Joan M. Landis

My name is Joan Landis and I have been morbidly obese for my entire 40 years.  I feel I have a unique perspective on the subject of human interaction and of the personal and social effects of those interactions.   I have quietly watched and studied them since I was a teen.  As part of my quest to thoroughly understand these issues from all perspectives, I earned a Bachelors Degree in Psychology with a second major in Sociology at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania.  I have spent most of my adult years employed in the Human Services field—working with individuals with mental retardation, mental health issues, and physical disabilities.  I have also worked as a Customer Service Representative for both an insurance company and an electric company—which left me with a strong conviction that customer service principles should be practiced in all arenas.  I have been a trainer in a number of different programs and love to assist people when learning something new.  My greatest role as a teacher has been as the parent of several children as well as a grandparent. 

My soul mission is to use the last 40 years of experiences, trials, observations and triumphs as a base of knowledge and expertise in assisting others to embark on their own journeys of self-discovery, love and healing.  We must first learn to love ourselves, as we are, in order to find the strength to move on and make the changes we need to make, regardless of the issues we face.  In the midst of helping others, I will also put all of the knowledge I have gained into practice and will finally bring my health and fitness level back to what it once was and needs to be again, and I will do it while relying solely on God.  I will prove that He is the key, and we need to return to Him in order to get this world back on track.   

We need to love and appreciate each other more than we hate and resent each other.  We need to build one another up rather than tearing each other down.  We need to remind each other of our strengths more than pointing out each others weaknesses.  We have been doing things backwards for a long time and it is my mission to help turn the world right side up again........more smiles, less frowns.....more joy, less sorrow. 

I am very proud of my accomplishments to this point and hope, with the success of this book and others as well as a speaking career, to continue to add to my list of achievements as I help others discover their purpose and mission in this world while learning to have gratitude for all that they do have.  Please feel free to contact me through my web site if you want to learn more, ask questions or if you just need an ear to listen.