Interview with Michelle Mariscal
A teacher and an accomplished writer with psychology and sociology degrees from Downey, California, the US
Written by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Curated by Sylvail Zyssman.
Dear Readers and Writers,
Writing, editing, and content curation allow me to meet authentic and influential writers and leaders from different backgrounds. I enjoy interacting with people from diverse cultures, countries, and professional backgrounds. One of my hobbies is interviewing influential writers and introducing them to my audience. I have been conducting writer interviews on Medium since 2019.
As part of my leadership studies as a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct professor at Australian universities, I conducted countless interviews with senior leaders and entrepreneurs in large corporate organizations. I still interview many leaders and freelancers, especially those in startup companies or working as solopreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs.
As I explained in a previous story titled The Importance and Remarkable Benefits of Interviews in My Professional and Personal Life, these conversations helped me gain insights into their learning and leadership patterns and inspired me to collaborate with them.
Each interview opened a new window in my life, allowing me to connect with another kind soul meaningfully. In addition, I use these interviews as a cross-pollination tool to inform and empower my readers, fellow writers, and editors/curators of my publications.
Today, I will introduce an accomplished writer, Michelle Mariscal, whom I’ve been following for a while and connected on multiple platforms. Her pleasant personality and remarkable stories inspired me to introduce her background and give you a glimpse of her interesting life. Please enjoy, engage, and share the story.
Hi Michelle, tell us a bit about your background.
Thank you, Dr. Mehmet, for this opportunity to share my experience in life, which has shaped me into who I became; I am mighty proud of my parents for doing their very best in the times we are in as this is not an easy task, but my moral compass is on track for good as it has been since I was 5 years old.
My ministry began~ embracing kindness over Kool-Aid with an elderly neighbor named Opal in her kitchen every day listening to her stories for hours on end even though I did want to go play. But I was taught to have manners, so I stayed despite boredom. I am glad now as my ministry has expanded exponentially, thanks to the use of the internet and the kind people I encounter every day.
Many years of embracing belief in the best in people until otherwise proven. By keeping myself from harm at all costs for the good of humanity and more importantly myself.
I was raised in a suburban town in Los Angeles, Downey, California, surrounded by warring cities but we were at peace when I was there. I was raised Catholic and do have a fondness for the Catholic Tradition but, currently, claim no faith, although it is at the heart of my ministry to listen to the voice of God and that of his heavenly entourage.
When I settled down for 31 years with the father to my 3 children and grandfather to my granddaughter, we decided to leave the Los Angeles area to bring up our kids in a quieter city away from the evils of fast city life and the gangs that were encroaching our beloved Downey, California.
Now I am a long-time resident of the Central Coast of California, specifically Santa Maria, which means Holy Mary of whom I have a very special relationship kinship with heaven.
Writing is my passion and my trade; I love crafting narratives about abuse and more importantly recovery of all kinds. I write anywhere and everywhere and am rather hard to track because I also have several pennames to keep myself with the pulse on the people, the true pulse, not the agenda of whoever it is who keeps us at war with one another.
I speak out against injustice with kindness and reasoning which is more often ignored than paid attention to but the more I speak my truth of who I am and my mission the more empowered I feel and those I encounter in my online zig-zagging experiences.
I do hold a master’s in psychology and a bachelor’s in sociology. My degrees have been useful only for foundational knowledge of these subjects which still fascinate me. One day I may earn my doctorate but I am too busy enjoying a quiet life on my own for now with my faithful pup.
Homeschooling was also a huge part of my life with my kids and other kids who loved my eclectic passionate teaching style; I started a homeschool school group back in 2006 named Our Lady of Sorrows OLS Academy, but it didn’t work back then; I have hope one day for a school of my own to run and one never knows when an opportunity will present itself so I am prepared.
I taught special education children for several years and also taught as an adjunct professor at the local community college, sociology 101; until a situation arose that immediately ended my position by my choice. This often happens to me that impossible situations follow me around and I do my best to navigate it all with kindness and hopefully humility, knowing I mess up, but am quick to correct any errors as best I can.
My children are grown now and all successful in their endeavors. However, what I do like the most is that they are all avid readers because of my example and trickery when they were growing up to love library visits and nature, which they appreciated. They all have their priorities right.
I support myself with writing projects around world peace and have been doing so for several years now. It’s strangely exciting to meet each day with new awe and wonder at how my writing efforts make an impact in small and big ways no matter as long as I help one person is my mantra…
What are your hobbies, or what excites or entertains you?
Walking all over town and the local trails especially at sunset with my dog, yoga all day as my body requires to be able to sit long hours at my laptop and not have body pain.
Teaching children and people varied concepts excites me when I see them understand it after a challenging moment or two of bewilderment in not getting it quickly but using it as a lesson to have patience, especially with ourselves.
My teaching methods are unusual and effective usually, although my success rate is high but is not infallible. I love Socratic style of teaching and also Ramona Spalding who penned Writing Road to Reading, which I implemented with each of my kids and others effectively bringing out the ease in learning with the organization of the alphabetical letters to not scare children of the English language.
What are the top three books that affected your life?
The Bible to be used for reference, not literal applications, Mans Search for Meaning by concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl, and also I love all books on Eastern thought particularly the origins of yoga and meditation, but too many to choose from although I am very fond of Yogananda, an Indian-American Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to meditation.
Why do you write on Medium?
I started out writing on Medium very timidly. I didn’t know if I would be accepted because of my unusual stories, but I have been embraced by many and am now happy to be writing my best efforts on your publications~ Readers Hope and Illumination.
