Hi, I'm Daniela
I’ve always been fascinated by stories: human behaviors and interactions, what drives us, how we relate with one another, what makes us tick—basically, what makes us be who we are – have presided my curiosity and my fantasies.
I now know that having lost my father as a toddler led me to develop a wild imagination as a child, I would create different characters in various circumstances—some of them with both parents, some of them with none, some of them unconcerned with parents (what a relief)—and I would imagine what their lives, relationships, hopes, and fears would be.
Having grown up with some privileges also helped; I’ve been fortunate enough to be raised by strong women and kind men. My family made sure I had as many resources to develop myself as possible, communication was fairly open, and it felt as if I had permission and, frankly, an obligation to be strong.
I began to ask myself what I didn’t know, which were very profound questions at an early age:
- What are we here for?
- What does it mean to be a human, a woman?
- Are there right or wrong ways of being?
- Are we all the same?
- Do we want the same things? Should we?
I traveled and moved to 4 different countries searching for answers to these questions, in 2010 I landed in Miami, where I decided to become a psychotherapist.
Through my work as a clinical therapist working with a wide variety of populations in the already diverse culture of South Florida, I’ve come to realize that these questions are not unique to me; most of us are in constant search for meaning. We long to have a sense of belonging, we want to love and be loved, and we want to experience life to its fullest, but we tend to forget that if we want light, we must also be willing to investigate the dark, both externally and internally.
Giving ourselves space to think about these kinds of questions keeps us connected with our humanity, with our purpose and values. In that space we learn to navigate our never-ending inner conflicts, we listen to ourselves with curiosity rather than judgment which almost always results in fine-tuning our skills to manage external conflict and relational complexities increasing our ability to see reality for what it is, and to choose our responses with awareness and authenticity.