The Cabin
an excerpt from the new
book
ALTER YOUR
LIFE
by Dr. Kathleen
Hall
INTRODUCTION
Dr. Kathleen Hall is a former World
Trade Center stockbroker turned stress
management expert and founder of The
Stress Institute. Her message of
mindfulness will be welcomed by all those
who seek a less stressful, more meaningful
life.
The excerpt follows Dr. Hall as she
dumps a high-profile Manhattan lifestyle
to live on a Georgia farm with no
electricity or indoor plumbing. While
restoring her farm, she earns degrees in
divinity from Emory and Columbia. She then
studies under some of the world's greatest
leaders in spirituality and medicine,
including Nobel Peace Prize winners
President Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama,
Bishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Herbert Benson of
the Mind/Body Medical Institute at
Harvard, Dr. Dean Ornish of The
Preventative Medicine Institute, and Dr.
Jon Kabat-Zinn of the Center for
Mindfulness at the University of
Massachusetts. Her story is truly
extraordinary.
Remarkably, Dr. Hall's new book
recommends -- not the sort of drastic life
changes she has navigated -- but the most
simple and rewarding transition any
stressed-out individual can make: paying
attention to the moment. Her book covers
the basic routine we all live: waking,
eating, commuting, shopping, cleaning,
sleeping... For Dr. Hall and for you, each
moment in that day can be transformed from
routine to profound.
More information about the book,
Alter Your Life,
and author Dr. Kathleen Hall follows the
excerpt. Enjoy.
The Cabin
by Dr. Kathleen
Hall
We can do no great things --
only small things with great love.
-- Mother
Theresa
As I pushed open the old log cabin
door, two black scorpions rushed across
the planked floors and disappeared into
the fireplace. An unfriendly welcome, but
I knew there was no turning back. A faint
light filtered through the closed
shutters. It smelled musty and moldy; I
was sure the room hadn't been opened in
years. The old wood floor creaked as I
slowly walked across it to open the
shutters and invite the daylight in.
Standing in the midst of dancing
cobwebs and swirling dust, I realized I
had taken my first step on a journey with
no map, no directions and no clear
destination. In the stark silence of that
moment, a certain sense of peace swept
across the room and engulfed me. I knew my
choice to live an intentional life would
change the rest of my life, and, for the
first time, I sensed the adventure and the
uncertainty of my choice.
The cabin had no electricity, no water,
no gas, no kitchen, and no bathroom. I
surveyed the outside and discovered the
outhouse and a rain barrel on the far side
of the cabin. Back on the front porch, I
snuggled into an old rocking chair that
had been left behind. In anticipation of
the days ahead, I pulled a scrap of paper
from my pocket to write on.
As I began making a list of how-to
books I would need on plumbing,
construction, and electrical work, a rush
of energy and a sense of power surged
deeply through my body. I grinned as I
rocked back and forth in the tattered
rocker that creaked with each rock. In
this primitive cabin in the north Georgia
mountains, I was a long way from my
previous life.
~ The Unintentional Life ~
I was working in New York City, flying
back and forth to Atlanta each week. My
life was a hectic race. But I had all the
trappings of success as measured by our
culture. As a stockbroker at a Wall Street
firm, I was set on a model of doing
everything faster and better than any of
my competitors.
My aspiration was to have it all. I am
the oldest daughter in a family of seven
children and groomed for self- reliance.
From the time I was a little girl, I
wanted to be a successful woman. For me,
that meant having an upwardly mobile
career, a successful husband, perfect
children, a nice home, a great car,
elegant clothes, and fabulous vacations. I
constantly worked to keep a perfect dress
size and drove the ultimate driving
machine to match.
My life was very well calculated and
moving at a planned, orchestrated pace,
when one day -- in a split second --
everything stopped.
I had landed at the airport as usual
early Monday morning and grabbed a cab to
the World Trade Center. I got out of the
cab, entered the building, and headed for
the elevator. All of a sudden, my chest
was so tight I could hardly breathe. We
were all packed into the elevator as
usual, but this time as it sped up to my
office, I thought I was having a heart
attack. I lurched off the elevator and lay
against the wall.
