August 2021 Blogs

AUGUST 9, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

Faith and Fear both demand you believe in something you cannot see. You choose! Bob Proctor

Choice is every bit a part of our daily lives...when do we go to bed, when should we rise, what will we cook for dinner, or should we go out instead is the conversation cluttering our thinking with these small yet significant choices.

Fear almost prevented me from vacationing with my family this summer because I first had to travel alone to meet them. The inner dialogue chatting within me was will I be safe, can I problem-solve enough to navigate new airports and cities, am I spending too much money?

Fear is like a snake coiling around its prey. Fear robs us of opportunity, experiences, and life.

Faith is knowing we are enough, that we are equipped with what we need at all times. Faith is trusting in what we cannot see, touch, or taste...but what we feel is right.

In my memoir, Choosing To See, I titled a chapter, "When Faith and Fear Collide."

We all choose daily where we put our energy...will it be fear or will it be faith? Which one we we allow to win? It's our choice!

Helen Keller noted that, “the best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or touched, but felt in the heart.”

Helen trusted her intuitive faith to guide the direction she chose to take during her life. Keller’s wisdom encapsulated in her words impresses upon us how significant the emotions we feel are truly the reality and that is what we should trust.

AUGUST 10, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"Look for the flowers of Joy growing in the rich soil of adversity."

Sarah Young

I am a gardener! Digging in the dirt is a part of daily life. When a portion of a plant begins to turn brown , I cut if off, so the rest of the plant can continue to maintain its health. When the flowers are not as lively and vibrant, I place compost and manure around the roots to revitalize them. Unpleasant waste enables the seed to spring back into life.

The quote reminds me that the adversity, we would all love to avoid, is actually the fertilizer for our souls. Challenges and problems are necessary for our mental, physical, and spiritual growth.

My daughter told me how she feels so mentally inept before beginning a new class for her masters degree only to pull and A after it is over.

I ran four miles this morning and had to physically push through the last mile with all that I had. From time-to-time, I lose connection with my Source, my inner voice, until settling down to be still and to reacquaint myself to peace.

Peace to you all today.

AUGUST 11, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"It is not the length of life but the depth of life."

Robert Frost

Find meaning in each new day, for each day is a gift just waiting to be unwrapped. Push aside fear and all the "what ifs." Discover and Experience!

My friend finally worked up the courage to try something she had never done before. She was elated and overwhelmed at how good she felt to have pushed out from beyond herself! I always tell my students to try new things; the worst that can happen is that they don't like it. Or they just might find their passion.

Time is precious and should not be taken for granted!

Live deeply!

Peace to you all today.

AUGUST 12, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"I just give myself permission to suck...I find this hugely liberating."

John Green

What if I don't want to be positive today?

Toxic positivity is a term recently thrown out into our dialogue. When we are told to look on the bright side, or that we have so much to be thankful for, and just focus on the positive, they are suggesting we ignore what our bodies are trying to communicate. It certainly isn't doing anything to correct the problem either. By ignoring the signals, we fail to recognize and honor the needs of our mind, body, and spirit.

An excellent book, The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D., reports how the residual influences of trauma affects us. It also includes what happens to our bodies when we don't deal with our problematic situations. The only way to truly overcome is to face it, and go through it...not around, over, or under, but through.

Some days will not be bright. Things will not be fine. Give yourself permission to feel depleted, cheated, invisible, and lonely. Give yourself permission to grieve. Nothing lasts forever whether it be good or bad, happy or sad. Be consoled to know that your suffering will lessen and not sting so badly, but it will still reside within you because it has become a piece of you. But just a piece.

How much power will you allow your pain to have over you?

I allow myself to be out of commission every so often because I need to feel my loss. I turtle inward, I cry, I get angry, I avoid people. I give myself a few hours, and then by a designated time, I open the curtains letting in the light. I am energized enough to reenter the world once more. I feel better. I am stronger.

An excerpt from my memoir, Choosing To See: How Miracles Carry Us Through To The Other Side Of Grief

If life events only went the way in which we want them to, we’d never manifest into greatness...the greatness that the Light intended. Although it is so difficult, I am learning to release things I cannot change. I know how I want things to go, but I don't get to make the call. Of course we want to avoid problems and loss, but problems and loss manifest transformation. Problems build and reshape our lives as we flower into our true intended self. Power is gained through loss. Losing invites reflection, discussion, and compromise. As we reassemble the broken pieces that our challenges and pain have gifted to us, our lives now mimic beautiful mosaics. The most beautiful works of art are compiled and created out of the shards of brokenness, and we are the most treasured artform because we are designed by God.