But I would be at fault if I did not mention my former business partner, Som Dutt from India, who taught me how to write to make an impact and leave a memory or two… Thank you, India!
I have now organized my writing around narcissistic abuse recovery, shattering the stigma surrounding mental illness and also around unnecessary societal failings.
Do you write on other platforms like Substack? If so, how do you find them?
Other platforms have also been accepting of my writing efforts. I find all the communities unique and seemingly interested in only niche topics I choose to write about so it is a lot of trial and error and data analysis of my reads, and comments to answer and I answer every one, even the negative feedback which is par for the course.
I also do learn if I can which countries are visiting my blogs. On Substack, I share parts of my memoir, Eternal Flame Memoir, which is all of my life up until December 2022 when I had a life-changing moment that brought me online which I love.
I also love to pen personal essays to help people in my life grow from my intelligence in figuring out how people tick and help them to tick better. I just today published my coming out to the world story on Substack.
I haven’t checked its stats because I check my stats at midnight but have hopes it might get read by my average up till today is 11 people read me. I am wondering today if that might change… We shall see! It’s thrilling and amazing at the same time!
On LinkedIn, I write about kratom as I am an expert and just got an affiliate deal with Dialed Moods to share my wealth of information with the public to help society feel better about themselves with a natural herb. Please check it out here if not for yourself but for another with mental health issues that just get worse, never better for long anyway…
What are your values as a writer?
I value ambition when it comes to helping the world, people who just want to be a positive force to reckon with all the evil. Truth at every level is right next to the augmentation of respect, dignity, kindness, hopeful messages, and the illumination of ideas that deeply provoke the psyche and, hopefully, the heart and soul. If I ever bore my audience even once I will quit, but I won’t believe it actually because I know my writing is powerful and speaks to certain people who found me here.
How do you connect with your readers?
I love all my readers and pray for them. I write to them in the comments and as God leads my heart. All my writing is autobiographical and follows my heart’s measures of devotion since being online. I vacillate between personal essays of value for certain individuals, some famous. But I will never forget my message of hope in between all the despair of finding out who I am through my writing, meditation, and yoga. I have a universe inside me that just wants to touch others and guide others to better ways of thought or improvement rather for I have met many excellent people on my online journey to this point.
Why did you join ILLUMINATION, and how do you find it so far?
I joined ILLUMINATION because I love your writing and support other writers who support it. I have only submitted a couple of essays because it is hard for me to work on Medium right now because of their discrimination towards the country of India. I am disheartened by it all and hope that one day things will be fair again, and I can return with vigor and write passionately about many fine ideas for your publication. But for now, my writing is deeply personal, just to keep the algorithms going with residual income and maybe a few claps on my heart-wrenching stores.
What are the top five stories that you want to share with your audience and why?
Now, this is fun! I could put my best-performing stories and that would bring possible income to fund our world peace projects, but I wish to share one along with 4 top performers that carry our message of world peace nicely and has only earned .04 cents. No sacrifice in doing so as I always follow my heart and heaven…
These essays are all important, and I have no favorite. This first one When Will Our Sweet Sorrow Have a Name, carries my heart for the Untouchable who are the most mistreated people on the planet, individually and collectively. Please if you only read one essay read this one as it is imperative to my mission for people to understand the gravity of this offense before heaven.
When Will Our Sweet Sorrow Have A Name? This essay below 7 Signs of a Female Narcissist makes money every single day and has earned around $200 so far, I believe. I promote it everywhere when it stops going but get reminders from heaven to do so. It does have a life of its own, thankfully, because I am very forgetful to self-promote, but this article may bring me the readers I have always hoped for, or maybe not, as I never know really.
7 Signs of a Female Narcissist My closest friend, a retired therapist, shared her story with me about her abusive mother, who carries three personality disorders in one person in this real raw case study. I have been counseling her for many years in a friendly cohort of mutual understanding, and she permitted me to share her story of abuse recovery and hope! It’s wickedly beautiful and will tear at your heart for Marie; names changed for privacy purposes.
Understanding 3 Personality Disorders in 1: A Real Case Study How Quantum Entanglement Manifests is an essay that if you read it an comment you will become a part of the entanglement too so only enter if you have time to be perplexed by the quantum activity around the world and mainly in the USA now.
How Quantum Entanglement Manifests This is the one that I am donating to my love efforts, It is called Lay Your Head Down Darling and is dedicated to a special someone who may read this I never know. It only has one clap, please don’t ruin it, thanks. That means a lot. One is a very special and significant number for me. Lay Your Head Down Darling!
What are the success factors for you as a writer?
To be read, To be understood, To be appreciated, To be shared, To be valued, To be heard, To have a voice, That does matter. As I fly into my writing zone, I do not go alone sometimes.
What do you recommend to the new writers?
Write your passions! Never stop! Never give up! I didn’t! Quality or Quantity, No matter! Just write your heart…
But do organize it better than I have please as it will make it easer to reference your online presence also if you share there. And remember your private journals are more important than your public efforts, so take good care to journal every day you can your heart desires to yourself or another that holds your confidences.
Money does not matter, as remember~ God guides where he provides. I hope to hire many more writers one day but for now, feel free to join our blustering Facebook group we monitor but forgive us for not having heavy involvement as it is for self-reliant writers. We will keep updates coming as they come in sometimes rapidly real-time efforts and slowly more often in my world…
What are your plans as a writer or as a professional?
I don’t have any plans except to keep writing one kind essay at a time every day that I am alive here on earth. Always expanding on world peace projects which are my heart now. Ever moving in the direction of peace and prosperity and all that good stuff!
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