#043: Transforming Trauma into Triumph: Dr. Beverly Carter's Inspiring Journey
In the latest episode of Mother Tree Network, we hear from Dr. Beverly Carter, a CEO, organizational development leader, philanthropist, and woman of color who shares some powerful and insightful stories.
TIME STAMP SUMMARY
[00:04:31] The author discusses how being a woman of color and different made her hypersensitive to how others view her. She learned to focus on how she sees herself and not to hide or shrink from being her authentic self. Her goal is to lead others back to themselves and encourage people to be their best selves.
[00:10:05] Narrator travels to Morocco from Spain with friends but realizes her real education started when she got to Africa. The narrator decides to go back to soak up the culture and eventually visits Kenya for almost two years.
[00:13:24] Text summary: Examples of wonderful experiences, including walking through the Cockamega Forest, surviving malaria, and teaching in boarding schools with non-traditional cooking methods. Shift in mindset and appreciation for life.
[00:20:05] Land represents freedom and a chance to create the lives we want, and we shouldn't take it for granted, as shown by the struggles of migrants.
[00:22:57] Speaker reflects on the awe-inspiring animals she saw in Kenya and the power dynamic between humanity and the natural world.
[00:24:54] Quantum healing example involving an amputee's phantom pains and the idea that quantum patterns exist even if the physical body part does not.
[00:29:35] EJ's Charities provides free medical care on medical missions to Nigeria, initiated by Dr. JAMA and Duca, MD, providing opportunities for people to heal, grow and live a better quality of life. They have been doing this work for almost 20 years and have had extraordinary results.
[00:37:10] The text describes a medical mission experience in West Africa where a driver died suddenly, emphasizing the importance of self-care and taking care of our bodies.
[00:41:05] Transformational Jewels helps individuals process and heal personal blocks through using various methods to examine past experiences and perspectives, leading to becoming a leader in the present and future.
[00:46:12] Our past experiences shape us, but we can choose to not be impeded by negative thoughts and instead use those experiences to discover our own gems and jewels and become leaders in our present and future. What we resist persists. The body keeps the score of our experiences. It's important to do the work to find the value of our painful experiences and move past them.
- BEVERLY’S BIO
Dr. Carter, the Founder and CEO of A Renewed Life! Global, LLC is dedicated to alleviating the impact of trauma that prevents us from creating and living the best version of ourselves through her new program Transformational JEWELS.
Focusing on human rights and social justice related issues, she is focused on enhancing emotional health and wellness in our global communities.
She has a strong international background with extensive world travel including alumnus status with WorldTeach ~ Harvard University’s Center for International Development (Kenya -Western Provence) for educational missions; and EJAYES Charities to Nigeria (Nasarawa, Kano, Abuja), Haiti (post-earthquake) for medical missions.
Her travels prepared her well to present at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Conference (March 2012) addressing the challenges to empowering rural women from the perspectives of educating young girls, leadership, global literacy, and diversity.
Dr. Beverly can be reached at [email protected] for more information about the Transformational JEWELS program. Transformational JEWELS is a set of tools used to process life events as metaphors for healing the impact of traumatic experiences (blocks) in our lives as that impact loses its power.
TRANSCRIPT
Aminata Sol [00:00:00]:
Computer. All right. Welcome, welcome, Dr. Beverly Carter, to the Mother Tree Network.
Dr. Beverly [00:00:10]:
Thank you so much. It's such a pleasure to be here.
Aminata Sol [00:00:13]:
It is such a pleasure to have you. What's so funny is our crazy history how, when we were teenagers, we were both living in the same small town without knowing it.
Dr. Beverly [00:00:25]:
It isn't that amazing?
Aminata Sol [00:00:29]:
Like, 40 years later, meeting each other on the Internet and realizing that we were in that same little town in Westchester County in New York.
Dr. Beverly [00:00:39]:
Yeah. Quite literally. And maybe the irony in all of it is I'd certainly been multiple times to your high school, your campus. It may be that I saw you or we said hi in the courtyard or by the auditorium or something, and yeah, who knew it would take 40 years?
