Title: Ten Recommandments for Personal Empowerment
Author: Dana Sardano
Genre: Self-help, Semi-Autobiographical
Publisher: Sleepy Lion Publishing
Book Blurb:
Ten Recommandments for Personal Empowerment is a loose autobiography based on Dana's dysfunctional upbringing and how she empowered herself and came out the other side. Showcasing this how-to meets autobiographical approach to her writing style, Dana uses anecdotes from her personal experiences, shares what she's gleaned from these experiences, and offers insights on how to work through personal trauma in a step-by-step manner. It's actually pretty amazing! Just ask her. "What I’ve learned through the process of self-exploration is that our personal empowerment is directly linked to our ability to look within and recognize that we are all interconnected and we are all essentially in this together. I learned that I didn’t just suffer; we all suffer. Our humanness is based in suffering and this suffering binds us and hopefully teaches us compassion for ourselves and others along the way. What I also learned is, at the end of the day, I and I alone am responsible for my own suffering, and when I begin taking the steps toward releasing that suffering, then I will truly feel empowered. My hope is to educate the parents and children through my writing so that they can empower themselves and work together to create a new self-empowered, unity-conscious generation." Dana Sardano
Excerpt:
Most of my life had been a struggle, and I had always felt very much alone. For most of my adult life, I had prided myself on being “an island”, a singular being, the ONLY person to look out for my well-being. I took pride in my independence, my resilience, and my ability to bulldoze obstacles in any and all situations.
What I’ve learned through the process of self-exploration is that our personal empowerment is directly linked to our ability to look within and ultimately recognize that we are all interconnected and we are all essentially in this together. I learned that I didn’t just suffer; we all suffer. Our humanness is based on suffering, and this suffering binds us and hopefully teaches us compassion for ourselves and others along the way.
What I also learned is, I and I alone am responsible for my own suffering, and when I begin taking the steps toward releasing that suffering, then I will truly feel empowered.
This book is intended to reveal how I taught myself to navigate life’s opportunities to learn, grow and to overcome the more challenging obstacles with more grace and less discomfort than before. I eventually even embraced these opportunities, and I aim to offer some insight into how you could do the same.
My discovering and defining of any of the Ten Recommandments for Personal Empowerment cannot be linked to any one specific experience; rather, they are a compilation of insights that I have collected over the years that have appeared repeatedly through my own life’s story. Upon further reflection of each life experience, all arrows have consistently pointed to one, two, or several of these basic understandings, and when I began to utilize these understandings in my own life and change my beliefs and patterns was when my own life began to change direction.
To offer some context for the Ten Recommandents that lie ahead, the next few pages are a loose account of the life experiences that brought forth these insights.
Part I: My Belief Systems
In order to best understand some of my old belief systems and patterns, I will briefly explain my family dynamic. I am the second child in an Italian family; the first born was my brother. Traditionally, in Italian families, the first-born son was revered and daughters, in general, not so much. Our family fit this profile.
Both of my parents were extremely attractive and charismatic but carried irrational belief systems and toxic behaviors and patterns of their own. For the sake of ease and the economy of words, and although nobody is ever just one thing, my mother’s parenting style could be characterized as neglectful, at least with her daughter—with her son, it was more doting. My father’s parenting style could be characterized as more abusive in comparison to my mother.
As an adult, of course, I understand that they didn’t have the understanding of themselves nor the tools to parent in a healthy way, but as a child, my beliefs were shaped by my child brain’s perspective. As an adult, I understand that my mother had abandonment, worthiness, and self-esteem issues from her own childhood, creating patterns driven by fear and lack of self-worth. Although it’s difficult to comprehend on some level, she was a little jealous of me because the spotlight that she desperately needed to feel worthy shifted to me when I was born. My being a more energetic, aggressive, and sensitive child than my brother certainly didn’t help the situation.
As an adult, I understand that my father, who had a very generous and sensitive nature, had incredible imbalances in his disposition that were driven by fear and his own feelings of unworthiness. He was extremely volatile and could “flip a table” in an instant.
My father followed all of the rules: He was well-educated, professionally employed, had a beautiful wife, a beautiful family, and a beautiful house in the suburbs. He followed all of the rules but chose a life that was extremely stressful—he was a hot shot executive in NYC with an arduous commute, had a wife that was emotionally distant, adhered to rules and societal conditioning that was not in alignment with his heart, and was unable to process his emotions in a healthy way. And of course, my being a more energetic, aggressive, and sensitive child (who in a lot of ways was just like him) certainly didn’t help the situation.
