solara silver

I taught marketing courses in higher ed for 11 years. Twice each year, a capstone group project was assigned.  Coming from a background as a corporate trainer, I was well-versed in adult education theory and methods. This experience not only gave me a little edge in understanding the psychology beneath a number of factors that make projects, in general, fail or succeed, but it informed me on the unique challenges and importance of project-work in general.  Accordingly, one thing that was standard policy in my courses was choice ; students could choose to work in semi-randomly assigned groups or work alone.  By a show of hands I would get a sense of the students who wanted to work alone-- typically a small number, and then conduct an abbreviated Insights-style assessment for everyone.  At the conclusion of the 10 or so question assessment, I would ask: "Where are the yellows in the group?" The "yellows" eagerly raised their hands and I would ask them to "come on...

There's a gorgeous and growing silent majority in our country. They live in every state and  come from every background and human shade. Their key defining feature? Their ability to sense benevolence through the energetics of the human heart. What is benevolence? The stance of "do not harm" --- of not hurting anyone or anything intentionally or as a matter of policy.  As many more of us notice and realize the harms caused by the cultural expressions of malevolence*, a gentle energy is activated that naturally awakens an inner call to speak up and out. Despite the machinations of our current systems it is no match for the vast, living data base that informs the human spirit and heart. Accordingly, our response to current events is lived through the ability to move towards that which is beautiful and just;  that which serves humanity and is designed for our collective common good.   *Cultural expressions of malevolence  violence and abuse of women (verbal, physica...

Looking back on my career, its evolution, involution, and refinement, I can see that purpose was a lens.  In corporate America, the purpose lens was commonly teased out by way of psychological assessments like Insights and MB which reduced us to a type, or a color, or a shade of something we could hold and admire about ourselves.  As we age and mature, our purpose is less so about an avatar or sequence of letters, and more about a longing or yearning that lives deep within our hearts.  In the meantime, purpose is what happens when we're busy searching and making other plans.        By Mayra Porrata ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC Photo: Miyu and me (selfie)-- Yes, that's MIYU the great cat INFLUENCER (lol) 

I was introduced to the work of David Whyte in the 1990's-- in corporate America of all places.  At the time, I was a young project manager in a leadership development rotation through our training and development department.  My primary mentors, three profoundly generous and wise women took me under their wings like the baby bird that I was. Each of them not only  illuminated the technical aspects of adult learning protocols and processes, but who they were as human beings. It was a life and career altering rotation to say the least.    As a young professional I hardly had the depth or maturity to understand what David Whyte was talking about or what most of it meant. But when this poem, Sweet Darkness re-found me in 2009 it both  haunted and changed my life. Today, I understand and have lived every single word and maybe you have too.   Sweet Darkness (in the collection The House of Belonging ) When your eyes are tired the world is tired a...

Sometimes our best laid travel plans go sideways or nowhere at all. When this happens it's easy to feel angry or somehow defeated. For me, travel plot-twists always trigger anxiety and prompt me to slow way down, get grounded, and pay close attention so that I can reassess.  At times like this it's good to remind ourselves that our guardian angels and Spirit guides know better than we do. While we may not always understand all the reasons why something dissolves in real-time, we can rest assured that if we remain calm and allow all the feelings to pass through us they will. You can still cry about it if you want (I sure do!), but I also trust that divine timing has better plans for me.   By Mayra Porrata ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC

As a long-time advocate for women and children, I invested a great deal of time and energy testifying and educating others about systems and policies that hurt women and single mothers in particular. Through my own journey I was able to see more clearly what undermines us all.  There’s a powerful lesson I learned from observing nature: anything built on a false foundation is bound to implode or dissolve. Applying this wisdom to human partnerships, institutions, and culture can help us to better understand what is worthy of our effort and what requires our letting go. Building the new systems, structures, and policies require the heart and wisdom of all who have been tenderized by life. Thankfully, there are millions of us who carry the lessons within us, as well as the deep knowing and conviction of those who fought the good fight with us.   By Mayra Porrata | comments: mayra@solarapublishing.com ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC

Women become wise slowly. It begins when we pause to look plainly at all the ways life went wrong, or sideways, or simply stopped being kind. But more importantly, all the ways it lifted, tenderized, and directed our own course. We grow wise from the inside: through the thousand and one betrayals that forced our adaptation and disillusionment; from the courage to walk away from partnerships built on false foundations; from the patience of allowing the same tender lessons of life to touch those who betrayed our hearts—and that includes ourselves.    There’s a powerful prayer I learned in graduate school—the Gestalt prayer (see Fritz Perls) which goes like this: "I do my thing and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, And you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful. If not, it can't be helped." The medicine of life is there for all of us. ...