Aminata Sol [00:01:06]:
Wow. Well, I am so excited. I'm so excited. Let me tell everybody who you are. So dr. Beverly Carter is a transformation agent. She is a woman who has worked lived extensively in east and West Africa. She's addressed the UN on the status of rural women. She has her own business and company, which she's the CEO of, which I will let her share about with you. And she is the creator of the Transformational Jewels program. And besides all of that, she is also somewhat one of the few black women girls in my town when we were in high school at the same time. So welcome, welcome, Dr. Beverly.
Dr. Beverly [00:01:59]:
It is, as I said, such a pleasure to be here. Absolutely.
Aminata Sol [00:02:04]:
So tell me, what is good? What's good in your world today?
Dr. Beverly [00:02:07]:
Oh, my goodness. There's so much amazing, so much good that's happening, but you're asking about the now. What's amazing is I recognize and I understand how I've been a victim of my past, but I'm a leader of the now and of the future. Yeah. That's what's happening. I'm in a creation mode.
Aminata Sol [00:02:42]:
And for those viewers who can't see her, we just had a little neck thing happen.
Dr. Beverly [00:02:46]:
Yes.
Aminata Sol [00:02:50]:
I am in a creation mode. Wow. And I am the leader in the now. This sounds like there's a story in there. How did you go from this sense of yourself as a leader in the now, having been a victim of the past?
Dr. Beverly [00:03:10]:
I love that question, and I think it's probably the journey of discovery that all of us are on. We're at different points in that understanding or in that discovery. And I deliberately put myself on that path by looking to grow in every way possible. And the catch with growth is everybody wants to grow, but nobody wants to go through the pain of growth. I'm not going to say I'm any different. Except I know I can't get to the other side until I walk through those moments to break through and move through the past. The things that have prevented me from wanting to move forward and really embrace who I am, my authentic self. To become the leader or a leader in the now.
Aminata Sol [00:04:17]:
Okay. So it'll help us, I think, if you give us an example of a part of your past that used to hold you back that now that you've grown through.
Dr. Beverly [00:04:31]:
Yes, absolutely. It's funny. So there are many things I will say, being a woman of color and different, taller than most, bigger than most. And people love to point out how you're different and why you're different and what you should do about those differences. And it sort of kind of makes you a little hypersensitive exactly who it is people are seeing. Because we look out, we rarely look in. So I may not see myself the same way that you see me. My focus is outward. And so over time, it's sort of like the patterns, the behavior patterns that I adopted to hide, maybe, or to mask or to not show up fully or authentically because I wasn't comfortable with what I was getting back from. Not all, but some people the lack of empathy, the lack of kindness. It's not enough to point out there's a problem if you're not going to offer a solution or a possibility. And as I grew and I understood it's not that I'll say they're wrong, it's their opinion, but it's my opinion. It's what I take in that makes a difference for how I see myself and how I choose to move forward. And in doing, in understanding that, I decided, well, ultimately, what's most important, how I show up in the world or how people see me in the world. And I said, well, it's really me. It's how I show up. It's my greatest hope that the world will see the best parts of me. And if there's something that's not so great that you pointed out, but come to me with a solution, a possibility. So maybe I can grow in a healthy way and not feel the need to hide or shrink or be less of who I am and of course make the decision to be the greatest version of myself at all times because I'm not serving anybody by being less than I could possibly be. So it's sort of giving myself permission to have the audacity to be my true self, my authentic self, and to do the things that encourage that growth and to become a leader in my own life. And then, of course, for the future that's a part of my role is to speak life, love and embodiment and support into those people who come into my sphere, my sphere of influence, lead them back to themselves.
Aminata Sol [00:08:07]:
I want to think about what you're saying because since we're contemporaries, we are women of a certain age.
Dr. Beverly [00:08:17]:
Did you say I said we're not 20 anymore.
Aminata Sol [00:08:20]:
No, we're not 20 anymore. I think this age. And I'll say, for me, I don't want to presume for you, but for me, in my fifty s, I feel like I'm really? At this beautiful Queenly stage, literally. Yes. This stage of owning myself. You mentioned the word audacity, and you did a little neck thing again.
Dr. Beverly [00:08:45]:
Yes. I think that's in the DNA, though.