As an adult, I understand both of my parents from a relatively objective and detached perspective. As a child, however, I walked away with many beliefs about myself that never quite served me.
· I believed that I was unworthy of love and that I’d always have to work harder to be loved.
· I believed that my needs did not matter.
· I believed that when I expressed my needs, I was “a beast” or “a monster” or “a one-way street”.
· I believed the only way to express my displeasure was through fits of rage.
· I believed that I was loved less than my brother.
· I believed that problems were either attacked or ignored.
· I believed the only person that I could ever count on for anything was myself.
· I believed that life was hard, and I must fight to overcome obstacles so to get my needs met.
These beliefs about myself were the foundation for some pretty prominent patterns in my life, one of which (and probably the most prominent) were relationships based on either abuse or neglect.
My childhood experiences laid the foundation for many dysfunctional relationships in my life, most of all my relationship with myself…
Buy Links (including Goodreads):
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ten-recommandments-for-personal-empowerment-dana-sardano/1141388206
Author Biography:
Dana Sardano is the owner, resident artist and intuitive at Ubuntu Fish Gallery in Stuart, Florida and partner and VP/Chief Officer of Curriculum+Content at: FindUniquelyU.com.
Dana received her B.A. in Special Education in 1993, specializing in Behavioral Disorders (BD) for children K-12. Her career path quickly shifted into a learning specialist position, which evolved into the position of director of student development in a private college preparatory high school, where she was hired as a teacher of humanities and where she assisted students with organizational skills and study strategies to help them better adapt in the mainstream classroom environment. Dana also spent the bulk of her career mentoring teachers and assisting them with their curriculum, content and instructional practices to better educate the whole child. For many years, creating specialized curriculum and behavioral modification plans for teachers was her jam! She learned very early on in her career that behavioral issues, academic achievement, and personal accountability for both went hand in hand (in hand), and built an entire career in mastering an understanding of how to impart this understanding to others.
After picking up a paintbrush for the first time in 2015 since her childhood, in June 2017, she decided to retire from a 23-year career in education in order to fully embrace an artist's life and to model for her daughters the importance of listening to your soul's purpose by following your bliss. She spent two years honing her craft as well as developing her intuition and opened Ubuntu Fish Gallery in September 2019, two years after she took her leap of faith from traditional education.
Experiencing for herself and offering for others a more creative and spiritual form of personal growth and development at Ubuntu Fish Gallery, Dana has never felt more alive and has made it her mission to help others do the same.
During Dana’s time as owner/resident artist and intuitive at Ubuntu Fish Gallery, she figured out how to merge her greatest strengths—her intuition, leadership skills, educational experience, and artistic ability—and currently guides people to lead more empowered lives through her intuitive guidance sessions, private groups, and written works on that very subject matter.
Dana has also written and illustrated a book combined with a workbook for children called Veda Finds Her Crown, centered around chakra health and development to help aide teachers, parents, and caretakers who are educating the whole child. She has also followed up Ten Recommandments for Personal Empowerment with Beyond the Ten, Decoding the Woo Woo, an autobiographical account of her own spiritual journey, written with the hope of demystifying spiritual practices by presenting them in an understandable and practical way.
Dana’s goal with all of her writing is to act as a bridge between the mainstream and the metaphysical communities so that those on the quest for personal growth and development can do so without being deterred by fearful and biased conceptions of spirituality. Her hope is to educate both the parents and the children so that they empower themselves and work together to create a new self-empowered, unity conscious generation.
Dana’s role at Uniquely U. is to assist the like-minded U-Instructors of the Uniquely U. community so that they can embody their truest essence and galvanize themselves and others in a multitude of uplifting and self-empowering ways so that they can do the same for others.
For more information about Dana Sardano, Ubuntu Fish Gallery, and Uniquely U. go to Ubuntufishgallery.com and FindUniquelyU.com
Connect with the Author: https://www.facebook.com/groups/684751862571867/
In Florida? Stop by Ubuntu Fish Gallery and say hello!
Ubuntu Fish Gallery
508 SE Osceola St.
Stuart, FL 34994
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