don't forget your fire

life lessons from a beloved mentor

collaborative art piece honoring sue wallingford’s memory

Have you ever had a mentor who made a lasting impression on who you have become? I have — and her words of insight and her rebel spirit still send beautiful reverberations throughout my life. Her name was Sue Wallingford, and she passed away unexpectedly four years ago last week. On the anniversary of her death, I (along with other former students of hers) attended a tribute concert put on by her talented daughter and her band, Emma Mayes and the Hip. I thought I’d share a select few pieces of Sue’s wild wisdom and huge heart here with you today.

I met Sue in 2002, when I entered graduate school for transpersonal psychotherapy and art therapy at Naropa University. She was first an amazing teacher who eventually became a colleague and dear friend after I graduated. Among other art therapy courses, Sue taught our child developmental art therapy class. In this class, we were assigned an inner child wisdom project. I painted my own i…