Aminata Sol [00:08:49]:
I feel like there's something in you now, maybe as a woman of a mature woman in a Queenly stage of life that maybe wouldn't have been there earlier.
Dr. Beverly [00:09:01]:
It would not have been.
Aminata Sol [00:09:02]:
Yeah.
Dr. Beverly [00:09:06]:
And I think that's the importance to the walk, right, of being the victim of the past, like, really understanding where you've come from, because there is value in those experiences, in those moments.
Aminata Sol [00:09:21]:
So there's value in those past experiences where you were victimized. Is that what you just said?
Dr. Beverly [00:09:26]:
Absolutely. That's what I said.
Aminata Sol [00:09:29]:
Because I know you have this whole transformational jewels thing where you look at those things where you were victimized and you look for jewels. Tell us a little bit about that. Wait, I got to get back to east and West Africa. Yes, because that happened a while ago, right?
Dr. Beverly [00:09:48]:
Yes.
Aminata Sol [00:09:48]:
In a younger stage of your life?
Dr. Beverly [00:09:50]:
Well, yes and no. So it's been throughout. Right? So some earlier, some still continue.
Aminata Sol [00:09:57]:
Oh, okay. So when did you first begin to get involved? Was it in East Africa first and then West Africa?
Dr. Beverly [00:10:05]:
Yeah. Well, that's so funny. Okay, we'll focus on Africa then. So it was East Africa first. I was an undergrad, and I decided to do, like, quote, quote, quote, unquote, junior year abroad, and I lived in Spain, and on that trip, there was no way I could be so close to the continent of Africa and not make that crossing. So, of course I was like, okay, it's time to go. So I had some friends, and we got on a boat and head over from across the Gibraltar into Morocco, say, Utah, Malia, and then on down to Morocco. And I was like, we made it. Awesome. Okay. And then I want to say my real education began. Right? So there's what you're told and then there's reality. And I was like, oh, my goodness, look at all of this. What an extraordinary opportunity. And so what happened through, I guess I want to say at the end, or maybe even at some point during, I made the decision that, yeah, I needed to go back. I needed to see more, and I needed just to breathe it in and not just to reacquaint myself, but just soak it up, if that makes any sense. I mean, there's a lot of generational stuff that happens in our lives as women of color, you know, and and so now to be back on the continent of origin was just our origin, my origin. It was just so vitally important. And then it's so funny, I wound up visiting friends. We were up at Harvard, and they have Institute for International Development, and I just fell in love with the mission and the vision and applied, and they were like, Absolutely, yes. Because I was like, I want to go to Kenya. I'm feeling Kenya right now. And then I was off and really reveling in that experience. There's so many powerful life lessons, so many powerful experiences, such oof rich content in that. Almost two years in Kenya.
Aminata Sol [00:13:12]:
And were you there in your 20s?
Dr. Beverly [00:13:14]:
Yeah, I was.
Aminata Sol [00:13:16]:
Okay, give us an example of a rich experience or rich content so we know what you're talking about.
Dr. Beverly [00:13:24]:
You got it. So some wonderful examples are being, like, walking through the Cockamega Forest for the first time and just feeling the peace and the life happening around me. Just lying down on the ground on the outside of the forest and just soaking up the energy. Experiences with malaria, almost dying and just really being snapped back to life. You know, my understanding of what what life really means and and the value, I think, you know, of of life, because I think we certainly take it for granted. I was teaching English and biology and home science and an extraordinary group of young people that I got a chance to really share with. And I thought, oh, my goodness. How amazing is this? I get a chance to teach home economics to people who don't use a traditional oven. I mean, they're talking about logs on the fire. My mindset for what it means to set the oven is out the window. Okay, so I taught at two different boarding schools. I should really rephrase that and say I was taught.
Aminata Sol [00:15:05]:
I was just thinking that.
Dr. Beverly [00:15:09]:
Very much so. Every moment of every day. And it was a blast. Simple things. Even word pronunciation, the key languages kiswahili and kiluo or kiluya in the areas that I was in. And I may put a simple word on the board in biology, like aluminum, which we all know what that is, aluminum. And they're like, no, madam, that's aluminium.
