With accurate facts, we can learn more about ourselves, and where we connect in the larger world. Creating false impressions and fancifical families does nothing but harm to our spirits, even as it may boost our egos.

Despite my best intentions and efforts, I make mistakes here on the site from time to time. I figure we're all doing the best we can, and deserve one another's forgiveness. I request yours. I welcome feedback on goofs I may have made, because I appreciate the opportunity to make things right when I can. I also welcome requests for help. I do what I can, refer to Curators, and I don't hesitate to tell you when something is 'out of my league'.

About info found 'online': While our enthusiasm for 'finding family' is commendable, we must all stop and ask "How do I know whether what I have found online is true?" There is much genealogical misinformation online - much that has been copied from old books, from family legends, and from other sites, and that either cannot be proven to be true or that is outright incorrect. For this reason it is important to know how to determine whether a given item of family information is true.

Word to the wise: Please request to collaborate instead of requesting profile management - for numerous reasons. (See Curator Bjorn Brox's explanation.)

I do my Geni work in patches, between major life events (work projects, creative endeavors, health concerns, world situations that require my involvement, etc.) I expect this will be the rule of thumb for the foreseeable suture. Sometimes I'm 'On' (hot and heavy, with many hours, even days/weeks all in a row), and then sometimes I'm 'Off', depending... During the 'Off' times, I probably won't answer messages for weeks at a time.

I appreciate the fact that we are all connected, and have a place like Geni to find out more about ourselves and each other.  I focus on finding validated bloodlines through possibly mythic connections.  It's so nice to feel like we're connected to 'somebody special', but we're all special - whether we have a bloodline we can trace through the Famous people of history.  But sometimes, tracing bloodlines through history, helps us know better who we are.  That's why I do what I do.

Gwyneth McNeil
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A bit about me:

Birth Name: Gwenna Potter Legal name change April 15, 1993 (as a result of a spiritual experience):

Gwyneth Potter McNeil 

A favorite quote (and how I experience my life...):

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." --Albert Einstein

I have been interested in genealogy since I was young, - and making connections with my 'family'.

I remember meeting my great-grandmother, Elvina Roberts Rust, when I was 4 years old. She came to visit, and I remember feeling a bit nervous about this very old woman I'd never seen before. She put me right at ease when she un-wound the long braid from around her head and showed me how when it was all unwound, it touched the floor. We talked for awhile and my great-grandmother became my friend.

Other Personal Interests: Spirituality, Awakening, Life Learning, Hypnosis, Hypnosis Training, NLP, Reiki, Reiki Training, Breathwork, Life Coaching, Genealogy, Gardening, Outdoors, Nature, Peace, Harmony, Creating Beauty, Honesty & Fulfillment in relationship, Marketing, Internet Marketing, Personal Development, Dogs, Nutrition, Gourmet Cooking, Herbs, Medicinal Herbs, Outdoor Cooking, Camping, canoeing, sailing, Hiking, Back-packing, poetry, (both reading & writing), target-shooting, music that lifts my soul, a good movie, rich conversation, a good laugh.

Besides my traditional education (BA in psychology, Certificate in addiction counseling), I treasure the mentoring I've had from Zhen Ying Chang, James Mooney, Gurucharan Kalsa, and many others whom I consider Masters in their arts.

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Addendum, May 10, 2020 - Comment to a newly found distant Cousin, re-posted here for my "point of view" on disconnections made by the Geni Curators in recent years from those considered heroic and "legendary" figures in the Geni Family Tree: Hi Scott - I happened to see your comment about being disconnected to the line for Augustus, the 1st Roman Emperor, and I share your dismay. The Curators have made many disconnections in the Geni database, because of their efforts to adhere to legitimate records that can be verified. In so doing, they have also "broken the hearts" of many Geni workers who have found a sense of stability and deep grounding with even the possibility of historical connections with those of renown in the long past. It's a distinct sense of the loss of a heritage that make us feel more "whole" and connected through history to the human race. They meant well, and I understand their motives, but the damage has now been done, the the Geni Tree will never serve with the same sense of joy and fulfillment it once did - facts be damned. If you read my Geni profile, you will find that I value factual information - but sometimes the facts pale in the face of possible larger gain to be had. Hard choice to make, true - and that is THE sole reason I chose some years ago not to be a Curator, when invited to do so. I didn't want to be in the position where I might have to make the choice of dead facts. or living legend. I chose life - and still do. However distant the Geni algorithm says we are, please accept my gratitude for being able to connect with you here on Geni, as LIVING family. Good to meet you, Cousin!