Three hours later, I was still against
the same wall and hadn't moved an inch. An
attentive security guard had noticed --
and perhaps because he had seen it before
-- made a diagnosis of a panic attack.
Little did I know that would be the
first of many to follow. It wasn't too
long until insomnia began to haunt me at
night, while panic attacks continued to
plague me during the day. I became
obsessively aware of the people that
surrounded me each day.
Along with the panic attacks and
insomnia, a new keen sense of awareness
began to emerge. As I went to work each
day, I noticed we all seemed to look and
act like zombies. It felt like we were
trained to do the same thing over and over
again. I noticed how people were buying
lunch from a sidewalk cart then mindlessly
eating as they walked away. Everywhere I
looked, everyone and everything began to
look the same. It seemed as if we were all
in some trance. My well-designed life had
started to unravel.
Later, still in New York, I was
studying for my commodity boards when I
stumbled upon an old copy of Henry David
Thoreau's journal in the apartment where I
was staying. I dusted off the front of the
book, turned to the first page and it
read:
"I went to the woods because I wished
to live deliberately, to front only the
essential facts of life, and see if I
could not learn what it had to teach, and
not, when I came to die, discover that I
had not lived."
Little did I know then that these words
would change my life forever.
My initial response to that famous
passage was shock, confusion, and an
indescribably immense sadness. Was I
living deliberately? Was I living an
intentional life? How in the heck did I
know what the essential facts of life
were? And if I die tomorrow, have I really
lived at all? Is living in the middle of
this rat race really living?
Thoreau's words made me painfully aware
that the course I had charted for my life
was far from "intentional." I had carved
out an outwardly "successful" life, and it
had become a prison of my own design. My
life had nothing to do with my authentic
self or with an awareness of my own
desires and dreams.
I had not been in the woods since I was
a child. I knew nothing about the
realities of living in nature, and the
mere thought that nature held the
possibility of teaching me something both
intrigued and terrified me. A fundamental
shift occurred in that moment, and I knew
there was no turning back.
One week later, I purchased a farm with
an old log cabin that sat by a lake. There
wasn't even a road into the cabin from the
main road. I had to hike to the cabin for
the first year. I was determined to live
up to Thoreau's challenge. I was going to
face the challenge of living an
intentional life. I would turn this land
into a working farm. With each step, I
chose to release the life I had so
masterfully orchestrated and designed, and
I surrendered to the unfolding of an
intentional life.
My choice to surrender had
begun....
~ The Stall ~
Not so long ago, I was sitting in the
corner of the stall at my stables after
foaling out a mare, and I reflected on the
choices I have made in my own life. I now
live in the woods full time, and it has
taught me much. Many lessons have come to
me as I built this farm and made the
choice to live an intentional life.
Many incredible people have inspired me
along the way: the ninety-year-old farmer
down the road that still makes hominy and
cans his own sauerkraut; the
eighty-eight-year- old, near-blind woman
who made me a prize-winning quilt at the
country fair; my elderly patient who has
survived both legs being amputated,
blindness and renal dialysis, but still
responds to life with a smile on her face.
There are so many simple, holy people in
the woods who have taught me a lot. As I
slowed down and listened to their stories,
I discovered the profound depth of their
awareness. These teachers of mine have
created intentional lives of their own
choosing. I am also blessed with the
four-legged angels that inspire me daily:
my dogs, cats and horses.
Most people would see the surrender of
a life on Wall Street to a life in a log
cabin in the north Georgia woods as
opposite ends of the scale. By comparison
to what others have done, I realize every
day my goal is to live an intentional
life, and I still have very far to go.
It takes one courageous step at a time.
People who live extraordinary lives are in
fact ordinary people who make choices that
lead to extraordinary circumstances. These
choices are often very small, and these
choices are available to you.
Our lives are filled with seemingly
mundane, everyday tasks, tasks we often
mindlessly or begrudgingly complete as
quickly as we can. Perhaps because we live
in a world where bigger, faster, and first
are seen as best, often the smallest and
simplest things are dismissed or
overlooked. But it is these small, simple,
everyday moments that can be a gateway to
growth and renewal. Routine activities
such as working, shopping, reading -- not
extraordinary events -- hold the potential
to bring you a life of greater peace,
balance, and contentment.
