Me, Marsha Marie

The ASK ME ANYTHING event turned out to be an amazing experience. I received very engaging questions, which gave me the opportunity for more inner reflection. Here are the questions and answers from the Feb 4, 2018, live AMA event.  (Note that the questions are in the order received.)  Q. Are you part of any organization or advocate groups that help and assist people who have same experience as you? Yes. Since my return to the States, I have joined several groups as a regular member and speaker. My goals is to spread my story in hopes that someone who might be in my same position will not repeat what I did, but find the courage to speak up and tell someone. I have joined the following:  National Coalition Against Domestic Violence ( http://www.ncadv.org/ ) Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence ( http://www.acesdv.org/ ) (I am also a member of the survivor advisory committee called: S.H.A.R.E. http://www.a...

It's ready!!! If you think hard enough about your life, a thousand ideas will come to mind that you want to share with the world. Things that you know that others would benefit from somehow---if even only for a minuscule amount. Or perhaps things that would just be really great topics to sit around and talk about with friends or family. Well, I have a thousand of them, too. But in my latest ebook, 75+ Things I Learned Living 22 Years Abroad , I narrowed it down to just under a 100 or so. 75+ Things I Learned Living 22 Years Abroad , is an honest view about my life's lessons during my time living in Asia and the Middle East in my 22 years of self-exile. I think the most interesting thing about this book, was that I learned so much about myself. I took the time to really think about what I had learnt; and as a result, it has really shown me that I am who I am today because of these invaluable lessons. 75+ Things I Learned Living 22 Years Abroad , is availab...

Hi All, This week I would like to share some thoughts on empathy. Empathy by definition means the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. I show empathy each single day at work. I answer at least 40 calls a day, and most of the time there is some type of issue that the customer is dealing with; thus calling me for some type of resolution. I listen carefully to case after case, plea after plea, desperate calls from customers begging for my mercy and favor in hopes that I will see their hardship through their eyes and do something that will ease their suffering (not an easy job, trust me). It really shocks me how much effort they put into begging. Even without such pleas, I clearly understand and I feel their pain. Was I like this before the start of my mediation research for my It's Hard to Meditate When Your  Butt Itches book? I think I was; but I can definitely feel a stronger draw and acceptance since my practicing of mediation and fervent prayers. So often, ...

"Ideas are pockets of energy that are floating around in space looking for a host that will nurture and develop it."   At first, this idea kind of struck me as odd. But I have to admit that lately, I am starting to agree with it. You see, up til now, I honestly felt that once I completed the few major book ideas that I had, I would stop writing. I would have no more books to write. In all honesty, I do not consider myself a writer per say. I am simply a woman, that has traveled the world, and just wanted to share my stories. But now, these ideas just keep coming to me. Where are they coming from? Why me? I guess I will never know. But here I currently stand with four unfinished projects. It seems that the more I write, the more ideas that is coming to me. Yep! I am a believer now people. So if an idea has chosen to visit you, invite it to stay and treat it well; you never know what magic it will bring.

A couple of weeks ago in the training class for my new job, I had to watch a video about sexual harassment and respecting others' rights in the workplace. "No one has to earn respect," said the narrator. No one in the class even blinked an eye. But, as with most writers, I suffer from an unusual condition called YOUHEARD-ONETHING-BUT-I-HEARDSOMETHINGELSE-ITIS (Something that a normal person hears, translates into something totally different for me.) So when I heard this statement I thought to myself, "Now that is exactly what is wrong with the world today---this damn sense of entitlement . No one thinks that they need to earn respect anymore." Of course, I believe in human rights, but humor me for a minute will you? Men, women, children,,,, everyone thinks that they should just automatically be respected in life. Well, I thought that respect was earned??? Call me old-school, but I think a man should earn respect from his children, and vice-versa. But ins...