About Joy

I'm JW "Joy" McKeeth, a passionate writer living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. In 2025, I became a powerful advocate for personal sovereignty after experiencing a blatant act of oppression, the kind that made me question the systems I once believed would protect me. This sent me researching the history of patriarchy and what actually lets oppression take hold in the first place. From that exploration, I was inspired to write Invitations to Love YOU More. I continually recognize that the love I feel for myself is what makes me strong enough to better stand up to oppression and seek justice and fairness through intentional words and actions.

Before I retired from a dynamic career with the University of Washington and Fred Hutch, I spent decades interviewing people, including those navigating extraordinarily challenging health circumstances. Through a varied background in research, hypnotherapy, mediation, hospitality, and transportation, I heard deeply personal stories from people from all walks of life, affording me a profound sensitivity to the human condition.

Not that I have a monopoly on dysfunctional childhoods, mine was a mix of love, chaos, and criticism. I was told, and for a long time believed, I was an accident. I also didn't understand why other people seemed to have life figured out and weren't asking the questions I felt compelled to ask. After experiencing 60 moves between California, Alaska, and Washington State, I finally created a stable environment for myself. Perhaps because of that, I considered what had the greatest impact on me from all the personal growth opportunities I sought at different times in my life. I think I was looking for "normal." Parenthood helped because through it, I experienced a profound love I'd never experienced before. I learned to love myself the way I loved my children, unconditionally.

Gatherings That Move was created to share the wealth of information I acquired along the way. The name reflects both the internal movement the Gatherings invite and their ability to be experienced in a variety of settings. Each Gathering is a curated adaptation of that acquired wisdom, designed to invite people to explore particular areas of their current lives, consider what truly matters to them, and strengthen their own personal sovereignty. The name is also a nod to the berry gatherers, the women who gathered to share knowledge, nourishment, work, stories, and wisdom, contributing meaningfully to the survival of their communities as equals.

I've become convinced that life happens now, and only while breath moves in and out of me, that I can only ever do what's directly in front of me, and that we each have to give ourselves permission to do it our own way. My Gatherings don't tell others what to do; they ask key questions to support others in their discernment of what they really want to do.

My retirement era brings a new purpose: to share the wisdom, motivation, perspective, and empowerment that came through and to me, so that others seeking greater internal freedom and a more authentic way of living can be offered concrete steps to develop and claim their own personal sovereignty.

I invite you to write your own "About YOU." Let's do something mindful together.