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Finding Your Keel: How to Stay Grounded and Centered in Turbulent Times
True contagious vulnerability.
No filters, no makeup.
Drenched with rainwater.
Floating in a sailboat on the sea.
My #happyplace.
The calm in the storm.
The shy little girl with the wild, untamable, white-blond curls that I introduced you to in “But Wait There’s More! So Much More! Secrets to a Life Well Loved”. That little girl — Katherine or Mousey Mouse as I was known then — spent a lot of her childhood at sea. Both literally and metaphorically.
My Early Life Aquatic
Growing up as the daughter of a naval aviator and navigator who loved the ocean, my earliest and fondest memories took place in and on the sea. Dad had a stressful job as a New York lawyer and was happiest and most relaxed when he was sailing so my family spent a lot of our holidays on small sailboats off the North Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean.
Back in the 70s when I was a girl it was all about the monohull, boats that leaned, sometimes dramatically, when under sail. I remember shrieking at Dad with a mixture of terror and delight when our boat would tilt under strong winds, certain that we were going to tip over and sink to the bottom of the sea. Dad would grin and calmly remind me about the keel, the weight at the bottom of the boat’s hull that he assured me would keep us from my imagined peril.
Over time I grew to trust and stay connected to the keel when sailing, becoming ever calmer and more courageous when navigating high winds and rough seas.
A Baby Empath Awash in a Sea of Energies
I grew up in the teeming ocean of humanity that is New York City as an intuitive, hyper-sensitive, baby empath who was also extremely timid and fearful — hence the Mousey Mouse nickname my Dad gave me. I spent much of my childhood feeling lost and at sea, metaphorically and emotionally speaking.
I was as frightened by the intensity of the energetic currents I was reared in as I was by the literal oceanic currents I experienced when sailing in a monohull. The difference, I had no inner keel to steady my boat, no captain to reassure me.
Mooring + Anchoring Work Great When All is Calm
Two summers ago, a friend invited now 54-year-old Kate on a dream, 3-week sailing trip in the Caribbean, cruising around the British, US, and…