Peace to you all today.

August 13, 2021 Quote of the day

"Life's storms prove the strength of our anchors."

The Nautical Wheeler

Like most of you, notifications come across social media during the day asking if we want to see the photos of what happened a year or more ago. Usually, I don't click on it because I can easily go down the rabbit hole of what my life was before I lost my husband, Jim. A couple of days ago though I did click on the prompt. It was a picture of the two of us together by a huge anchor on the grassy shore of Lake Michigan. We were in Wisconsin at my mother-in-law's family reunion; she was the oldest of ten, so it was quite the celebration! Smiles and laughter abounding! The anchor reminded me of the importance of finding security.

As I have shared with you in an earlier blog, I read 22 books the first year without Jim. I have searched my notes, but I cannot find where I learned about the importance of finding an anchor. When I find it, I will happily give due credit. Here is the summation:

When going through changes, whether minute or monumental, hang onto one unchangeable variable, an anchor. For me, it was my library card! Let me explain.

After a couple of years, I could no longer stay in our home. Memories were thick and lingered around every corner, in every room, and staying there was preventing me from growing beyond myself. It was our home, not mine or his, but ours. We talked about what each of us would do if the other was not here. Jim's plan was to "burn it to the ground" and move to San Francisco. He would work remotely, and fly into St. Louis once a month to see our children, grandchildren, and PGAV, then fly back. On the other hand, I wanted to be around people, so moving to the city was my thought. I wanted community and the ability to walk to restaurants and socialize.

When I decided I had to leave, I walked city neighborhoods nearly every weekend for almost two months. I took my dog, Phoebe with me and visited several neighborhoods I liked, but none of them felt right. I had to reset my plan, and I remembered the advice of anchoring. My anchor I determined was my zip code! If I stayed in the same zip code, I would not have to change my library card, my credit cards, and all the other entities.

I found the perfect house for me less than six miles from our home. It is beautifully interwoven with our lives together and the one I now have without him. I am more balanced and securely anchored.

Knowing what my anchor is grounds me. Crazy that it is a series of five numbers!

My friends, my family, and my faith are the ropes tied to that anchor.

What is your anchor?

Peace to you all today.

MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Isaac Newton

I am so incredibly grateful for the people in my life. Be sure to tell those who are the "strong shoulders" in your life how much they mean to you today!

An Excerpt from Choosing to See: How Miracles Carry Us Through To The Other Side of Grief

Claiming to be self-made is an untruth, for we all stand upon the shoulders of others. Maybe we’d like to think we are where we are because of what we alone have accomplished, but that is arrogant, so ego-driven, so exaggerated.

Parents and caregivers first teach trust and unconditional love through the bond of families. As our world enlarges, we learn more lessons by inviting and embracing new experiences through relationships outside our familial bonds. Our teachers, friends, employers, and clergy empower us to communicate, to listen, and to understand each other even if it means we agree to disagree. Marriage, loving each other's true self, is the ultimate connection; standing before one another stripped entirely of our earthly confines, discovering and truly knowing deep, unfathomable love. What mighty shoulders we stand upon!

Every encounter, every soul gifted to us, is like a pulsation of energy surging us into the purposeful direction where we need to travel. I am so grateful for the immeasurable love of those who hoisted me up to get me through and onward. God provides all that is good, and He has given me everything I need to heal from the loss of my husband. God provided for me the shoulders to support me as I trek through each aspect of my life.

God’s beautiful gifts, those miraculous souls, are like lily pads floating across a stream enabling me to warily step from one side of the bank to the other. One lily pad at a time, one moment at a time, until suddenly finding myself across.

I’ve been told that I am strong and that I have exemplified perseverance, but without the strong shoulders of those I stood upon and the arms that embraced me, I could have not continued. There was a time when I did not want to, but they, along with my faith, are the reasons I chose to see the miracles. My grief of losing Jim doused my fire to live, but my family, my Tribe, my teaching, and those gently planted acquaintances, reignited my passion and purpose for life once more. They are the kindling keeping my embers warm and my spark imminent. They are simply the truest miracles. Simplicity is the voice of God.

Nearing my sixth decade of living, I am able to glance back into the rearview mirror of my life and see the hand of God’s guidance that was so perfectly designed for me. I was never ever alone.

Peace to you all today.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience. The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."

