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In our quest for career success and financial stability, we will often step onto the path that we imagine will ultimately lead us to professional
and financial fulfillment. Then one day we look up, or wake up, to the truth: I'm not happy. Here’s
a bit of my story. Since I was a girl of about ten, I’d secretly yearned to be a lawyer. In my twenties, my desire to
become a lawyer consumed me. I ate, slept, and fantasized about being a member of the bar. Fast forward to 1989, I was accepted
into the University of Baltimore School of Law. I was ecstatic. At last my dream would come true. For four years I attended
law school by night. By day, I worked as an advocate and liaison for a youth program, to keep at risk teens from dropping
out of high school. I so loved having the opportunity to make a real difference in a young person’s life.
After graduating law school, I went to work for an insurance company litigating workers compensation
claims. Three years later, at a significant increase in salary, I secured a position with the Mental Hygiene Administration,
in Medicare/Medicaid policy. I was pulling in a respectable salary, sporting a new luxury vehicle, paying the mortgage with
money left for the periodic jaunt to exotic locales. There was only one little problem, I was miserable. The longing
for a love of my own persisted and I hated my job. A recipe for disaster for a love addict.
My talents, gifts, and heart weren’t a good fit for adversarial
and policy work. My soul desperately craved a life of purpose and the passion that springs from loving what you
do. One day, while whining with a co-worker about how much I detested my good government gig, God spoke to me. And I
listened. Soon after I decided to leave the practice of law to write the book that wouldn’t loose me, a book about how
a troubled relationship with my charming minister father set me up for “love” and relationship addiction.
I prayed. My prayer was: Spirit, please guide me to my right and perfect work. The “cure” for my addiction
to “love” and relationships would come later. And yet, choosing to heed the call to follow my heart was an essential
and necessary ingredient to the healing of my mind and spirit.
It was
the summer of 1998 when I sat down at my PC to begin Love Addicted. What a labor of love, for seven years. Though
at times the road was uncertain—at times downright rocky—at all times I knew my writing was inspired and my path
was lighted by Spirit. You see, this I know for sure: the Creator has called and ordained each of us to bless the world
with gifts and talents that only we can deliver. It was this conviction that moved me to abandon the practice
of law and steadied my course through the ups and downs of penning my first book.
I am committed to the healing
and wholeness of the planet, particularly that of black women. I’ve enjoyed more than ten rewarding years
listening to, counseling, advising, coaching, supporting, advocating for and representing abused and battered women in the
criminal justice and civil arenas. I've also had the delight to work as a seminar leader, speaker
and group facilitator. Currently, I assist men and women recovering from drug and alcohol abuse in unraveling their legal
issues.
I
am grateful that I get to do my right and perfect work—write, speak, teach, and inspire others to embrace their
divinity, take charge of their lives, heal themselves, grow in self acceptance and self love and to live with power,
passion and purpose!
Peace & Light, DeBora
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