MY OWN WAY OF BEING is about owning a life full of challenge and turning hardship into gifts.

This is a story about reclamation, courage, taking chances, and following a woman's own way of being in the world. Through story, poetry and deep reflection, Vida, a 73-year-old Jewish Lesbian, born into a family where the motto was, "let me tell you the worst that will happen", finds her way to live her life fully alive. Her story is about living deeply and authentically in spite of the mental illness, depression and anxiety of her childhood family. Through facing her history, Vida embraces the pain and reclaims the gifts that were passed onto her through the travails of her parents and ancestors. Her pain and gifts lead her to grow up with a curiosity and commitment for honest living and for helping others claim their gifts.

Vida uses the metaphor of a tree through all its stages of life to convey her story. She begins with stories that reflect the Soil she grew up in. The seeds of her history. These stories reveal her heritage, full of strengths and vulnerabilities, that teach Vida what she wants in her life and what she needs to change. Her strengths are uncovered here. Her childhood is filled with ancestral trauma and the generational effects that are carried forward.

Then the seed grows up. The stories here reveal inflections moments in Vida's early life that cause her to make decisions about who she is and who she will become. These decisions have lifelong effects on her and her choices.

As the tree grows strong branches that reach out to the sky, Vida reveals stories that reflect her growing stronger in the world. These stories are about her standing up strong for her truth of who she is in all aspects of her life. Finding her courage to declare her sexuality and spirituality, she learns about love personally and universally.

Vida takes us to the final stages of the growth of the tree, the flowers and the seeds once more. All her life experiences culminate in what she brings to her work with other women. Many teachers. Many reflections on what is important in living fully.

And lastly, Vida's journey takes us to the mountain top to look back on what she learned from her decades of living and what she wants to leave behind. And part of that reflection is sharing what this experience of writing a book has taught her. She shares what this book wanted her to do, know and share with others.

This has been a journey from fear to courage, from darkness to light, from hiding to being willing to be seen fully. This has been the journey of Vida.