Aminata Sol [00:15:39]:
Yeah. Let's go back to that forest moment because, you know, this is a mother tree network.
Dr. Beverly [00:15:48]:
Oh, yes. Oh, my God. Yes.
Aminata Sol [00:15:52]:
So before you went to Kenya, did you have an affinity for forests or for trees?
Dr. Beverly [00:15:58]:
No question. They called me and I was like, okay, don't watch me. Because I know it's weird, but I just get caught in the majesty of them and I've got a touch or if it calls me for that. And sometimes it's just breathing in that energy because it's so much very much alive and nurturing and strengthening. So I don't understand it all, and I don't try to. But if they call me, I go.
Aminata Sol [00:16:37]:
Okay. If they call you, you go. So do you find yourself, in terms of your own journey? Have forests or trees called you or guided or supported you?
Dr. Beverly [00:16:51]:
I would absolutely say yes to that. Again, there's something maybe it's quantum, but there's something in the field that is in our lives, whether we're aware of it or not, or conscious of it. Or not, that support us in our walk here on Earth, our walk here in the world. And I think there are so many of those things, those supports that are available to us that we're unaware of. But yes, I've always loved to I've loved plants and trees and flowers. I mean, all those things, really, the aesthetic appeals to me. But there's more to it than that. It's their aliveness, it's their life cycle.
Aminata Sol [00:17:43]:
Yeah. So in your home now, or around your home, are there plants or flowers or anything that you have relationship with right now?
Dr. Beverly [00:17:51]:
Well, absolutely. It is funny you would ask me that, because this is garden season, and we just doubled our garden this year, which is a huge thing. Yeah. And I have just been having a blast. You could call it playing in the dirt, whatever you want to call it. By the time I'm done, I'm in a very good space.
Aminata Sol [00:18:17]:
Me too. I was just thinking about you have a little argument with somebody or there's a little hurt, somebody said, and you know, it's not a big thing, and you don't need to take it that way. But I find a thing that dissolves it rather than just telling myself to push it away. What dissolves it is in the dirt, planting, watering, pruning, actually working with life.
Dr. Beverly [00:18:44]:
And I love that you said that, because it's so true. We are so easy to push it away, but you don't really you just store it in your cells until it builds and builds and builds and builds, and it's like, yeah, no, that doesn't really work long term. So that whole thought of dissolving it is just so on time.
Aminata Sol [00:19:10]:
And when I think about colonization, because I'm thinking about decolonization these days, I'm thinking about how late I am to the land Party. It feels like in the last ten years, a lot of people have been talking about land, meaning black people, people working for liberation, justice, have been talking about land. And I've been like, land. Like, it really didn't mean anything to me. I was like, okay, you want to be a farmer? Wow. No interest in that over here. But things changed for me during the Pandemic, really dramatically. And that thing about land reconnecting with land as a path of transformation or liberation, I don't know. What are your thoughts about that?
Dr. Beverly [00:20:05]:
Absolutely. We're reminded every day, just looking at what's happening on the border or the migrant crisis, if we take nothing else from the experience, we know that we want to live the best lives possible, and we're willing to pay the price to do that, to make that happen. And people are looking for new land, new ways, new places to open up, to grow and to have and create the kind of lives we want. So I think that whole idea of land and reconnecting to it has so many important purposes, right? Yes. In terms of our physical body and the quantum network that we live in and reconnecting to it and sort of diving into that energy. But also on a physical or on a physical level where we're looking for the space for freedom. And land really represents that for a lot of us, we take it for granted. But I think once you see the number of people who are willing to pay the price to be here for things that we take for granted makes us really rethink the value of the land and what we're looking to grow toward and grow through. Yeah.
Aminata Sol [00:21:45]:
And this idea or not idea, remembering that we are creatures of the land.
Dr. Beverly [00:21:53]:
And I think also the other side, the whole thing with 40 acres and a mule, I completely get it. But we recognize that we're not going to be able to erase centuries of generational trauma with 40 acres and a mule. It was just a place to start to give people a chance at freedom. And it's a freedom that we're still looking for in many ways.
