wednesday, June 26, 2024 Quote of the week

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Going to the theatre for the first time was momentous for both my children. Jessica’s first was Beauty and the Beast. My tiny two-year-old wasn’t even heavy enough to keep her seat from flipping up; she looked like a capital V with blonde curls! My son’s first movie was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When my three-year-old ran down the aisle to take his seat, Timmy shouted, “That is the biggest TV I ever saw!” Cowabunga, Dude!!

Both plots begin with all is well, until suddenly there is a conflict. In English class, this is the inciting incident; without one, the story remains flat. Belle’s world was enchanting until her father was imprisoned in a castle, while the Turtles encountered New York thugs. As the characters took action, the plots build and eventually lead to a resolution. But why do things have to change? Why can’t Belle keep singing and reading books, and the Turtles endlessly indulge in pepperoni pizza? Why does there have to be a sudden change in the story…in our story?

When experiencing a sudden and tragic loss, everything that was good, hopeful, and blissful, shatters. We are jolted into situations that seem impossible to endure, but just as the rising action in a plot, we too can find the slightest upward actions to begin healing. “True life is lived,” Leo Tolstoy said, “when tiny changes occur.” Nothing can remedy painful losses but time, dedication, and honor to oneself. One breath, one day at a time. Allow yourself the grace and love to nurture what has been so harshly, so suddenly uprooted.

Ashley Bryan stated that, “Children love to hear stories, but they also like the company, someone who cares enough…to read to them.” Katie the Kitten is a Little Golden Book Classic that I read often to my son. However, he was influenced by the radical turtle dudes. With every page turn, Timmy would insert, “SUDDENLY” as if the cat was going to become a nemesis of a Stephen King novel. Nonetheless, there was no suddenly. No cause for alarm, no conflict, no drama, just a simple little story about a kitten who bats at bees and curls up in a hat to snooze.

Decide what "suddenlys" you can sidestep when reorganizing your life after loss; there is power in losing because it builds us up to strive for better. One small change I made was my bedtime routine. Instead of reading to make me drowsy, I listen to meditation music and sound therapy, and I actually began sleeping more deeply. A cure to my grief? Hardly, but it was a small step in the plot diagram of my grieving in hopes of reaching a peaceful resolution.

Remove the “suddenly” when you can and find serenity…it’s there.

wednesday, June 19, 2024 Quote of the week

“Talent is something you are born with, and a skill is something you develop…”

Tiger Woods

Spring and summer pull us out from winter’s hibernation. Neighbors spill onto the sidewalks or belly up to the fence with an ease and an eagerness for conversation. Kids play basketball and ride their bikes along the street, while the warm breeze carries the drone of lawn mowers on lazy afternoons.

Recently, my neighbors and I were having a driveway discussion about the incredible talents of the famous songwriter and performer, Prince. Although his genre of music may not align with some, his innate musicality proved what seemed to be a natural-born talent. I would venture to add that very few people could learn to expertly play nearly thirty instruments, but Prince did!

Historical people such as Curie, Da Vinci, and Mozart have all demonstrated great talents and contributed to the enrichment of civilizations. There seem to be tendencies that come more naturally to some than others. In 1 Peter 4:10, the passage reads that, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

Desiring to illustrate my children’s book, The Left-Out Little o, I enrolled in a class to learn how to do just that. The only thing I learned was that I really can’t draw, so I called my nephew, Carl, who can! Actor and composer Win Butler said that, “Everyone has their own talents. It's up to the individual to see what you can actually do.” I’ll stick to writing and gardening! Thanks, Carl!

As we travel through the stages of grief, our loss can transform into a learned skill, one that we can pass onto others. In 1 John 1:7, it declares that, “... if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” Even in those darkest moments of pain, we can absorb the light from those who have experienced the death of a loved one and learn the skills to endure the unendurable.

We may not be born with the innate talent to overcome grief, but we are graced with the ability, the skill, to rise from it. The grit it takes to work through grief is arduous, but the skillfulness rendered from those who have lived it, can teach others the way forward.

