The author and her husband gave up corporate life in California and moved to a farm they purchased in Puerto Rico 17 years ago. © Courtesy of Sarah Ratliff
About – Mo’ Betta DigitalMo’ Betta Digital
My husband and I left our lucrative tech careers in California and bought a farm in Puerto Rico. 17 years later, we’re still happy with our decision.
Corporate America escapee turned eco-#organic#farmer, political & opinionated #writer and published book author.
Sarah Ratliff (@PuertoRicoSarah) / X
I have been writing from the Biracial and Multiracial perspective since I co-authored the book, Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide in 2015. Being Biracial is an anthology of essays from either Multiracial people or parents of mixed race kids.
In my essay I wrote about being the product of a Black and Japanese mother and a White (German, Dutch and Irish) father who were married in New York City in 1960.
I wrote about my experiences being “light, bright and clearly half White” while being raised to self-identify as Black, and of course, having to explain for the elevendy millionth time why I self-identified this way. I shared moments of complete vulnerability and isolation because I grew so frustrated trying to explain that being Black isn’t just about complexion but lived experiences as well… Read entire story Here.
Sarah Ratliff is a corporate refugee turned eco-organic farmer, writer, activist, serial entrepreneur and published book author. Along with 10-time published author, Bryony Sutherland, she is the co-author of the book Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide—an anthology of essays written by multiracial people or parents of multiracial kids from around the world. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and in Powell’s of Portland, Oregon.
Sarah is Black and Japanese on her mother’s side and German, Dutch and Irish on her father’s. Much of Sarah’s writing focuses on racial equality, feminism and politics. Sarah and her husband live on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.
Says one 5-star reviewer (who is White and the mother of two mixed kids) about the book: “Being Biracial is a book for all people, regardless of ethnicity. It’s a geography lesson of people and places, some of which were totally new to me. It’s a history lesson of governmental bigotry and it’s the story of twenty-four individuals. Some day perhaps we will celebrate our differences and our commonalities without judgment. This book will help us get there.” Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide by Sarah Ratliff | Goodreads
Her website is: Our Farm – mayanifarms.com
- My husband and I had careers in biotech, but never felt like we were built for the corporate world.
- We were seeking a different life, one that aligned with our nonconformist values and shared dreams.
- We moved to Puerto Rico and bought Home – mayanifarms.com a farm. Life isn’t easy, but it was the right choice for us.
Despite my husband and my family’s belief that our decision to leave the matrix to live on a homestead in the mountains was spontaneous, people don’t just wake up one day and realize they don’t fit in. That moment of clarity is the culmination of years of being different. After all, in high school, I was voted least likely to conform.
Both Paul and I were raised by Depression-era parents. We were expected to take a certain path: go to college, climb the corporate ladder, get married, and have 2.3 kids.
Always square pegs in round holes, Paul and I knew we weren’t built for the corporate world and the trappings of middle-class life. While our peers were happy being molded into successful corporatists who sought that lifestyle, we knew we were supposed to live on a mountain in peace and solitude, raising a few animals, and growing food.
VIDEO: Finding a home – and farm – in Puerto Rico – Search
Alongside Sarah and Paul Ratliff, 11 cats, three dogs, one bird, seven goats and pigs, one buck and too many chickens and ducks to count, have also taken up residence at the Ratliffs’ Spanish terracotta-style home in the misty mountains of Utuado, Puerto Rico.
Our dreams have always been aligned
The idea of lifelong devotion to a job that was only fulfilling on pay day and when we were out buying toys to distract us from the monotony, pained us both.
My husband and I started dating in 1997. Our first date was spent planning our escape from the corporate grind and living on that mountain. We knew we had to conform for a few more years to make the money needed to fund our shared dream. Our lifestyle afforded us two vacations annually, so we visited many potential locations: France, Mexico, several states, and Puerto Rico.
We were married seven years and living in Southern California by the time we left our jobs in biotech, in 2008. When the company we were both at announced layoffs, we saw it as the sign we needed. We put our house on the market, got our final stock awards, and quit our jobs.
