Following Your Heart
Hi there, I’m Dawn.
I’m a poet, writer, survivor, stepmom, and dog-mom, living and thriving in my third life. When I say my third life, I mean it. I am a two-time heart transplant recipient, and I am living with my third heart.
It was a long, hard road to get to this point in my life. The odds were not in my favor, and few people thought I would live to see this day. I’m an adult survivor of childhood trauma, domestic violence, medical misdiagnosis, and just plain shitty luck. (FYI, we swear over here. Okay?)
I’m writing this letter with the intention to pin it to the top of my profile on Substack so that anyone who is new to my publication (welcome!) will have a better idea of what to expect.
My hope is that you will find value in what you read here, especially if you are interested in:
Learning to heal from trauma, either physically or emotionally, by following along with my healing journey.
Literature, poetry, and creativity in general as I share my own writing and of those I admire.
The business of writing as I figure it out along the way.
I joined Substack in December 2023 after one of my essays was published on this platform, but I didn’t start posting regularly until March or April of 2024. I’m hoping to keep up a regular schedule of one post per week with “bonus” posts sprinkled into the mix now and then.
If you followed me here from another platform, welcome! This is where you will find me going forward.
My Mission:
From My Heart to Yours is my effort to share my lived experiences and observations with the aim of giving you inspiration and encouragement as you venture forth on this wild ride we call life!
I want you to feel welcome and know that you deserve to be happy and know love, especially the love you give to yourself.
Just maybe, I can make you smile for a moment in your day.
If you’d like to support my work without a paid subscription you can do so by:
· ‘Hearting’ this post and others.
· Leaving a comment (I respond to each comment).
· Sharing this post by email, Notes, or on social media.
· Recommending my page on your page.
Thank you for being one of my readers, I appreciate every single one of you very much!
I’m looking forward to diving into your writing! It sounds like just what I need.
Happy New Year. I found you through my Google Alert on empathy, which took me to your post "What Is Empathy?" One other physical and practical way to increase your readers' empathy is ALWAYS to link whatever you're writing about to the word empathy. All ideas are physically located in our neural pathways and get there through experience and language. We also know from cognitive science that every conversation - written or verbal - is moral and political. So whatever your topic, if you can link it to empathy, the soul of democracy, you are helping to expand empathy in the brains of your readers physically. By the way, we are always looking for new members at Empathy Surplus Network USA. Keep it up. #GoEmpathySurplus