Leo Tolstoy

I spent some time yesterday deleting and organizing my digital files and pictures when I came across a picture of my yard from last year. My yard was a blank canvas when I moved in; there were few bushes, trees, and flowers. The area around the foundation was only grass. So, I planted. And planted some more. And maybe even a little more!

Now that a year has passed, I took another picture of my yard and could not believe how much the yard had changed. Everything had grown in abundance! All it needed to grow was food, water, sunshine, nurturing, and time.

Patience is difficult especially in this fast moving world in which we live. Immediacy and instant gratification project the false narrative. We want pain to go away, so we keep ourselves pummeling forward to cover it up and ignore it. Nothing fixes it. It is only through allowing ourselves the time to process and grow will we feel more at peace. Time can truly heal, but it tales willpower and a lot of patience.

I planted a Rose of Sharon, which is the bush with the light pick flowers. My mom named me after this bush, so I always have one or two! The two burgundy flowered bushes are crepe myrtles; my maternal grandma was named Myrtle, so those are in honor of her.

After traversing through an adversity, look back after some time has passed. I think you will find you have bloomed in ways you thought impossible.

Peace to you all today.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or touched, but felt in the heart."

Helen Keller

As a young reader in third and fourth grade, I read every book about Helen Keller that the library had on the shelves. How she could have found her light out from the cavernous and silent, darkness, amazed me then as it still does today.

Helen trusted her emotions and intuitiveness to guide the direction of her life. Keller’s wisdom encapsulated in her words impresses upon us how significant the emotions we feel are truly the reality.

From Choosing To See: How Miracles Carry Us Through To The Other Side of Grief:

Even though emotions are invisible, we cannot dispute they are real. Love flushes our cheeks, and sorrow hovers around us like dense fog. The unseen is profoundly more real than the visible.

Take a moment today to tell someone in your life how much they mean to you. Sure, they probably already know it, but feeling the connection between each other is truly what our days should be filled with.

Peace to you all today.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity

to receive it."

Rabindranath Tagore

The new school year is underway; I meet my students and their parents tonight at our open house. After the physical and emotional void of the pandemic, I look forward to the connectivity school will promote.

I want my students to find their potential, but do I really? I began thinking about a different word: capacity. And then I found the aforementioned quote. I feel they suggest very different meanings.

Potential is something one does not possess, but rather has to chase after and find outside of oneself. But if I expect my students to work to their capacity, I am alluding to the fact that they already have everything they need inside of them to be successful. Learning therefore, is the discovery of what is already there! Our natural gifts and talents and all that makes us unique, lies within.

If we take heed of what Tagore is proclaiming, then all we need to manifest our true purpose is already within us. We just need to open and create through our capacity, our boundless selves. Peel away the layers and bring to light the meaning of our existence.

Peace to you all today.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"Service is a sign of our active connection to Life."

Kabir Helminski

Excerpt from Choosing To See: How Miracles Carry Us To The Other Side of Grief:

We teach each other how to survive with truth, love, and service to one another, for even the purpose of Jesus, the Son of God, was to serve. Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, broadened his awareness to something greater by walking away from his deliriously wealthy and privileged life only to serve those desolate and shunned from society. That is the encouragement that drives me forward in this race even when it feels impossible.

The Universe perpetually guides us and plants special souls in our life-garden along our way. Sometimes we are the student and sometimes the teacher; we just need to open our eyes and our ears to see and to listen.

Peace to you all today.

MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"Lucky is the spouse who dies first who never has to know

what survivors endure."

Sue Graften

Today marks the four year anniversary of Jim's angel day, the day he was swept from my arms and into God's once again. He endured so much with his cancers and the culminating event was the death of his best friend, Steve, just three months before his own.

He was pained with the phone call he would someday receive about one of his parents passing, but he never had to know that. He has been blessed. Death is only sad when you're on the living side of it. I know Jim is indescribably happy and that we get forever together. It's just being left behind with all my love still wanting to give to him is what hurts so much.

Time has passed, but the emptiness of life without him still resides deep within. However, I am comforted that God has walked with me even though I was not aware at times. I am comforted knowing Jim is with me as well...just in another form.

Excerpt from Choosing To See: How Miracles Carry Us To The Other Side of Grief:

On the first anniversary of Jim’s transcendence, I glanced out of our bedroom to see the sun rising over our woods. During that previous year, the sun had stopped rising for me. That particular sunrise, however, called to me and enabled me to become swept away within it. The sky’s hues of pink, blue, and peach-colored clouds streaked across the horizon resembling clumps of cotton candy. Witnessing the beauty, I sadly realized how many sunrises within the last year I missed, not because they had not been there, but because I had chosen not to look; I had chosen not to see.

