About Anna Thomas

Anna Thomas Tijsseling, PhD

COUNSELOR & TRAINER

Short version: failed journalist - turned historian - turned (certified confidential) counselor & trainer.


Carving out my niche, paying attention to what energizes me, what makes my heart skip a beat, what makes me smile... I could no longer deny I was in the business of enhancing safe learning environments. Creating nurturing academic working conditions. To be willing to sit with hard and unsettling questions that require brave spaces.


During the hard choices and ordeals in my life and career Pema Chödrön's concise booklet became my mantra: Fail, fail again, fail better. Believe you me: I have failed, and I have failed better. And now? I have swapped striving for success for striving for mastery. No ambitions, just audacious goals.


Sometimes allowing ourselves to simply try, give it a go, is the best thing we can do for ourselves to reach our highest potential. Suddenly life turns into an exciting adventure again.


Willing and available to become intimate with adversity, savoring the amazing moments:


Knowing no step is a mistake.