MEET SUSIE
I'm grateful my husband, Mark, and I have enjoyed traveling together and solo since 1984. Our two adult children, Katie and Daniel, are also accomplished international travelers with a global worldview.
My pilgrim travel memoir integrates my 1981 Master's Degree in Pastoral Ministry from Seattle University and a 2006 Certificate in Spiritual Direction from Gonzaga University to provide insights into visiting sacred locations, shrines, and labyrinths.
I wrote a contemplation booklet with 64 daily reflections and three questions for the Season of Nonviolence, co-founded by Gandhi's grandson, Arun, and the Association for Global New Thought. In addition, I helped to write the curriculum for Spirit Groups participating at the Unity Center for Spiritual Growth in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. These activities prepared me to write over 160 personal and group discussion reflection questions for this memoir.
Due to my mother's early death at age 49, resulting from extreme fasting to become a "spiritual warrior," I have been exploring and sharing the signs to recognize healthy and unhealthy spirituality for most of my life. Fr. Leo Booth, an Episcopalian priest in recovery from alcoholism, helped me to identify the stages of religious addiction. In 2025, I completed a certificate in “Recognizing and Healing the Wounds of Spiritual Abuse and Religious Trauma” from Jamie Marich, PhD, author of You Lied to Me About God.
I often teach and write about what I most need to learn. For 24 years, I served Head Start parents enrolled in the Community Colleges of Spokane and taught Parenting and Life Skills classes. My students motivated me to meet parenting expert Jean Illsley Clarke and to apply her research on developmental stages for adults. I appreciated her encouragement that it's never too late to "grow up again."
In 2008, I became a Certified Herrmann Brain Dominance Inventory (HBDI®) Practitioner. With my double Bachelor's Degree in Communication and Religious Studies from the University of California in 1976, I realized that I, and other well-intentioned people, often struggle to communicate respectfully. Under stress, we typically become "louder" in our preferred thinking style instead of switching gears to express ourselves according to our listeners' desires. Ann Herrmann-Nedhi, the CEO of Herrmann International, inspired me to write a Whole Brain® parenting guide.
Integrating my training and experience, I wrote: Why Don't You Understand? Improve Family Communication with the 4 Thinking Styles, published by Parenting Press in 2009. I am grateful to Elizabeth Crary, a parenting instructor, author, and founder of Parenting Press, who believed I had insights to offer others. She recognized the benefits of families learning to communicate more effectively by understanding each other's preferred thinking styles.
I continue to be a life-long learner. Various life challenges have motivated me to gain new skills. In 1999, I completed training through the Hendricks Institute in Santa Barbara, California, and became a life coach. Gay and Katie Hendricks taught me to recognize my role in the Drama Triangle and to practice conscious, slow breathing whenever triggered to settle my body, brain, and emotions.
In 2007, when my Stage III Colon Cancer led to a permanent colostomy, I realized I needed additional competencies to cope with my grief more effectively. I completed training with Cindy Wigglesworth to become a Spiritual Intelligence Coach.
Since then, I've helped facilitate and offer encouragement to the Spokane Ostomy Support Group. In 20I7, I applied my experience to self-publish: From Grieving to Thriving: 10 Tools for Resiliency. My booklet became a resource for ostomates locally, regionally, and nationally, as well as cancer support groups.
Now that I'm an elder in my 70s, this travel memoir is my legacy to encourage others to view themselves as global citizens. I began my travel memoir by recounting my life-changing travels in Jerusalem. Along the way, I shared joys, challenges, and how travel transformed me.
While journeying to the apparition site of Mother Mary in Lourdes, France, and traveling the Mary Magdalene Path throughout southern France, I experienced inner healing. Visiting the home in Ephesus, Türkiye, where Mother Mary spent her final days with the Apostle John, mended my heart. I felt embraced and accepted "as is" through her motherly love.
In an increasingly polarized world, I hope my memoir reflections will inspire you to focus on what unites us and become a bridge-builder within all of your relationships.
Visit Susie's website: SusieWeller.com