Aminata Sol [00:22:24]:
Yeah. And just something else that's occurred to me recently because you mentioned the forest. I'm bringing this up is being on forested land, especially kind of old growth. Forested land has a different energy and a capacity, I think, to hold you or to accompany you. What are your thoughts or feelings about that?
Dr. Beverly [00:22:57]:
I love that you said that or asked that question because maybe one of my very first extraordinary experiences in Kenya was driving from Nairobi to Kisumu and seeing the animals, the flamingos, the giraffes on the side of the road. And I was like, Wait a minute, this is not the Masimara. This is not the safari. How is this possible? And they were just running free, doing what they're supposed to do. And I'm thinking, oh, my God, we're not in a zoo. It just blew my mind because clearly we don't have that here in the same way. I mean, big animals anyway, beyond the raccoons and squirrels and basic stuff that we see here, there's something just so powerful about us as humanity attempting to tame our world, right. So we can live in it. And the world is like, hey, there's something there's. There's an energy here that is greater that's been here longer than you. And no matter how hard you try, we're not going anywhere. So there's always going to be, I think, some reminder that the universe is in control.
Aminata Sol [00:24:36]:
Yeah. There's a couple of things that you said, Beverly, that I'm curious about because I think they reflect a worldview. And so I would love to hear you talk about it more explicitly. You've used the word quantum network. What does that mean for you?
Dr. Beverly [00:24:54]:
Yeah, that's a great question, too. My goodness. I want to say this, maybe one of the best examples of this, and it does occur to me that people might not be aware of what I mean when I talk about quantum the quantum network, quantum healing is I have an aunt who she's 92 years old. She's an amputee, and she every now and then has phantom pains. And phantom pains mean that. And in this case, she had her leg amputated, her left leg amputated. It means that the pain is happening in the foot of the leg that was amputated. So there's no foot. But she's got this tremendous and intense pain. And so she says, I'm not sure how this is possible. How can my toe hurt and it's not even there? And I said, you know, Auntie, it's because we are all a part of the quantum grid, right? So we are created on so many levels physically, mentally, spiritually, etherically on all these levels, right? And just because one level is missing doesn't mean the other levels don't exist. So even though the leg may physically not be there, the foot may physically not be there. Its pattern, its quantum pattern is there because it was created when she was, and it doesn't go away. Now, here she is trying to understand how it's possible that this foot could hurt. And my reminder to her is because it's only the physical part of your leg that was removed, but the spiritual or the etheric is still in full force. Right?
Aminata Sol [00:27:09]:
So I love that. Thank you for sharing that story. And I'm so happy to hear you have an auntie who is so elder and in your life. That's amazing. That's like having an old growth tree.
Dr. Beverly [00:27:24]:
I believe it. She'll be 93 in June, and I am so grateful and humbled to have her in our lives.
Aminata Sol [00:27:33]:
Yeah, but I'm thinking about not but. And I'm thinking about talking about the quantum field and the quantum network to someone who's older, maybe who grew up. And this may not be your aunt. For all I know, your aunt may be like a New Age magician witchy lady. No, she's not.
Dr. Beverly [00:27:55]:
Okay.
Aminata Sol [00:27:56]:
But a lot of black people have grown up under black Christianity or some form of Christianity. The ideas that you just spoke of would come across as I don't know what to say puzzling or maybe not resonant. I don't know. What is your experience with that?
Dr. Beverly [00:28:24]:
Well, here's the thing. I take the position that it's my job to speak the truth as I understand it, right? And I realize that it may not land, but my job is still to speak it and then to do my best to explain it. And guess what? The medical doctors can't explain it at all. They have nothing. I'm like, okay, let it be an experiment. Hold the thought for a while and see how it feels to you. And if it doesn't work for you, then you've lost absolutely nothing. Right? But for me, it certainly doesn't take away my understanding of energy or the quantum field that she doesn't understand it or wouldn't understand it. That's sort of how I look at a lot of these things. Wow.
Aminata Sol [00:29:23]:
Okay. Queen.
Dr. Beverly [00:29:28]:
What? Queen.
Aminata Sol [00:29:33]:
Yeah, go ahead.