My loss of Jim had numbed me to beauty and to life that obviously had continued regardless of my loss, but that particular sunrise awakened in me to the fact I was still here. With a bit more hope then, I resigned to keep waking and to keep walking.

Even though life relentlessly pelts us all with adversity, life can also saturate our journey here with beauty and miracles but only if we choose to see. There can be life after loss, but only if we choose to believe. God opened his door to me, and I stepped through.

Peace to you all today.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

“Loving you changed my life. It should come to no surprise that losing you has done the same.”

Chloe Frayne

Grieving does not adhere to time, so take all the time you need. Celebrate the days when you are strong, and take cover when you are weak. When losing anything, whether is be a person, a promotion, or your VRBO vacation home, there will be discomfort.

Grieving after Jim is having all this love inside with no one to give it to. And no matter what I try to do, nothing fixes it. Grief just has to be felt. It has to be experienced. As time allows the passage of healing to happen, take all the measures needed to care for yourself. Time can be a friend to healing. I am on my way.

This is grief, for me, explained in the most definitive way.

Excerpt from Choosing To See: How Miracles Carry Us To The Other Side of Grief:

My stepdaughter and her husband married at the Third Degree Glass Factory in the St. Louis Loop. It is a hands-on art gallery that allowed the couple to make a glass bowl symbolizing their unity. They each chose a different color of glass chips that they poured into the flames. The result was a new creation of a solid sturdy bowl celebrating the blending of their new life and their love. The colors in the couple’s bowl become one and can never be separated. Each unique color is identifiable, but the wandering swirls finally settle and form into something beautiful and new. Even if the bowl were to shatter, splintering into tiny fragments, the colors can never become their own again. This is how I can explain the strength of love and the power of grief. Jim splashed all over my life, and just like the swirls of color within the bowl, it is impossible for me to find the separateness from him. Grief is a brokenness; sometimes I recognize a familiar piece of myself among the shards, but they fail to fit into the life with which I have been left. It becomes a question of how much of him do I cling to, and how much of him should I release? There is no answer.

Peace to you all today.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face."

Victor Hugo

My face in winter is like a wrung out towel all squeezed and twisted into a knot. My shoulders are pulled up into my ears and my head hangs down against the cold intrusive air. But oh the sun... the warm embrace of the gentle rays press out the wrinkles as it rolls over me like liquid gold.

Laughter is liquid gold. Laughter is summer. I especially love to hear people stifling their laughter at the inopportune times when they should be quiet. Like in a place of worship or during a test in school. Those seem to be the hardiest and most genuine.

Years ago when I was teaching 7th grade English, the students were testing. The room was quiet except for someone who tried to silently pass gas...against a hard wooden chair. Well, it echoed and reverberated around the room.

I have to hand it to them; they truly tried not laughing, but there was no denying what they heard. I said, "Go ahead guys, you can laugh," and a thunderous roar erupted!

Don't forget to laugh even if it's at yourself!

Laughter and smiles to you all today.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

“Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering.”

Haruki Murakami

Yesterday's blog was about laughter being liquid gold that knocks away the winter chill and warms our hearts. Oh, but there is so much more that can touch us so beautifully! Music brings a glow into our lives as well.

Music was a huge piece of our lives together. Jim played guitar and we would sing together. A few evenings a week we spent sitting under our covered porch or in the backyard around our fire pit, harmonizing to the songs we loved so much. Jim had an innate talent for music; he taught himself how to play acoustic and electric and of course was in a band in high school. I strongly suspect his mom and dad weren't too thrilled, but they had a cool Rockstar son! Jim even made his own black-lacquered electric guitar decked out with a whammy bar.

I did not sing and seldom listened to music for a long time, probably a year or longer, because it hurt to hear the songs without him with me. Music is still difficult to listen to sometimes because songs slingshot me back to the where, the when, and the what we were doing. Just like the smell of cinnamon and pumpkin spice bring back the memories of crunchy leaves and bonfires, songs equally resurrect specific memories.

I was driving home one Sunday afternoon and feeling particular lonely for him. Sundays have always been my most difficult days anyway. I reached to turn on the radio, but I paused...I said to Jim, "hey, can you just let me know you're okay?" I turned on the radio and "Heaven Beside You" by Alice In Chains, which is one of our favorite bands, was playing. Heaven beside me? Really? Good choice, Jim. I needed to know you are near.

