My History

How the Game Evolved

My Journey Within began just before my 30th birthday.  I was living in Puerto Rico and I was invited to take Sensitivity Training for 7 days.  Going into it I felt old, ugly, and stupid, after 10 years of marriage.  I had lost my confidence in myself.  During the Training, I learned that I was still young, attractive and intelligent.  I felt that I had learned more about myself in those 7 days than I had in 30 years of living.  It took  me 7 years to process what I had learned, and then I took a 28-day seminar called, "Developing Awaeness of Self and Others" in Rural Retreat, Virginia.  During that time I made the decision to divorce and go my own way so I could live by listening to my Inner Guidance.  By my 39th birthday I had fulfilled all of my dreams ~ to learn to sing better, to write a book about my identity and liberation process, to sail in the South Pacific, and to be Captain of my own sailboat.  Then, I was "called" to create Alegre Retreat Health Refuge and Spiritual Retreat in La Parguera, Puerto Rico.  It was a 5-bedroom guest house with a health food store in the dining room.  I owned and operated it by myself for 10 years and people from many parts of the world came there.   I sold my house, my car and my sailboat and came back to Texas as my parents were getting older. During the next years I traveled to Paris, Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada, Hawaii, to the Mayan sites in Mexico and Guatemala, to Egypt, Greece, Crete, India and the Holy Land.

   
    In December 1999 I had finished my book, Being  a Clear Channel for Love, Light, and Joy,  and had taken it to my printer in San Antonio.  While I was driving back to my home in Weatherford, I was listening to a tape by Julia Cameron called, "Vein of Gold ~ Kingdom of Story".  She describes "characters" that live inside of her ~ the Abbess, because she was raised Catholic; Violet, the poet; and Bon Bon, who likes lingerie and fast cars.  She said they don't always get along.  As I drove I thought, "These are not characters inside of me, they are simply Aspects of my Being."  When I got home I sat down and wrote 33 of my Aspects, without a second thought.  Later, I  thought of more ~ I had fogotten the poet and the gypsy.  I realized what an important idea this was, so I drove back to San Antonio and said, "Hold the press!"  I planted the seed in two paragraphs in that book.  

     A year and a half later I was visiting my grandson, Derek, and I suggested we make cards for a game called, "Exploring Aspects of My Being".  We made 6-sided "tiles" from construction paper and wrote our Aspects on them.  When I asked Derek about his Aspects, he said, "Kind, considerate, patient."  I told him those sounded more like Qualities to me ~ so from the beginning we had Qualities as well as Aspects. When I went to visit my other grandchildren, Ryan and Kyla, I took the cards with me.  I laid out the cards and told them who I am and invited them to do the same.  Kyla exclaimed, "Look how much like you we are!"   They added their Aspects and Qualities to the Game.

     Many people have contributed to the Game as it evolved, and the name has changed to Journey of Life Game.  Now there are 7 Facets.  There are cards for your Aspects of Being, Qualities, Values, Shadows, Lessons, and the Journey of Life picture cards.  The seventh Facet is the Summary ~ what do you have to bring forth and share, what do you have to contribute to the whole community?  By sharing our Unique Creative Expressions, all of our needs are satisfied.  We live in reciprocity ~ giving and receiving in a balanced way in equal measure.  We live in True Community where everyone is in Total Well-being.    And so it is.               

Kathleen Wildwood