Dr. Beverly [00:29:35]:
Yeah, no, I was just thinking I shared a little bit of background about Kenya, but I didn't share anything about Nigeria in the West Africa work. And that work was very different, of course, from Kenya in that we created We I'm, a part of a group called EJ's Charities. And it was started by an extraordinary woman physician who out of let's see, she was her background. She started training in Nigeria and was a gynecologist, and then decided she came to the United States, went to Harvard, and she was encouraged to study family medicine or just become a general practitioner because she got a chance then to touch all aspects of the body in terms of its healing. And so she went through her program and decided after that, every year she would go home and visit. And in every visit, she would take home medications and she would open up her own clinic for her family and people in her village. And her name is She's, Dr. JAMA and Duca, MD. And she started her program, EJ's Charities in that way, and then it grew. And so we provide free medical care on medical missions to Nigeria. And initially, we started at different locations throughout Nigeria, and also we did Haiti after the earthquake, which is extraordinary, too. And we are focused on just giving people the opportunity to heal or to learn or to grow in what they need in order to live a better quality life. And so, different types of missions in the different locations that we provided them in. So, some were women's health, others were surgical missions, others were general overall care. And then we would just come with a team of doctors and people to assist from the United States, along with our medications and whatever else we brought with us. And then we would hire doctors and a team on ground in Nigeria to really round out this process. And we've just had extraordinary results in doing this. So oh, my goodness. I want to say maybe almost 20 years, give or take, that we've been doing this work with the medical missions in and of themselves, and in the last seven or eight years, put a location on ground in a place called Omahia in Nigeria, which is, I think it's the eastern part of Nigeria, east of Beverly.
Aminata Sol [00:33:08]:
Do you have a medical background?
Dr. Beverly [00:33:10]:
No, I do not.
Aminata Sol [00:33:11]:
Oh, okay. I just wanted to check because I was like, I don't realize what the doctorate was in.
Dr. Beverly [00:33:16]:
Yeah, no, my background is in leadership and development. Yeah. Organization development. So, really, my work happens long before we get on ground in terms of the planning and development and structure of the work. And then on ground, I just fit in where I fit in, which turned out to be the pharmacy. Who knew?
Aminata Sol [00:33:44]:
Okay, so you're like an operations mastermind?
Dr. Beverly [00:33:48]:
You could say that.
Aminata Sol [00:33:49]:
Or is it more like a relationship builder?
Dr. Beverly [00:33:53]:
It's all of the above. Right. Because I believe that's the beauty, too, and the strength behind leadership, because it's wherever you are, wherever you wind up in an organization or in your life or in the world where you get the opportunity to choose how you're going to present, how you're going to show up.
Aminata Sol [00:34:17]:
Okay, so we were talking about the quantum and talking to people and sharing the truth as you know it. And you gave the medical example about how medical doctors, western train allopathic medicine has no idea why that happens. And then you brought up West Africa and the medical missions. I wonder if there was anything spiritually that you learned or opened up for you when you were in West Africa, in Nigeria, I guess, specifically.
Dr. Beverly [00:34:49]:
Yeah. I think the truth is it's always about for me, I know you're asking spiritually, but it's always about the grounding and centering and balancing. Right. And remember, it's a little different because it always comes back to how you're seen and how you see yourself. And so this certainly, for me, does have its roots in awareness and in humility as well, because there's no question about the fact that I stand out. I stand out in the crowd, even if I try not to. I do.
Aminata Sol [00:35:43]:
Why? What way do you stand out?
Dr. Beverly [00:35:47]:
Well, I think that beyond the physical, the height.
Aminata Sol [00:35:53]:
What is your height, Beverly? No one can see you.
Dr. Beverly [00:35:57]:
I know, I'm sitting right. I'm sorry. That's right. I forget. So I'm 511.
Aminata Sol [00:36:04]:
Okay.
Dr. Beverly [00:36:04]:
Yeah. And for example, to be in I know you're asking specifically about West Africa, but shade the color of my skin. The things that I wouldn't necessarily think about or consider are the things that people pick up on and say, oh, American, or like that label is just planted. And so it's not that I deliberately distinguish myself, but I am who I am. It's how I've learned to walk in the world. Right, but it's also being aware of that walk so that I don't wind up what I like to call a tacky tourist. Yeah, I'm not doing that.
