Life can be a real struggle. What’s important to realize is that our struggle can either be healthy and constructive, or it can be unhealthy and therefore destructive.
Perhaps we’re familiar with some religion or philosophy that tells we need to “give up the struggle.” While such a teaching may be true, we too often misunderstand this to mean we should give up, or give in. That we should become passive and not stand up for ourselves. That we should let go of our goals and our desire for fulfillment.
Such an approach takes us down a wrong road to becoming a sloth. It leads to indifference and stagnation, and even makes us beat ourselves up for wanting more from life.
Worse yet, such an attitude causes us to not improve the conditions in our life—in ourselves and in the world around us—that we have the ability to make better. And in a way, that’s downright cruel.
A healthy struggle, by contrast, doesn’t wear us out. For when we take a healthy approach to our struggles, our efforts are not futile and our energies don’t become exhausted. When we struggle in the right way, we stop fighting against ourselves…
Jill Loree grew up in northern Wisconsin with parents who embraced their Norwegian, Swedish and German heritage. Foods like lutefisk, lefse and krumkaka were prepared every Christmas. And of course there was plenty of beer, bratwurst and cheese all year round.
She would go on to throw pizzas and bartend while attending college at the University of Wisconsin, and then moved into a career in technical sales and marketing. She would settle in Atlanta in 1989 and discover that the sweet spot of her career would be in marketing communications. A true Gemini, she has a degree in chemistry and a flair for writing.
One of Jill’s greatest passions in life has been her spiritual path. Raised in the Lutheran faith, she became a more deeply spiritual person in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) starting in 1989. In 1997, she was introduced to the wisdom of the Pathwork Guide, which she describes as “having walked through the doorway of a fourth step and found the whole library.”
In 2007, she completed four years of training to become a Pathwork Helper, and stepped fully into her Helpership in 2011. In addition to offering individual and group sessions, she has been a teacher in the Transformation Program offered by Mid-Atlantic Pathwork. She also led marketing activities for Sevenoaks Retreat Center in Madison, Virginia and served on their Board of Trustees.
In 2012, Jill completed four years of kabbalah training and became certified for hands-on healing using the energies embodied in the tree of life. She began dedicating her life to writing and teaching about personal self-development in 2014.
Today, Jill is the proud mom of two adult children, Charlie and Jackson, and is delighted to be married to Scott Wisler. She’s had more than one last name along the way and now happily uses her middle name as her last. It’s pronounced loh-REE. In 2022, Scott joined her full time in their mission to spread the teachings of the Pathwork Guide far and wide.
