Dear Heartlifter
A Fun New Place for a Little Q & A
Never walk away from Wisdom—she guards your life;
love her—she keeps her eye on you.
Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom!
Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding!
Throw your arms around her—believe me, you won’t regret it;
never let her go—she’ll make your life glorious.
She’ll garland your life with grace,
she’ll festoon your days with beauty.”Proverbs 4:7-9, The Message
I was born a teacher.
At age 8, I started "Lilac Avenue Elementary School," in my dear friend, Phyllis's, garage. It was legit. We had a library and everything.
I've been teaching in one form or another since. After the release of my first book, I encountered hundreds of women, desperate and hungry for emotional and mental help. Their cry became my calling.
At age 50, I went back for my Master's in Counseling, Marriage and Family Specialization, and Board Certification in Life Coaching.
In 2012, I embarked on a whole new mid-life-empty-nest adventure, opening, "The Heartlift Practice," and began seeing clients daily. Their presence empowered my research, study, certifications in trauma-informed care and therapeutic aromatherapy, and ultimately, the development of my faith + mental health podcast, Today's Heartlift with Janell.
I believe every step of my journey has led me right here, right now.
In How to Age Happily, Surfing from Fluid to Crystallized Intelligence,1 Avivah Wittenberg-Cox reviews one of my 2023 favorite reads by Arthur Brooks, Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. She writes:
The key message in the book is our minds ‘decline’ with age, and that first-half-of-life ‘fluid’ intelligence (the kind that is fast and innovative a la Elon Musk) morphs in the second-half into ‘crystallized’ intelligence (more insightful and integrative a la Dalai Lama). This theory isn’t new, it goes back to work done in the 1970s by Raymond Cattell, but Brooks uses it to explain the need for a ‘second curve.’
This fun, new “Dear Heartlifter” initiative is my second-curve-half-of-life movement towards activating crystallized intelligence.
With all sincerity and earnest desire, I simply want to keep teaching and sharing what God and Life have taught me. If my story can somehow inform your story, then Life has been worth living.
Think of “Dear Heartlifter” as an advice column, a love letter, a spiritual memo from my heart to yours.
Ask me anything. I’ll do my best to answer.
Here are a few guidelines:
Be clear and concise.
Be kind and courteous.
Use an anonymous title, like the Dear Abby days.
Include permission to share your question in a future post.
Send your question here: info@dearheartlifter.com or leave it right here in the comment section.
Here’s an example:
I can’t wait to hear from you! Let’s move through this holiday season with grace, grit, and a whole lot of glimmer!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2022/02/12/how-to-age-happilysurfing-from-fluid-to-crystallised-intelligence/?sh=7ce1b4494eaa