In today’s Information Age, each of us may have numerous careers, roles and aspirations in a single incarnation. Perhaps a more illuminating biographical question than “What have you done?” is “Why have you done it?” What consistent traits, values and passions have molded or guided an individual, and will continue to influence this person in the face of any challenge . . . or perceived accomplishment?

For Leslie Diamond, courage and curiosity have been the driving forces behind a series of transformations. In particular, Leslie pursues her instinct for unraveling fear, not by denying or suppressing this valuable emotion, rather by dissolving its tyranny through increasingly gentle inner dialogue. In this way, action can be taken lovingly in spite of fear, encouraging integration of disowned parts of the self, fostering a sense of wholeness.

A taste for adventure

Following an adolescent decision to push beyond her safety zone, Leslie explored a rural lifestyle by working on a dairy farm . . . embarked on her first wilderness expedition during three weeks of frigid mid-January conditions in New York’s Adirondack Mountains . . . and expanded her psychological limits through travel and study in France, Germany and Austria. These adventures whetted an early appetite for travel near and far which endures to this day.

The treasure of spirituality

After graduating with a liberal arts degree, in her 20s Leslie invested energy in her internal landscape and found valuable spiritual nourishment in the concept of “creative thought.” Preferring independent synthesis to the disciple model of spirituality, she applied a discerning eye to the approaches of Sondra Ray, Fredric Lehrman, A Course in Miracles and futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard, among others. These resources offered refreshing optimism in the wake of her atheist upbringing in acquisitive Fairfield County, Connecticut. She continues to draw inspiration from all corners of wisdom and experience.

Homegrown, MD, 2001

Autumn dawn, upstate NY, 1977

Avalanche Pass,

upstate NY, 1978

Romp at Compo, CT, 1978

Olympic rainforest, WA, 1978