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

Calming the Storm

The row boat, the motorboat and the helicopter… Welcome back, friends. I imagine many of you are, as I am, feeling an underlying sense of anxiousness as we count down the days towards our country’s unknown future. As a survivor of Adverse Childhood Experiences, this uncertainty triggers a deep sense of danger. A pervasive anxiety… Continue reading Calming the Storm

The Odyssey “Home”

An inward path back from adversity… I have felt like Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey for the past six weeks or so, navigating a myriad of medical tests, anxiety, loss of sleep, physical depletion, setbacks, loss of way, and a whole bunch of hurry-up-and-wait. For Odysseus, during the sack of the city of Troy, the… Continue reading The Odyssey “Home”

Interrupted Spirit

I received a needed dose of “pick-me-up” this week… Hello friends, I sit in my brown wooden swivel chair padded with pillows wanting to find the right words that will share my inner journey with you. The hope is the words you read touch your soul and resonate with a deep sense of peace of… Continue reading Interrupted Spirit

Finding Forgiveness

Changing Perspective To Change Thoughts… Rumi, thirteenth century poet and Sufi mystic, teaches us to “Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.” Since releasing my book finding I, A Journey of Repair so many of you have asked: “Bess, how could you have forgiven…?” Friends, forgiveness was not hard. The… Continue reading Finding Forgiveness

Stretching My Brain

Learning the Latest Research Findings… Hi friends. I have had the privilege of sitting shoulder to shoulder all week with sixty-two leading medical doctors, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and nurses from around the United States and Canada gleaning the very latest in Psychopharmacology. We are exploring the neurobiology of the brain and the brain affected by… Continue reading Stretching My Brain

Infinite Worth

Towards Evolving More Human Human Beings… Yesterday, while visiting The Williamson County Child Advocacy Center in Georgetown, Texas, I was introduced to an attachment theory modality called The Circle of Security. The Circle of Security is a visual map of attachment. The “father” of attachment theory, John Bowlby, said this about attachment: “Intimate attachments to other… Continue reading Infinite Worth

Love Wins

Timely Love Makes A Difference… In August of 2022 a tiny soul broke through the veil into the earthly realm. It was months too early, yet filled with all the needs of any soul landing that day. It was scared, cold, hungry, and in need of motherly touch. It cried hoping for a swaddle and… Continue reading Love Wins

Mending a Flu Break

Kintsugi for People… Happy New Year, friends! The Holiday Season, trimmed with cookies, presents, hopes, and children’s saucer-sized eyes gave way to the flu, passed from one family member to the other, finally landing hard on my doorstep. The nearly four-week “flu-sie” journey taught me isolation, impatience, frustration, and ultimately surrender.  How I wished I… Continue reading Mending a Flu Break

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