Most of you on this mailing list found my work in 2014 and 2015 when I created the Healing Earth, Healing Self Telesummit. From 2016 onward I dealt with a series of health and household challenges that required me to step away from this work; they were terrifying but transformational and eventually I will share about them. Last August when I re-opened my online offerings as The School for Humans and Earth, I told you that I had chosen to do so using the name Helen Claire Harmon to differentiate my work with the School for Humans and Earth from my job in higher education.
What I have noticed in the past year is that I haven’t come to feel fully like “Helen.” It is a family name, so very special to me. And my given name, Chara, carries the awkwardness of being very frequently mis-pronounced. But the bigger issue is that I see that this effort to hide my spiritually oriented work for Earth from my conventional life as a college professor ultimately isn’t feeling like the best choice. In fact my contributions in both areas are similar and aligned. As both “Helen” and “Chara” I have the same values, priorities, and commitments, and some of the same colleagues.
At risk of encountering awkwardness with colleagues and students in higher ed who are not open to the spiritual foundations of my work in The School for Humans and Earth, I have decided to side with authenticity and wholeness and do all of my work as Chara Armon, my legal, life-long name. In case you’re wondering, my first name is pronounced similarly to ‘Charlotte,’ with an ‘sh’ sound. (‘Chara’ is a star in the constellation Canes venaticii and is the Greek word for ‘joy,’ though it is pronounced differently in Greek than the pronunciation my parents chose.)
As I make this choice and shift my website and social media accounts over the next couple of weeks, I feel naked, vulnerable, scared, but also more free and empowered than I have ever felt. I’ve never before given myself this much permission to be who I really am. As a spiritually and holistically inclined person who has worked in the ‘conventional’ world, I have always felt divided, closeted, and frightened of being ‘found out.’ But we are in a time when everyone needs to live their truth. People’s inner authenticity is a precious key to repairing life on planet Earth. And many thought leaders with both ‘conventional’ and ‘alternative’ authority have paved the way, from Martha Beck and Marc Bekoff to Lissa Rankin, Robin Wall Kimmerer, David Nicol, and many of the speakers featured on the Humans and Earth podcast, including Stephan Harding, Anita Sanchez, Bill Plotkin, and Cara Gubbins. What is quite amazing now is that many ‘conventional’ approaches are validating ‘alternative’ approaches: for example, we have medical studies confirming the value of acupuncture and scholarly articles discussing humans’ ability to directly communicate with animals. We’re in a time of bringing the divided conversations back together.
So, I’m giving myself full permission to both have an Ivy League Ph.D. and be a published scholar and excellent college professor, AND communicate with plants and other beings, facilitate transformation with flower essences, and serve as a thought leader for the process of co-creating regeneration for all life on Earth.
What is coming from The School for Humans and Earth are more e-courses and podcast episodes, the possibilities of some interesting exposure in news media this fall and winter, and an exciting online conference in early 2022 on how to co-create the healed, regenerated world we want to live in.
If you are in alignment with these offerings, I hope you’ll stay, watch The School unfold, and participate where you feel called. Please consider sharing The School’s work with friends, family, and colleagues. If the School’s offerings are not in sync with your perspectives and needs, now is a good time to unsubscribe from our mailing list.
My commitment to you is to bring my whole self to advocating for beliefs and actions that can regenerate our world. My commitment to myself is to no longer closet any of my aspects, but instead to offer my work for Humans and Earth with full transparency, trust in my mission, and a knowing of the great validity of working at this time on behalf of regenerating people and planet for the well-being of all life on Earth.
For Humans and Earth,
Chara Armon
To celebrate my choice to live in authentic transparency, I am putting my mentoring services on sale for 33% off the regular price for anyone who schedules in the next two weeks. Simply use the code HUMANSANDEARTH12 when you schedule an appointment here: www.humansandearth.com/mentoring