P.E.R.L.O.V.E.

"I’m not a monk or a nun. I didn’t live in a cave or spend decades in silent meditation. I don't have a doctor of Psychology nor am I a clinical therapist. But I am an architect who managed large and complex hospital projects throughout my career, making me damn good at solving difficult puzzles. Part of my job was to create a straightforward set of instructions that others can easily understand and utilize, the quickest and most efficient path to get something done. 

 

Clarity, as it turns out, is my gift."

 

That said, Holly wouldn’t start her journey toward this particular clarity until the perfect world she’d built imploded. To hide her anxiety, shame, and low self-worth, she created a life based on society’s rules and its prescriptions with a home, career, husband, and children. At 34, that all collapsed. From this low point, she made a vow to ‘do better’ and spent the years between 9-11 and the COVID pandemic making good on that vow. 

 

Keeping her promise took her from her hometown in South Dakota, across the country, and from coast to coast. She read books, listened to lectures, attended retreats, and took in whatever spiritual instruction she could find including a six-year Buddhist study, in part living in a Dharma house in San Francisco. 

 

Created out of an intention from her early 40s to have the time and space to write about what she’d learned, Holly retired early from an associate principal position in a top-ranking architectural firm in 2017. Yet, it wouldn’t be until she put a book proposal together for a Hay House competition in 2021 that the mindfulness practices of P.E.R.L.O.V.E. would arrive. Looking over at the printed pages she could finally see them. 

 

Her goal is to utilize this simple formula, forged from her experiences and the gurus she learned from, to help lead people struggling like she was to find their personal freedom, peace, joy, and, of course, clarity. This desire, to share what she learned with others, has been a crucial part of her journey from its beginning. So, thank you for being here.