About Me

My name is Forest Dane Hanna. I am a writer, teacher, consultant, and lifelong learner interested in the relationship between story, reflection, emotional intelligence, and human growth.

Much of my work begins with a simple belief: we make meaning by returning to experience. We live something once, but through reflection we can revisit it, notice patterns, ask better questions, and discover what it has to teach us. That process becomes even richer when storytelling, emotional intelligence, and thoughtful AI-assisted reflection work together.

I call this approach Assisted Reflection. It is a recursive process of noticing, naming, revisiting, and refining. It helps individuals and groups slow down, pay attention, and turn experience into insight. Whether I am writing historical fiction, developing leadership training, facilitating laughter yoga, or helping a group reflect on its work, I am drawn to the same central question: how do we become more aware, more connected, and more fully human?

My background includes teaching, training, consulting, community service, and creative writing. I have worked with groups on leadership, emotional intelligence, communication, and reflection. I am also a Certified Laughter Yoga Instructor and believe deeply in the role of play, breath, rhythm, humor, and connection in helping people become more present and resilient.

As a writer, I am especially interested in stories rooted in place, memory, family, history, and moral choice. I believe stories help us see what ordinary life often hides. They allow us to explore grief, courage, failure, wonder, forgiveness, and the strange ways people keep going.

This site brings those interests together. Here you will find essays, reflections, stories, and resources connected to emotional intelligence, AI-assisted reflection, leadership, creativity, and the search for meaning.

My hope is that this becomes a thoughtful space — a place to reflect, connect, and grow.