Aminata Sol [00:37:02]:
So we were talking about openings, things that you came to understand.
Dr. Beverly [00:37:10]:
Yeah. I want to say that maybe one of the best examples of this, especially on the medical mission, and especially in West Africa in particular, is experiencing death. You know, just how quick it it can be snatched from us. Just watching a gentleman who was a driver and surrounded for almost an entire week of a full medical staff, an international medical staff, but never one time came in to see, get a checkup or touch base with anyone. That he was feeling any one way about what was happening in his body and to have him just kill over behind the wheel and, of course, eventually die. I don't know that I have words, but it's stunning. It's a stunning moment to understand that, yes, the life that we have is a gift, but we are the stewards of our lives, and we have a responsibility for being sure that we're taking care of it in every way possible. And it doesn't mean that we're not going to die, because that's the promise for all of us. But it does mean that while we're here, we need to do everything we can to be sure that we can live our lives as fully and authentically as possible. I think that experience was one that I'd never had before, where we were able to we're in the village, so we literally are driving in the car to get them to the closest hospital. The hospital is on strike, and then the people, the doctors, when we could find one to come in, I mean, we were doing our own resuscitation and doing whatever we could to assist, but there weren't any things on hand to really help us keep him here longer. And so it was devastating for a number of reasons, but again, it really underscored the importance of self care and understanding that our bodies are the vessel that our spirits live in. So we have that responsibility to ourselves and to our world to do the best we can to make ourselves as healthy as possible. To keep ourselves as healthy as possible.
Aminata Sol [00:40:40]:
Yes. So we're going to take a break for our sponsor, word from our sponsor, and then we're going to come back and talk about transformational jewels.
Dr. Beverly [00:40:50]:
Wonderful.
Aminata Sol [00:40:52]:
So we're back, and we're going to ask Dr. Beverly Carter to open up the jewelry box. Tell us about transformational jewels and how not to be a victim of our past, please.
Dr. Beverly [00:41:05]:
Yeah. So Transformational Jewels is such a gift to me for a number of reasons, and it's about really looking at our stories, our experiences, and processing them. And there are a variety of tools, tips, and techniques that I work with and take people through to really consider their experiences from different perspectives, almost as metaphors for healing personal blocks in our lives. And it's really the methods that I've used and as I started out earlier in the segment, sharing, that how I've become a leader in the now, by really learning how to work through or traverse victimhood in my past, to become the leader in my now and for my future. So this jewel box, jewelry box, transformational jewels is about that, and it's about understanding the value in your past, your past experiences, even the most difficult moments, and moving forward and back to yourself and back to your purpose, what you're here for, what you're here to do.
Aminata Sol [00:42:47]:
Beautiful. Okay, so I was just taking some notes. Have you ever read Maladoma Some? Patrice Maladoma some.
Dr. Beverly [00:42:57]:
No.
Aminata Sol [00:42:58]:
Okay. He's a West Africa Burquino Faso. Okay. And he's an elder. He just recently passed. His book is The Healing Wisdom of Africa. And in.
Dr. Beverly [00:43:08]:
It.
Aminata Sol [00:43:09]:
He talks about how in indigenous cultures, specifically in his village, the understanding was that each person had a purpose and that it was the job of the village of the collective to help you discern it and then to co create it with you, give you a place to practice it out. You know what I mean? So when you said your jewelry box is about understanding the value of your past and then bringing that back to your purpose, it just made me think of that because it's a way of understanding what's happened as not something that shouldn't have happened. We're sorry it happened, but it's almost like you could look at it like an initiation. But to get the jewel, someone has to maybe assist you through that initiation.
Dr. Beverly [00:44:16]:
I think you're absolutely right with that. And the fact is, we are not here alone. We were not created to be alone. We were created to interrelate, to co create. And I think there's a powerful reason for that. And it's just like you've described. Sometimes there are aspects of ourselves that we just can't see. Pieces of ourselves that we're unaware of, us unconscious about our behavior and the ways that we're doing in the process of becoming or being. And you need somebody to point that out to you or to help have that conversation with you. So you can choose what your next steps are going to be. It's all about choice. And so therefore, we get to choose our next steps. But first you have to be aware of where you are so you know where you want to go to.
