On paper, I am a former beauty queen and Radio City Rockette who went onto study the science of positive psychology under the world’s leading thinkers in wellbeing. 

 

A recipe of grit and optimism made the world my oyster—and from glittery costumes and great stages to the hallowed halls of Ivy League academia, I dreamed of writing a book on goal setting and achievement in an empirically validated manifesto on a life worth living. 

 

But as the story goes, motherhood came along and knocked the wind out of my perfection sails with an intervention clad birth that led to a postpartum struggle, and the question:

 

How does the science of happiness really apply to everyday living?  

 

You can read on about how I lived my way to that answer in my essay on a journey to be WHOLE, but I meet you here as a stay-at-home mom of five who has been contemplating wellbeing theory for nearly two decades while attempting to raise thriving humans. 

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"Vulnerability is the birthplace of growth."

 

Given my area of “expertise,” I don’t offer advice that’s not applicable during the witching hour, because I’ve been following my calling to be a storyteller since my “failed experiment” in applying Positive Psychology to motherhood. That’s when I started writing simply to cope—wondering if I would ever find the courage to share my truth about how hard happiness can be to locate in a world that expects and demands perfection, especially if you are a mom in need of authenticity above all. 

 

Then one night I found myself in the ICU Burn Unit with my toddler son who was fighting for his life. I was 36 weeks pregnant with a baby needing surgery and had left my 4-year-old at the scene of an accident that happened in the heart of my home….

 

Panic began to set in, but going into labor would have made a bad situation even worse, so I picked up my phone and composed an email to friends asking for help. The next morning, my inbox was flooded with so many well-wishes, I started a blog simply to keep everyone in the loop. 

 

Through our month-long ordeal in and out of the hospital and the two surgeries that saved my son’s life, I leaned into vulnerability by writing and sharing the stories of wholeness that were my birthplace of growth and transformation. 

 

"Just as we must actively fight despair,

we must work at allowing the experience of joy."

 

In my Archive, you’ll find the essays on resilience and motherhood that led me from struggle to hope and my career as a writer. My work has appeared in publications from parenting to psychology and mainstream media, and my forthcoming memoir on faith and flourishing takes you on a journey from my experience as a performer, through the struggle and joys of motherhood, to a cave in France—in search of Mary Magdalene and the good within our midst.

 

To learn why I’m so passionate about a woman at the heart of the early Christian movement who has long been marginalized, you can head over to Substack and read my essay, Why Does Mary Magdalene Matter, Anyway?

 

If you are inspired by my spiral of goodness, subscribe to my newsletter, The Artistry of Faith to receive my notes on love and miracles filled with the sort of awe and sacred creativity I write about here.

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You will also find me @TheMagdaleneThread, where there is a growing treasure of stories, science, and ancient spiritual wisdom on the divine feminine—from the ancient goddess to Mary Magdalene, shared in essays and podcasts for the modern woman.

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To follow my adventures in everyday magic, find me on Instagram @aliciarassad, but know that my intention in each creative space is to demystify the spiritual experience by weaving a tapestry of hope about the miracles that transformed my life. 

 

I'm opening my heart and journals to share my truth about Love with the spirit of dancer Isadora Duncan, who once said,

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"You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you."

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xo,