TEDxChemungRiver - Colleen Parsons - Choices Change Us December 23, 2011

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Colleen Parsons says, "TED has changed my life in so many incredible ways. Four years ago, I watched a documentary about TED and applied to attend what is now known as TEDActive. Who would have thought I would be accepted?! That is where I learned that TED event attendees are not just an audience. They are participants in the TED experience and just as important as the people on stage. I will be attending my fourth TEDActive conference in February. I am very excited about representing TEDxChemungRiver for the first time at TEDActive!"

Colleen is a registered nurse with experience spanning 34-years and has focused on psychiatric/mental health on inpatient units and with adolescents in community/group home settings. Early in her career she also gathered nursing skills in geriatrics and labor & delivery. Presently she is Nursing Team Leader for Southern Tier Hospice and Palliative Care -- seemingly a departure from previous experiences. Her résumé also includes business, agriculture, veterinary expertise, and lots of volunteer work.

Colleen and her husband work Capricorn Hill Farm in Pine City, NY where they raise meat goats, pasture poultry (layers and broilers) and an assortment of pets (dogs, cats, ducks, geese, burros). This was the homestead to a defunct cow dairy operation -- one of the most successful in the county in its day which started back before the Civil War as a tiny three room log cabin.

Colleen also runs Inner Decisions as a spiritual life coach and medium helping people connect with their personal "journey into wholeness". She sees individuals for coaching, readings and past-life therapy sessions. She holds classes on non-religious based spirituality, alternative healing practices, metaphysical workshops and leads a Sunday morning group through "An Hour with Spirit". Colleen has been studying metaphysical-based spirituality for over four decades and has had considerable success at helping others on similar adventures.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)