As an Aquarian woman, it took me a long time to understand that my deep humanitarian sensitivities and emotional intelligence are not the same thing. From my experience, emotional intelligence (emotional availability) is an activation that enables us to sense or perceive beyond the confines of our mind. This sensory enhancement provides a new language that leads to a broader and deeper knowing, and therefore an expanded intelligence in us.  What some call ‘woke’, commonly used as an insult or derogatory slur, is nothing more than a God-given power and grace that’s available to us all. This activation can occur anytime we’re open to it. For me it was introduced in small doses via friends, colleagues, and family, and then fully received as a heavenly zip-file sometime after my daughter died. Needless to say, this has been a profound process and ongoing deepening of my own humanity --  a revelatory process that has become my new normal and way of life. If you’re not...

We encounter many bridges on the road of life; some we only cross once and some we have to go back and forth on until we master the fear, the lesson, and the gift that can only be found on the other side.  By Mayra Porrata | comments: mayra@solarapublishing.com ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC Photo credit: Mari Peterson

My daughter Serena was a bit of a genius. She was also a noble soul who could lay down a sassy, life-changing, one-liner with the precision of a skilled neurosurgeon.  When she spoke, I not only listened, I took notes, and those notes are hidden in plan sight in my books and in most everything I do.  My daughter Camille embodies a different kind of magic. Her genius is her heart and the emotional depth she brings to every single thing she does. Her love language? Gift-giving. In fact, she gifted me one of my greatest life-lessons when she was only 8-years old.  My daughters are two of my greatest teachers. Their intelligence is so obvious and beautiful that it doesn't seem like intelligence at all-- but it is-- it is pure wisdom and pure gold.  By Mayra Porrata | comments: mayra@solarapublishing.com ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC

A brief and tender story (for adults)-- especially for anyone who has ever been confused or suppressed their own wisdom and light.   https://mayraporrata.com/b/misadventuresofana By Mayra Porrata | comments: mayra@solarapublishing.com ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC

There’s a bit of backlash against over-helping technologies— the kind of tech that assumes it knows better than you. It don’t. (lol). Last summer, I was nearly crushed by an oncoming truck on a two-lane rural road. I was behind a farm tractor and was waiting for the perfect time to pass it. When I changed lanes, my car decided I had somehow lost my mind—and it had to protect me by slowing my car – so much so, that the oncoming truck was now within range and I had to slam my breaks and quickly accelerate in the middle of my lane change. I’m an experienced driver, but I was lucky.  Over-helping tech harms people every day—it is not intuitive – not respectful of human choice, consent, and sovereignty and maybe that’s the point. This kind of over-helping, over-reach is everywhere and more consumers are simply opting-out. Do you want me to write this for you? NO. Do you want us to design a website with our space-age blah, blah? NO. Do you want us to tell you how much sleep you didn’...

Back in the day, when I was a young corporate project manager, I was asked to do a rotation in the education/training department of our company — a then Fortune 100 company. Having worked on a hugely successful technology transition for well over three years, the thought of shifting gears, which to me felt like a total downshift, felt like a slap in the face. Moving from the fast-moving and intoxicating world of technology to learn and teach “soft-skills” was not on my life bingo or career card. As a Capricorn moon (lol) and Aquarius sun, people matters were for other people—for the people managers, coaches and counselors of the world.   I didn’t know it then, but I was being schooled by life. I was being led. And though I protested and thrashed, I knew there was a deeper purpose for this career and life plot-twist of mine. My sense is that at this time in human history all of us are being schooled. While millions are locked into the fast-moving and intoxicating world of t...