About the Author
 Dr.
Kathleen Hall is one of the
nation's leading authorities on stress
management and work-life balance. founder
of The Stress Institute. Dr. Hall left her
life as a financial advisor with a Wall
Street firm, and made a radical choice to
redefine her success. Her book,
Alter Your Life,
offers simple methods for bringing mental,
physical, and spiritual health into our
busy lives.
Dr. Hall has studied under some of the
world's greatest leaders in spirituality
and medicine, including Nobel Peace Prize
winners President Jimmy Carter, the Dalai
Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Buddhist
teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. She has completed
coursework with medical pioneers,
including Dr. Herbert Benson of the
Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard,
Dr. Dean Ornish of The Preventative
Medicine Institute, and Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn
of the Center for Mindfulness at the
University of Massachusetts. As a member
of the American Association of
Cardiovascular and Pulmonary
Rehabilitation, she has spent the past
decade directing a cardiac rehabilitation
program focusing on stress management.
Dr. Hall's media credits include: The
Today Show, ABC News, CNN, CBS, Fortune
magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the
Associated Press, Parents magazine,
Investor's Business Daily, USA Weekend,
CNN Health Radio, Cosmopolitan, Woman's
World, the Chicago Tribune, Redbook,
Woman's Day, the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, and dozens of radio
shows. Her speaking credits include The
Home Depot WIN Initiative, Office Depot
Success Strategies for Businesswomen
Conference, Turner Broadcasting
Corporation, and Austin Business Journal
Profiles in Power Conference.
Dr. Hall earned her Bachelor of Science
in Finance from Jacksonville State
University, a Masters of Divinity from
Emory University, and a Doctorate in
Spirituality from Columbia Theological
Seminary, and has clinical training from
Harvard University. A popular speaker and
lecturer on stress management, work-life
balance, mind-body medicine, and how to
Live an Intentional Life, she has served
as an adjunct college professor and
wellness educator.
In 1997, Dr. Hall opened the 250-acre
Oak Haven Conference and Learning Center
outside Clarkesville, Georgia, where she
works with individuals and groups. She
lives on her Clarkesville, Georgia, ranch
with her family and a variety of rescue
animals. For more information, please
visit one of the web sites devoted to Dr.
Hall's work:
http://www.drkathleenhall.com
http://www.thestressinstitute.com
About the Book
ALTER YOUR LIFE
by Dr. Kathleen Hall
Published by Oak Haven
ISBN 0-9745427-2-5, 184 pages, softcover,
$15.95
Overbooked? Overworked?
Overwhelmed?
Themes like "I just don't have time"
and "I'm exhausted" rule our lives today.
We are overbooked, overworked and
overwhelmed. Just getting done what must
be done fills our days. The notion of
finding a precious hour or two to learn
how to create balance, reduce our stress
and discover an intentional life to soothe
our aching souls is simply out of the
question.
Dr. Kathleen Hall's new book,
Alter Your Life,
provides an alternative to the struggle to
"make time" for renewal. In the
breakthrough book readers will:
- Discover how to overcome obstacles
preventing you from living the
intentional life of your dreams
- Practice easy stress reduction
techniques that deliver immediate
results
- Maximize the simple moments in your
life to be the most rewarding
- Enrich the quality of your life by
achieving work-life balance
We can discover how to live an
intentional life in a manner that requires
no doctrine, no memorization of a new
vocabulary, no trekking off to distant
holy lands. It does not require us to
change our jobs, our lifestyle or
transplant our personalities. It doesn't
even require any additional time.
We can develop our own unique personal
practices that can help us return "home"
once we realize that we are out of
balance. In time these practices will
become an effortless and restorative part
of living an intentional life of mental,
physical and spiritual well-being.
Alter Your
Life offers tools to help
you find your own unique choices that will
bring greater balance to your demanding
life. These simple, effective tools, based
on age-old, time-honored medical,
psychological and spiritual knowledge and
wisdom, will soon become second nature and
bring with them a greater sense of ease
and fulfillment.
Copyright ©2005
by Dr. Kathleen Hall. All rights reserved.
Reprinted in The Radical Academy with
permission of the
author.
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