The Island of Enchantment felt like home
We’d visited Puerto Rico twice. The second time we stayed on an eight-acre farm in a small town in the interior. As we drove up and down the mountain, we did as we’d seen others do, saying “Yo!” to everyone we saw. People probably wondered who these Americanos were with their funny accents. Between us, we spoke five words of Spanish.
Despite the language barrier, many invited us to their homes for dinner. By day four, I said to Paul, “It feels like we’ve been traveling for 40 years and now we’re home.” He agreed.
The mountain called to us
We knew we were looking for a farm, one that was large enough to offer us privacy and space for animals and lots of trees. We found a 15-acre farm in the same town we vacationed in, called Utuado.
When we bought it, it had 8,000 coffee trees, which we replaced with a rare collection of fruit trees, palm trees, and bamboo from throughout the tropical world. Today, we are consultants to people new to agriculture in the tropics. We raise goats, chickens, ducks, and a mascot pig named Cora. We usually have between three and five dogs and many cats (all outside). Our chickens remind us every morning why we threw out our alarm clock.
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The author says that their farm is now filled with many TK plants, including ginger, bamboo, and areca palms. © Courtesy of Sarah Ratliff
We were here for Hurricane Maria in 2017.
She took 40% of our trees.
Like all other farmers, we’ve spent the last eight years rebuilding. Having gone through the most destructive hurricane in Puerto Rico’s recorded history with the organic farming community, we’ve renewed our commitment to Puerto Rico and our lifestyle.
We’re living the life we were meant to
Our families have stopped asking, “When are you coming back home?” This time, we didn’t have to remind them, “We are home.” They got the message when we jumped into rebuilding the farm.
We speak more Spanish today than we did in 2008. I love being referred to as Doña, which is a title denoting respect for older women. Although our consulting business sustains us in many ways, we don’t make the money we used to. However, I still think our worst days on the farm are better than our best days in the corporate world.
I often wonder if, despite not following our parents’ wishes, if they were alive, they’d be proud of us. I hope so. I’ve certainly lived up to my high school mates’ predictions about me.
Sarah Ratliff Thyroid Cancer – Search
Sarah Ratliff is a 55-year-old writer from New York City who left her job in medical affairs 14 years ago to buy a farm in Utuado, Puerto Rico, with her husband. As well as taking care of the farm, she is a freelance health writer.
Perhaps because of her background writing about health care issues, Sarah paid attention to the fact that she had thyroid nodules. In 2015 she had an ultrasound which revealed she had several small nodules on both sides of her thyroid (3 on the left and 4 on the right). Read Entire Story Here
She had them biopsied and the results were benign. She did a lot of reading about nodules and thyroid cancer and decided that since they weren’t bothering her, she wouldn’t push for surgery. She had already had 15 other surgeries previously, including for melanoma.
In April 2019, she started having difficulty swallowing her vitamins and her voice was getting really hoarse. Upon seeing her doctor, she learned the nodules had grown in size. The largest had previously been 1cm and now the largest was over 6cm in size. Her voice was getting raspy because the large one was pressing on her vocal cords. Her FNA was now positive for TC.
By July, coincidentally her calcium levels were also very high which often signals parathyroid tumours (benign or cancerous), and is a condition that puts strain on the heart.
Sarah joined various Facebook support groups and learned how extremely important it is to have her surgery with a highly experienced thyroid surgeon. Based on that advice, she did her research and found the best ENT surgeon on the island, who did 5 thyroidectomies on average per day. She had a PT, taking out only the left side of her thyroid, plus (intentionally) two parathyroids on that side. She stayed in hospital for a few days monitoring her calcium levels, which she still needs to compensate for with daily doses of calcium, Vitamin D and magnesium.
Sarah said “My last suggestion is to maintain a very positive view. Attitude plays a huge role in the survival of anything. Do your research about the best doctors and the best hospitals, and then trust your care providers and put your faith in their hands. Believing in oneself and sending positive messages to oneself is so important. Assume the best.” LINK: https://bit.ly/3NjYW66
The New German Medicine (GNM) Emotion Chart is a conceptual tool used to illustrate the connection between emotional conflicts and physical symptoms. Developed by Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, GNM posits that every disease originates from a specific emotional shock or conflict that impacts the brain and subsequently affects a corresponding organ.