Aminata Sol [00:45:22]:
When you say going back into the past, the value of your past, of the victimhood, the places where you were victimized, I just wonder about a lot of us can say that some of the hard things that we went through. Although for some people, just saying what was hard is part of the journey is just to acknowledge that something was really hard. So I'm not trying to downplay that as valuable. But I guess what I'm wondering about is some things get stuck in the body. So it's not just a question of your mind knowing something happened. What about the things that are kind of like you don't want them to be in you, but they're still in you? You find yourself repeating patterns.
Dr. Beverly [00:46:12]:
Yeah, I think that's the whole point. It does become a matter of perspective. It becomes a matter of what you understand. But here's the one thing I have understood, is I have yet to meet anybody who doesn't have issues or traumas or past experiences that they would love to sweep under the rug and never look back at again. But those things keep popping forward. So it's like the truth of what you resist persists. You don't get rid of it if it doesn't stay in your mind in the immediate moment, your body knows the truth. That's a book. Dr. Bethel vanderkuk wrote. The body keeps the score. Why? Because all of these experiences are stored in our physical bodies, in our psyches, and they continue to replay and replay and replay. And the problem with the replay is a lot of times in the replay, the stories get distorted. So there's the truth between what happened and then the story that you tell. And this is why it's so important to do the work and define the value in the experience. And these experiences are just like lighthouses, right? They're there to show you something. The job, though, of these experiences is for you to get in there, dig in, get the lesson, and then move past it. You're not supposed to stay there. Right. And so this is the whole point to Transformational Jewels. If you've had the experience, it will always be a part of what created us, what makes us who we are in the moment. But we don't have to be impeded by those negative thoughts and those negative experiences or the things that are keeping us from moving forward. We can move forward anyway and by lessening the impact of some of those experiences in our world and really rediscovering ourselves, which is our own personal leadership journey, right? How we identify who we are and how we discover those gems and jewels within ourselves, and then how we show up to be the leaders in our now and in our futures and those who are around us.
Aminata Sol [00:48:49]:
So if people want to find out more about you, Beverly, and Transformational Jewels and the processes that you use, how can they do that?
Dr. Beverly [00:48:58]:
For right now, I would recommend that people can reach out to me. They can send me an email at A [email protected].
Aminata Sol [00:49:09]:
A [email protected]?
Dr. Beverly [00:49:15]:
Yes.
Aminata Sol [00:49:15]:
That's great. And A New lifeGLOBAL, is that the name of your company?
Dr. Beverly [00:49:19]:
Yes.
Aminata Sol [00:49:20]:
Okay, because I thought that sounded familiar. All right.
Dr. Beverly [00:49:24]:
Yes. So we are still in the process of putting up websites and support materials for the programming that we're bringing forward. But in the meantime, you can reach me there.
Aminata Sol [00:49:37]:
A [email protected]. And are you out there on any social media? Is that part of your presence, or.
Dr. Beverly [00:49:43]:
No, there is some yes, on Facebook and TikTok, but for the most part, the easiest way is just to send me a quick little email, and I can bring you right into the loop for what's happening and how to get more involved. Beautiful.
Aminata Sol [00:50:03]:
So personal.
Dr. Beverly [00:50:05]:
Yeah, absolutely. Why not?
Aminata Sol [00:50:09]:
I love that.
Dr. Beverly [00:50:10]:
I really do.
Aminata Sol [00:50:11]:
Well, thank you so much, Dr. Beverly Carter, founder of A New Life Global, for being a thought leader, a leader of the now and into the Future, for journeying through your own victimhood in the past, for all your contributions to the world, the charities, for learning from young girls, all of that. Thank you for bringing that into the world, and we look forward to collaborating with you in the future.
Dr. Beverly [00:50:41]:
Thank you so much. This has just been a joy. And to connect with you, too. Dr. Amanda Kemp in the Mother Tree Network. I'm delighted to say the least. And do look forward to working again with you in the future.
Aminata Sol [00:50:58]:
All right.
