Meet Huggy. He is our mascot and is here to remind us to give GIVE A CHILD A HUG!
The idea of the mascot Huggy, and Hugs not Hits, came in 2013 from a parent leadership training (PLTI) I was taking. The Sunny Hook school shooting happened during this time, right in the home-base for PLTI , Connecticut. Even though the shooting happened two thousand miles away, this tragedy hit closer to home than any of the other shootings.
I did the research and found strongly supporting evidence that school shootings are directly related to the shooters being bullied. At the same time, when taking a research class for my master’s degree, I discovered the newly-released ACES study (Adverse Childhood Experiences).
Preventing childhood trauma became my project, the subjects of my books, and my drive in life.
My granddaughter is a very talented budding artist, and when she was six years old, she painted this picture. Huggy #1 was born and became the picture featured on the front cover of my PLTI project, Hugs not Hits.
A few years later, Huggy #2 came along, older and wiser, and is the mascot for this website and the logo for my business, Pickett’s Reflections, LLC.
This was just the beginning.
Since then I have authored five books – three of them on trauma, stalking, bullying, and the most recent, Guilty Before Proven Innocent: Life Behind America’s Iron Curtain. In these books, we talk about the biology of violence, and the effects abuse has on the mind, body, and soul, and the last one is on how our unjust justice system is fragmenting the American family.
My books offer solutions to the problem.
These solutions are not my ideas alone. All research points to the only way we will remedy the violence in our society is to begin within ourselves and within our communities.
All it takes is a smile.
My books aren’t all about bad news, though.
Take the Quantum Leap into Abundance: A guide to the good life is a study of how certain individuals and cultures approach living a long, healthy, fulfilling life, and how we can take those philosophies and live our own lives of abundance.
The pen is mightier than the sword, knowledge is power – and useless unless shared.
With my pen (i.e. keyboard) I will share with you, in a useful and meaningful way, the research I have gathered about these, and other, pressing issues in our lives today.
when you ask why answers appear
Why do people behave as they do? How does trauma affect people’s lives? What can society do to make things better for families?
My books and blogs address challenges like these in the hopes that people will become united and proactive in making positive changes in our society.
The beginning starts within and becoming who you were meant to be reflects onto others. If each of us begins to make small changes in how we treat people, the kindness will grow – try it and see.
what can we do?
What part can we play, as individuals, in solving this violence that has seized our country – and our world!
Unless we take rash action on peacefully solving our problems, we will be taking rash actions in a not-so-peaceful manner.
We have reached that tipping point.
“We the people” must decide. Will we let our anger rule, or will we decide with calm and common sense?
how can this be done?
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- Practice kindness in all that we do.
- Make a point to say a kind word to all the people throughout our day.
- Keep our voice soft and not angry.
- Return a favor to someone and tell them they are special and wanted.
- Exercise compassion when we least feel like it.
No, not easier said than done. Rather, practice makes perfect. Make kindness a practice and soon it will become second nature. Right living and proper conduct must be taught. To be respectful to others and honor our elders leads to a long and healthy life.
when will this happen?
We must begin now before it is too late.
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- To rebuild strong families.
- To live in a world where people are kind.
- To have relationships that are not fraught with trouble and
drama. - To live with our neighbors in peace.
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Your children need your presence more than your presents.
~Jessie Jackson~
Why I write books
I grew up in an era when people were polite to one another and violence was something you heard about in the news. My books are an attempt to encourage people to bring back that goodness and to stop the craziness that has besieged our world.
I hold degrees in social science, healthcare administration, and martial arts, and 
am a certified instructor for traditional Tomari-te Okinawan karate.
Women often came to my self-defense classes to learn to protect themselves from an abusive mate. Their stories are silently interwoven into my books.
As a behavioralist by nature, and a social scientist by education, I love to study people and why they do what they do. As a result, my books, blogs and articles are a combination of many years of watching and learning, hard-won wisdom, research, and personal experience.
Over the years, I have been a strong advocate for people with disabilities. I have workd with veterans, people with head injuries, children with special needs, and anyone else who needs a hand navigating through the system. Along with their experiences, my own trials, and a mountain of research, this is my two-fold goal:
1. To bring you up-to-date and acurate information about what can be done to help people living in trauma
2. To combat the violence in our society.
The mission of Pickett’s Reflections, LLC.
Building families and touching lives by combating violence through prevention and education.
If each of us practices daily kindness and compassion, we will quickly make a difference in this world.
