Adverse Childhood Experiences and the path towards healing. You are not alone.
I share my trials, my victories, and my stories with you in hopes that if any of you were ever touched by childhood abuse or neglect, as I was, you will see yourselves in my experiences and feel strengthened to voice what you had not been able to before. I hope we can learn together why we respond to life through a particular lens, and that there are ways to climb out of this prison of pain, silence, and shame.
My name is Bess Hilpert

Category: Newsletters

Head Suitcase

Grappling with Monastic Withdrawal… “Whether we find our True Self depends in large part on the moments of time we are each allotted, and the moments of freedom that we each receive and choose during that time. Life is indeed “momentous,” created by accumulated moments in which the deeper “I” is slowly revealed if we… Continue reading Head Suitcase

Retreating Forward

Seeking the Quiet that Quenches Past Wounds… Nearing Abiquiu, a hauntingly beautiful corner of the world in northwest New Mexico, my weary soul exited the highway, and a depthless breath released from my crying heart. Staring straight into the majestic red, brown, yellow, and white-streaked cliffs of the Pedernal Mesa, I physically felt the wounds… Continue reading Retreating Forward

High Desertion

A Quiet Escape… “True prayer and love are learned in that hour when prayer becomes impossible, and the heart has turned to stone.” Thomas Merton American Trappist monk, mystic, writer, theologian, and social activist Thomas Merton foresaw my weary soul’s yearning as I count down the days until I return to the high desert of… Continue reading High Desertion

Blessings in the Shadows

Similar Dissimilar Ways… Welcome back, friends. How was your week? Did anyone brave doing something new and embrace the uncomfortable? What did you find on the other side? I laced up my old pink Swoosh running shoes and pounded out another mile around my neighborhood. I dreamed of traversing the cobblestone pathway alongside my friend… Continue reading Blessings in the Shadows

Grateful Joyful Hopeful Full

My strong, capable, wonderful sister during her 310-mile ride benefiting American veterans Getting Uncomfortable… This past week I have thought a lot about my sister pedaling three hundred ten miles through the rain and mud from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Gaithersburg, Maryland. I thought about my friend’s husband pounding out 26.2 miles along the spectator-lined streets… Continue reading Grateful Joyful Hopeful Full

Keep Our Colors Wet

Perfect Imperfections… Mark Nepo, poet, and spiritual thought leader, called out to me this week with the following words: “Not feeling puts me on the sidelines, makes the world black and white, and me, a dry shade of gray. Only feeling keeps me in the scene, keeps the colors wet.” A friend queried me about… Continue reading Keep Our Colors Wet

I Got Your Back

Is it fear of judgement, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of not being good enough? Asking myself these questions shed a light on the primary feeling associated with my anxiety. Fear.

Textual Love

Try a Little Compassion… This week I experienced a profound sense of shame about myself and my reactions from the emotionally charged week with my son. I got completely lost in my stuff, losing the focus to stay in the NOW. Having bared my truth in the “It’s Not About Me” newsletter, I received the… Continue reading Textual Love