Hello. I'm Helen and this is a bit of background about me and the Wheel.
Belonging was an unnamed theme for much of my life. By the time I turned 18, I’d lived in six cities, attended ten schools, and moved through thirteen homes. Sometimes I fit in seamlessly. Other times I stood completely alone. I was bullied and adored, was an academic failure and a Dean’s List darling. My body registered the power of affiliation and the anguish of exile. Belonging was never a given—it was an open question.
That question led me into the world. In my twenties it took me to Los Angeles, where I created documentaries about music, culture, and travel. In my thirties, the longing for deeper meaning led me to Seattle and nonprofit storytelling. That work led to global travel and interviews with people across a wide spectrum of human experience—conversing with an AIDS patient in her dirt floor shanty one day, then a former president the next.
What those encounters made visible to me is our collective severing—from ourselves, from one another, from the living world we belong to. I was drawn deeper into the contemplative practices of wisdom traditions, and expanded my study of Somatic Psychology, Spiral Dynamics, Integral Theory, the Enneagram, and Systemic Constellations. Those years of inquiry led me to share what I was learning—in the form of coaching, breath-work, and circle facilitation.
I was mapping something I could feel, but not yet name.
In my forties, the professional identity that had given me social legitimacy began to feel like camouflage. So I relinquished my leadership role at a global foundation—what appeared to be a dream job—and stayed true to my inner calling.
What is it to belong without fitting in?
That question can’t be answered by traveling paths of certainty. My path has not followed familiar maps of worldly success. Instead, I’ve practiced following the way of aliveness. The Wheel of Wisdom arose through that aliveness—slowly, the way things do when you stop forcing them.
The Wheel reveals a map of how belonging actually works inside us—which isn’t about gaining approval, but rather a felt sense of wholeness. It also gave me a way to locate myself within that terrain.
Working with people through the Wheel’s framework, I’ve witnessed real shifts. Often it’s a recognition that arrives softly. Sometimes it comes with tears, other times with laughter, and sometimes with amazement at discovering unexpected beauty within themselves.
The Wheel has shown me that belonging has an architecture that has nothing to do with conformity. It is a remembrance—and it feels like coming home.
If something here resonates, there are a few ways to go deeper.
Apply the Wheel’s wisdom in your life:
The online course, Coming Home to Yourself, offers a self-paced guide to unwind the patterns that keep you from your full aliveness.
Consultations provide personalized support for navigating specific situations and relationships using the Wheel's map and compass.
The Wheel of Wisdom Oracle Cards & Handbook—a set of 40 cards and accompanying guide—are portable, trustworthy companions you can take anywhere, to realign with your wholeness.
Subscribe to the Wheel Substack:
Free Subscribers are always welcome.
Paid Subscribers contribute to my livelihood and encourage me to keep sharing! They also receive $10 off the Wheel of Wisdom Oracle Deck & Handbook set.
Online Course Level Subscribers gain access to the self-paced online course Coming Home to Yourself.
Thanks for your presence.
However you chose to participate, I’m glad to share this space with you.
