Wayne Hackett wrote a beautiful letter to Mary that was published in issue Number 19, Winter 1997/1998 of the Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter. Though I never met Mary face-to-face, I feel as though I’ve known her all my life. Her picture is with my family pictures that I look at every day and receive the loving energy from each in their spiritual form. I invite Mary to guide me when I give a session, do self-help, study…and I am aware of her presence. So, like Wayne, I call her Teacher and am grateful that the Universe brought me to her.

Wayne writes:

“Dear Mary,

The date was November 14, 1977, a warm, sunny Monday in Scottsdale, and I was happy to have a week’s retreat from the already cool, autumn temperatures of Boulder. My temporary home, room 151 at the Motel 6, was stocked with all the snacks and goodies necessary to insure a time of comfortable relaxation. I had a new spiral notebook and pens for note-taking. I was ready for life’s next adventure.

My childhood had been spent in a loving home, a place where I was nurtured and encouraged. Confidence and capability were taught. Playfulness was instilled. A deep and strong spiritual desire was implanted and cultivated. The journey began.

College came and brought with it new freedoms and responsibilities, new challenges and opportunities, and the onset of adult-life lessons. Four years of academic success permitted my entrance into the University of Oregon School of Dentistry, and offered the fulfillment of my earliest career ambitions. Soon, however, emotional and spiritual unrest overwhelmed me. I was dissatisfied with myself, my life and its direction. I withdrew from dental school to pursue a degree in education and a teaching career. Teaching, I thought, would be the purpose my soul was seeking. The idealism I carried would find its expression.

I taught science at the high school level, but quickly, and sadly, realized that the current system of learning would neither allow nor satisfy my own growing hunger for a deeper meaning and a richer involvement in life. With idealism intact, I left the field of public education. The search continued.

I accepted a position as a teacher/counselor in a residential treatment center, where I worked with adolescents. Their social adjustment difficulties were not too much unlike my own. We shared similar confusions, and strangely, with them, I felt a common bond. Traveling throughout the Rocky Mountains, we lived in tents and slept in sleeping bags. We took care of ourselves and grew to care for each other. We played. We fought. We laughed and cried. I learned a lot. The work was exhausting.

To be continued…

Thank you, Wayne, for your transparency.