We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taylor White Moffitt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taylor below.

Taylor, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

I grew up on the East Coast where competition, performance and fitting in (instead of belonging) was the training program. And I was a good student. I disconnected from myself, I pretended, I performed like the best of them. And in that process, I lost who I was and what mattered most. From that experience (and a few others) I decided I never wanted to be married or have children. Fast forward to my late 20’s when I went on a date.

On the very first evening my date says, ” I don’t know if it’s you or not, but I know I want to be married and have children and if you don’t even want to consider that we shouldn’t go out again.” We’ve now been married 24 years and have 5 children. Why? Because every date and every day, the every day kindness my husband provides is the most unconditional love and faith in me. If I want something, he wants it for me. If I am afraid to risk something, he cheers me on. If I had a hard time, he rubs my back without trying to fix me. He single handedly taught me to love and value myself, exactly as I am.

The kindest thing we can do for ourselves and others is to love long, hard and fierce. Everything good has been built on love.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I wanted to help other people love themselves and have the life they want so I became a psychotherapist. I had no idea it was going to teach me to love me. Since going into private practice in 1995 I have added teaching yoga, mindfulness, transformational retreats and embodied leadership training to the ways I help people know, see and feel themselves. My experience is that most of us are caught in a thinking loop of “i need to figure out…” and that loop has paralyzed and punished us. I have found through movement, mindfulness, silence, nature, community and play, we learn who we are, what we want and need, how to show up for ourselves and how to be an example of steadiness, groundedness and compassion. I feel most proud that the work I do and that my organization, Humanity Shared, offers has had more testimonials than we can post that we have changed, enriched and empowered humans lives. Deeply. My intent was always help reduce my suffering and that of others. To have achieved that on such a broad level with so many humans melts my heart and gives me hope. When we meet our suffering in more gentle ways, we have more to offer, we can live into our purpose and we can change the lives of others. What I am doing is having a trickle down effect in families, businesses, relationships and the environment. Wow.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Genuine care. Everything I have created and everything I have had to offer has been predicated on truly seeing and caring for the humans in front of me. Although we are all householders with rent, kids, jobs, pets, etc…if money were truly the driver our country would be thriving and it’s not. It is the stories of people’s humbling life struggles and experiences and how they have been met with support and care and love that is changing the world. In caring, we can move the mountains that live in us and block the path for so many others.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I don’t think of myself as a great “follow through-er” so I can hardly believe I’ve been a therapist for almost 30 years. I feel so honored for people to share the parts of themselves they feel shame around, that they hide, that they suffer around. To be able to offer people so many tools and practices to both reduce their suffering AND relate to it differently is a gift for me. This work has kept me honest, authentic and real. It calls me back into my integrity and my humanity on a daily basis. No one rides for free in this lifetime, everyone struggles, including me. And spending time with my students and clients who so generously share themselves and their pain in hopes of learning new ways to thrive is something I would chose all the lifetimes over.      

Contact Info:

• Website: HumanityShared.com
• Instagram: Humanity Shared
• Facebook: Humanity Shared
• Linkedin: Taylor White Moffitt
• Twitter: @TaylorWhiteLCSW
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_cYqelSuZK2aGdASo24NMA

Image Credits
Nicole Howe Photography