘I Have A Dream’ Foundation, grieving children at Long Island College Hospital’s Healing Center, and welfare hotel kids. Tara was honored to contribute a chapter in For Women Only, by Gary Null and Barbara Seaman (Seven Stories Press). She is a member of the Association of Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) and was a founding board member of Healing Arts Haven. Topics Tara can speak to include chronic pain, physical abuse survivors, anxiety and depression, adoptive parenting, religion, the mind/body connection, and spirituality and sexuality. You can follow ThetaHealing®NYC (which carries Tara’s voice along with the 2 other co-founders) on Twitter @ThetaHealingNYC.
