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“I have only now realized that something
endless has broken ground in me,
and I have no choice but to live
and love until it grows me like a tree.”
—Mark Nepo
Kathleen Paulsen’s earliest awareness of God occurred one day in 1939, when she was
three years old. Germany had invaded Poland; her baby sister was being born, and her
parents were troubled, as her father had just received a notice to report to his
draft board. Unfettered by adult concerns, she was alone dancing in the living room,
celebrating life. Suddenly, she had an intense knowing that she was not three at all,
but was actually very ancient. She felt that she was older than her parents, and she was
one with eternity. Her three-year old vocabulary had no words for this experience, but
she never forgot the feeling, and from that point on wanted to know what this experience
was about.
She was four years old when her maternal grandmother introduced her to New Thought.
Her grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer and after several surgeries had been
told she had only six months to live. At the time that she developed cancer, she believed
that her life was over. Then she discovered the writings of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore,
Emma Curtis Hopkins, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emmet Fox, Emilie Cady, and Mary Baker Eddy,
and began applying their teachings to her life. In six months she had no signs of
cancer. While she was discovering her wholeness, she lived with Kathleen and taught her
the New Thought principles that she was studying. She also taught Kathleen the “Prayer of
Faith” by Hanna Moore Kohaus. At age six, when Kathleen developed panic attacks in response
to childhood abuse, she discovered the power of prayer and the use of affirmation.
She used the “Prayer of Faith” like a mantra, and her panic attacks disappeared.
At age ten, Kathleen discovered the power of denial. She complained to her mother that
she had a headache. Her mother told her, “Kathleen, you will probably have migraines
just like I have and just like every woman in my family has had for generations.” For a
split second, Kathleen was horrified, and then Spirit spoke through her, and she vowed
silently, but with fierce passion, “I will NOT have migraine headaches!” After that, even
though all the other women on that side of the family developed migraines, and even though
she, too, has experienced the warning aura of classic migraine, she has never had a
migraine headache. In the instant that Spirit spoke through her, and she found herself
denying all power of migraine headaches over her life, Kathleen believes she experienced
a spontaneous cure.
In early adulthood during a seemingly dark time, Kathleen read Victor Frankl’s Man’s
Search for Meaning. Inspired by Frankl, she vowed to find meaning in suffering, so that
she could learn from it in order to be able to help others. She has worked as both
teacher and psychotherapist in secular settings while simultaneously pursuing increased
understanding of the activity of Spirit in her life and the lives of others. She found
Seaside in 1997 and knew she had found her spiritual home, where she soon discovered that
Spirit, Life, and she are one. Kathleen has three grown children and six grandchildren,
and she is married to Larry “Lucky” Paulsen with whom she celebrates life.
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