Key Concepts of the Emotion Chart
- Biological Conflict: Each illness is linked to a unique emotional experience (e.g., fear, anger, grief).
- Brain Relay: The emotional shock registers in a specific area of the brain.
- Organ Response: The brain relay then influences a particular organ or tissue, leading to symptoms.
What the Chart Typically Includes
- Types of Emotional Conflicts: Examples include abandonment, fear of loss, territorial anger, or self-devaluation.
- Affected Brain Regions: Each conflict correlates with a distinct brain layer (e.g., brainstem, cerebellum, cerebral cortex).
- Associated Organs: The chart maps which organs are impacted by each conflict.
- Healing Phases: It outlines the biological process from conflict-active phase to resolution and healing.
You can view a detailed version of the chart here or explore the full index of conditions and their emotional links on Index A-Z
Would you like help interpreting a specific part of the chart or exploring how it relates to a particular condition or emotion?
The Emotional Map of the Body: How Our Organs and Vagus Nerve Reflect Inner Emotions
15 Feelings Charts Printables for Adults 2023
Understanding German New Medicine: Navigating the Mind-Body Connection
Holistic Healing In German New Medicine: How To Manage Symptoms
What is German New Medicine? A Brief Intro – ANDI LOCKE MEARS
German New Medicine: 3 Essentials to Heal Your Body with the Mind
Emotions and their connections to organs & chakra connections
15 Feelings Charts Printables for Adults 2023
The New German Medicine (GNM) Emotion Chart
The Psycho-Emotional Roots of Cancer | Acupuncture Today
In the “Primary emotional issue” column I have put a few keywords from the previous chart for convenience, drawing from both right columns.
| Type of cancer | Primary emotional issues | Primary affected PNE centers |
| Thyroid | Disempowerment, lack of expression | Throat (5) |
| Lung | Fear of dying or suffocation, unrelenting grief | Throat and Heart (4 or 5) |
| Lymphatic | Loss of self-worth, pervasive fear | Sacral and Solar (2 or 3) |
| Breast | Separation conflicts, nurture issues | Heart (4) |
| Stomach | Stuffing anger, “swallowed” too much negativity | Solar (3) |
| Pancreatic | Anxiety, family conflicts, lack of sweetness | Solar and Heart (3 or 4) |
| Liver | Fear of starvation, longstanding anger/frustration | Solar (3) |
| Colon | Conflict, inadaptable | Root, Sacral or Solar (1, 2 or 3) |
| Uterine | Sexual conflict & abuse | Sacral (2) |
| Cervix | Severe frustration | Sacral (2) |
| Bone | Lack of self-worth, inferiority complex, issues with “will” | Root or Sacral (1 or 2) |
| Melanoma/skin | Feeling violated, out of touch, lack of integrity | any |
Summary
While most patients are aware of their surface emotions they are not as commonly in touch with the deeper causative levels that have helped create the life path culminating in their current issues and diseases. Practitioners who can evaluate and treat the emotional imbalances at the root of cancer can be of great assistance both for remedial treatment and raising the awareness of the patient.
Multi-modal therapy using energy medical modalities such as microcurrent, color light therapy and sound therapies are extremely valuable for establishing a true healing dialogue, both between the practitioner and patient and between the patient and their own inner self. The combination of acupuncture on selected points with color light therapy on the chakras has powerful effects at bringing hidden, blocked energies to the surface and facilitating positive transformation and release.
While most patients are aware of their surface emotions they are not as commonly in touch with the deeper causative levels that have helped create the life path culminating in their current issues and diseases. Practitioners who can evaluate and treat the emotional imbalances at the root of cancer can be of great assistance both for remedial treatment and raising the awareness of the patient.
Multi-modal therapy using energy medical modalities such as microcurrent, color light therapy and sound therapies are extremely valuable for establishing a true healing dialogue, both between the practitioner and patient and between the patient and their own inner self.
The combination of acupuncture on selected points with color light therapy on the chakras has powerful effects at bringing hidden, blocked energies to the surface and facilitating positive transformation and release.
Medical intuitive healer Catherine Carrigan interviews Ilsedora Laker, C.E.O. of www.gnminstitute.com, about the biological laws of German New Medicine.