Harmony to you all today.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

“ Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

Thomas Merton

Laughter, music, and now art; the week has been one of healing and discovering once again the beauty that surrounds us.

The era of the Impressionists is my favorite. I find that the suggestion of the image is far more intriguing than a precise one. I greatly admire the work of Mary Cassatt whose art captures mothers and children in some of the most enduring moments.

The featured painting depicts a little girl who is so done with the day. She can dress up and fix her hair, but she cannot deny her true self. Her eyes flutter over to the puppy as if she wishes for the simplicity of its life instead of her own. Her hand behind her head is telling of her contemplation. This little girl is so honest with herself; we need to be more like her.

As an artist, Jim would say that, “beauty lies within the imperfections.” When he would draw a person, he would notice one eye slightly off center, or the causal droop of one corner of the mouth. The imperfection, he said, is what makes the person recognizable. At times, Jim would even close his eyes as he drew because he could see the vision of what he wanted to create in his head and his heart. Without using his sight, he trusted that vision and produced beautiful work.

Choose to see the beauty in nature, in the eyes of a friend, and within you!

Peace to you all this weekend.

MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

“ How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours."

Wayne Dyer

I have been following Dr. Dyer since I was introduced to him by my high school psychology teacher, Mr. Lawson, in 1980. In fact, both of these gentlemen have been life-changing for me.

Subsequently then, I introduced Jim to Dyer's books because Jim and I were always in search of the deeper meaning of our lives and our purpose here in the world. We'd spend hours at the bookstore on a Saturday night or a Sunday afternoon hunkered down on the floor reading Dyer's books together. Throughout our kindred life together here, Jim and I have read nearly all of them.

Eighteen years ago, Jim and I were fortunate enough to meet Wayne Dyer at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. He was in St. Louis hosting a speaking engagement about the power of intention and being at one (atone) with ourselves.

I remember walking up the steps and onto the stage to meet him completely enamored. In simplest terms, he was glowing. He was dressed in dark jeans with a stark white long-sleeved, button-down shirt. His blue eyes dazzled and danced. He embraced both Jim and me, and we briefly shared our connection to him and our appreciation for his years of writing. He was the symbol of love and peace.

My Takeaway:

Dyer's teachings, along with Mr. Lawson's, convey that I could choose how I wanted to feel about a situation. I cannot change or control circumstances, but I CAN choose the way in which I respond! Whoa! In other words, "you made me mad," or "you hurt my feelings," have no relevance. My mindset is now, "with this being the case, how then shall I proceed?"

Because we lose our job, how then shall we proceed? We choose to see it as a new opportunity for growth.

When loved ones push us away, how then shall we proceed? We move them back a few rows in our life-theatre and choose to continue to love them.

Because a global pandemic has rocked our world, how then shall we proceed? We choose to see the authenticity of our lives.

Because Jim had cancer, how then shall we proceed? We chose to live life to the fullest with the time we had together.

Because the love of my life moved to his eternal one, how then shall I proceed? I choose to keep his memory alive and know we get forever together.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

“ ...your thoughts create your intentions,

and your intentions create your reality."

Wayne Dyer

I began the school year with my 8th graders a little differently. Instead of a "get-to-know-you" activity, I invited them to set an intention for their day. Thoughts become actions, and our actions manifest into who we become.

Intentions do not necessarily have to be measurable; intentions just need to be in the forefront of our conscious thought.

If a student struggling in algebra class sets an intention of achieving three more correct answers than the day before, that is an intention.

If a student struggling with anxiety remembers to center and breathe slowly for one minute, that is intention.

Hoping for world peace cannot be remedied by just one intention, but each person carries a responsibility to represent a "piece" of that hope. Perhaps we can all set a daily intention that we won't add to the distress of the world, but rather we contribute in a small way to creating a world in which we all would prefer to live.

Opening and holding a door for someone, letting a person in front of you at the grocery store, bringing cookies to a neighbor, or dropping off unused items around the house for donation can all bring light into the day of someone else. Or simply just smile at a passerby.

The Power of Intention will change you.

My intention for you today is Peace.

Storylight A transformational journey SHARON M WIBLE

AUGUST 9, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

AUGUST 10, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

AUGUST 11, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

AUGUST 12, 2021 QUOTE FOR THE DAY

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