About Luann Robinson Hull
Join me on the journey…
I was born in Decatur, a central Illinois farm-factory town. That’s where I lived until graduating from Milliken, the local college, with a degree in Elementary Education. I had some challenges as a kid—we all do if we are currently drawing breath on this planet. Living in a chaotic household, laced with perpetual conflict, I spent the duration of my developmental years attempting to cope with various combinations of anxiety and depression.
In my adolescent efforts for relief, I turned my focus to boys in hopes that the fairytale-make-believe stories of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty would manifest in my own life. I dressed-up for those boys, lived and breathed for them (completely under-functioning in school and elsewhere), and thought of little else.
Of course, I was repeatedly disappointed—mostly in myself. When I was 16, my mother and I moved to the Decatur Holiday Inn, a real doozy of a place. Later, we stayed with friends when she finally had the courage to leave my dad—after enduring 25 years of an abusive marriage. Following my parent’s divorce, I amped-up my mission to find “the right guy,” until eventually, years later in life, I realized that what I really needed was to find myself.
Following my own divorce, I had a wake-up call. I was a single mom of two little boys, who were looking to me to be their main mentor and support. Unless I got it together, we were all headed for a nose-dive. I had never pursued a career. Instead, I always chose to “stand by my man,” who I’d hoped would provide me with home ‘n hearth.
Now, with no Prince to save me…
Once I finally made the decision to take charge of my life, I got the memo. Co-dependency was an outdated model for relationships, one that desperately needed revision. In order to participate in creating a new paradigm, I began to cultivate my “life urge,” a term coined by noted psychiatrist Carl Jung.
For the next three years, I commuted to the University of Kansas (a five hour, roundtrip drive from Wichita to Lawrence) and graduated with a Masters in Clinical Social Work. I was constantly fortified by my sons, my mother, cousin Annie …and that life-urge.
After graduation, I began my career in clinical practice, which I walked away from within several years to pursue my doctorate with Matthew Fox at his newly found University of Creation Spirituality. My dissertation project, which explored human evolution and how it impacts our relationships with ourselves and others, morphed into my first book, Happily Ever After… Right Now.
The pursuit of my personal life urge has bestowed many blessings. I co-founded the Conscious Global Leadership Conference at the Aspen Institute in 2010 and taught extensively to share my research findings into the intersections between science and spirituality. I’ve won two book awards, been a featured blogger for the Huffington Post, and forged relationships with prominent teachers, authors and dignitaries around the world.
My constant joy resides outside my door in the Colorado Rockies, hiking in every season, and savoring treasured time with family and friends.