Little did I know that my near-death experience as an infant would provide me the stepping stone to UNcover my gift: teaching & writing. Since this UNcovery, I have unabashedly dedicated my work and life to giving this gift abundantly – and with audacious joy.

I was adopted from an orphanage in Germany when I was 10 months of age. Apparently, I was so sick when my mom and dad brought me home that a neighbor/doctor told them another two weeks in the orphanage and I would have been dead.

It took my mom three days to get me to eat. Even as I almost fell off a bed, I did not cry out – because there had never been anyone there before while I was in the orphanage. They were too understaffed. When my mom came in to check on me that first night and found me hanging on the edge of the bed (more than half way off), I was not uttering a sound. Not a cry.

Even though my mom did not birth me, she definitely gave me life when both my mother and father brought me home. I remember my mom telling me a bedtime story and that I got to be the star of the story.

Mom would tell me about a mommy and daddy who did not have a baby girl, so they went to a Big House where there were lots of babies. There the mommy and daddy found their little girl and they brought the baby girl home and they all lived happily ever after.

Somehow from this story, there was a magic about my being saved, a kind of purpose to my life.

My father was a career Army Officer. His career required that we move about every 18 months to another country and sometimes staying for a short time in the U.S. Because of this, I had to become a U.S. citizen (born a German citizen) before I could leave for yet another country (Japan, in that instance) and come back.

The constant moving around the globe gave me a bit of a travel bug, but even more importantly these moves provided me opportunities to experience many cultures and languages.

As an adult, and now a Professor, I am ever more aware of the majesty in diversity and much of this comes from my early experiences with many cultures, languages and spiritual pathways.

When my dad retired from the military, with the urging of my mom, we settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. U.C. Berkeley and law school in San Francisco were a focal part of my life in the Bay Area, in those early years.

Of course, that was after I had seen a bit more of the world as a Flight Attendant for an international carrier. When I got serious about my education, I hunkered down and enjoyed the process of learning.

Flying an airplane became my next goal and was achieved by the age of 21. However, being a multi-faceted young woman, I also undertook to learn acting from a reputable school in San Francisco.

Eventually, I was fortunate enough to not only earn a degree from U.C. Berkeley, get a law degree and pass the California Bar Exam, but I also earned the right to become a member of Screen Actors Guild.

I can tell you all this was accomplished largely by my turning my natural stubbornness (of which I had buckets, according to my mom!), into perseverance. But, between you and me, it also was because I was just downright curious. I wanted to know everything!

I felt a calling to serve and the way that played out was to become a Certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor. I then taught privately for 14 years. It is also part of how I paid my way through law school.

Later, life happened and I moved to Los Angeles, practiced law, and allowed the artist in me to emerge even more as I focused on teaching yoga and performing in theater, commercials, TV and movie shorts.

More of life happened, and I found myself in the Palm Springs area practicing law. I needed more and found it when I UNcovered my gifts of teaching and writing. Once I learned of those gifts, the next step was to follow the call to use them in service of self and others. So, I pursued and eventually attained another doctorate. (The law degree is technically a Juris Doctorate.) This time it meant more and I have never regretted one moment of every class and every letter of my more than 400 page dissertation.

I earned a Masters in Religion, a Ph.D in Philosophy in Religion and years later, still being curious and wanting more, I earned a Masters in Ethical Leadership.

I wanted to meet my birth mother. There was no desire for this woman to replace my mom, but there was a desire to know if I came from Nazi blood! When I met my birth mother, I was proud and relieved to discover that she was born Jewish as was her mom. That meant I was also Jewish.

The meeting with my birth mother was not one that led to a continued relationship. Nonetheless, I was very satisfied to learn a bit of my family history and to actually finally meet someone who I looked like and … gosh, I was supposed to look like her! That was pretty cool!

See, before I learned that I was born Jewish, I had a curiosity about Judaism. I felt, however, that I had no right to be interested as I may have been born of Nazis! Once I learned of the truth, I could let the floodgates of curiosity open wide. By the time I was in graduate school for the Masters in Religion and the PhD, I eagerly chose Judaism as one of my specialties (along with Buddhism).

Retrospectively, I can safely assert that one of the main reasons I moved to the Palm Springs area (although I did not know this at the time of the move) was to meet my wonderful husband, Patrick. Admittedly, when we first met at the local country western dance bar, I did not remember meeting him at all.

He, however, remembered me for another nearly two years. During those two years, my life continued as I dated and danced my way through country western and swing dance events with groups of friends.

Meanwhile, Patrick worked a job in the Pacific Northwest that ended after those two years. The ending of the job allowed him to move back to the Desert. He promptly called our mutual friend, Fred. Fred was my favorite dance partner on the country western scene. Patrick asked Fred, “Do you still dance with that blonde attorney?” Fred answered with a knowing smile, ‘You mean Arlette!? Sure. How about I have her at the dance place on Thursday night?”

That night I remembered him! Some six months later we were married and now over 20 years later, I love him more and am ever grateful that he allows me the space and safety to UNcover my Greatness. In turn, I have encouraged and nourished his UNcovery as well.

Today my life is about service. I am in service of the message of my podcasts. I am in service of the information I share with my students as a Professor. I am in service of my cherished KINDNESS Coach clients. Once I UNcovered my own greatness, I am in service of the mission to guide and coach others to UNcover theirs as well!

So, after moving to the Palm Springs area, and while pursuing the Masters and then the Ph.D, I became an ordained Inter-Religious Minister and formed Listen Within. I also officially began my practice as a KINDNESS Coach.

All the education, life experience, pursuits, hobbies and professions qualify me to be an audacious KINDNESS Coach for YOU.

Throughout the many twists and turns of my life, I have been gathering information alongside intense desire just for this work … just for you.

What I do is unmatched. Are you ready?