Talent and skill are different. Perhaps our talent is the connectivity we have with one another through God’s creation. Maybe our skill is teaching each other how to thrive.

Teach the oneness-the experience of suffering to healing.

wednesday, June 12, 2024 Quote of the week

“Oh, wow!” he groaned. “If you were a TV program, I’d switch channels.”

Kerstin Gier

During the last week of school, several teachers, including myself, shared our reading lists for the summer. Recommendations were floating through the air like confetti! We were excited to STOP for a bit to read, relax, and reset our intentions for the next few weeks free from schedules. As of this writing, I have read nine books within the last month.

Lately, there have been an abundance of streaming shows introduced to me either by friends and family or through my social media feed, so I switched channels from reading and began watching a drama that was all the rage. The plot looked quite complex and compelling. As of this writing, I have watched four episodes.

A terrible nightmare bolted me out of my sleep shortly before 1:00 in the morning. The same villain in the drama was after two of my friends and me. The menacing man was bludgeoning the side of our car with a metal bar, and eventually grabbing my two friends, but I was left in the car untouched. Fear paralyzed me; I couldn’t move, so I could do nothing to rescue my friends. The nightmare drove me out of bed because it was just that real. I checked all the doors and windows to be sure they were locked, and the shades were tightly drawn. That feeling of uncertainty and fear still resided within me when I awoke. I felt raw and victimized.

I awoke needing to reach out to someone for a hug and to tell me that everything will be fine. “Emotional dependency,” Sue Johnson said, “is not immature or pathological; it is our greatest strength.” I realized I needed to change channels again because this show wasn’t working for me at least not now. I needed to shift my intention of what would best nurture my heart. As Alan Cohen stated, “When your intention is clear, so is the way.”

Choosing music over news, and a walk with Phoebe, even though it was raining, offered purification. Reading my devotions about feeling joy over my circumstances strengthened my conviction. I reevaluated my novel selections as well with plots less violent and where virtues win over vices. Eventually, I will finish the last two episodes of the drama, but it will be in my time.

During our vulnerable times when our environment is depleting us of joy and growth, determine what needs to go and what needs to be held dear.

Set your intentions to manifest what your soul needs.

wednesday, June 5, 2024 Quote of the week

“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow.”

Mary Tyler Moore

The end of the school year can be extremely rewarding. In August, these children ambled into my classroom as residual 7th graders and by the end of May, bloomed into budding freshmen. Over the course of our eighth grade year, we shared the reciprocity of teaching and learning. Education isn’t defined by the roles in which we lead and the paycheck received. Teaching and learning is an exchange of experience, theory, debates, and grit as well as the willingness to be open-minded.

Conversations open more freely during May, and we discuss topics in a less structured fashion. After watching Hidden Figures, I asked the students to raise their hands if they’d go to outer space given the chance. A few hands shot up immediately, while others were on the fence. One of the girls in my class raised her hand to speak. In between the cracking of her bubble gum, she said she would go if she was guaranteed she’d get back to earth safely. With no hesitation, I responded that, “There is no guarantee you will get home safely on the school bus this afternoon, but you get on the bus anyway…there is no guarantee for anything in life.” Her eyes widened in shock and her bubble gum silenced.

I was met with some hostile resistance at first, but as our conversation progressed, we all revisited times that we took chances. We examined the reason behind the choices and the outcomes. After debriefing, we concluded that if we are pulled into a direction, one that has captured our passion, then it is far less risky to attempt the challenge than to cower from it.

Jim’s best friend Steve was famous for saying, “Fail and fail often…if you’re not failing, you’re not trying.” There are no guarantees, yet we choose to love, dare to dream, and begin each day with a refreshed sense of hope. I married Jim knowing that one of us would be left behind. We choose careers knowing that we more than likely would deviate from the original plan. Everything in life has a risk because nothing comes with a warranty, and even those expire, yet we choose to live and love anyway.

Botanists and author, Robin Wall Kimmerer said that, “Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.” The gift exchange this past school year has left me with priceless treasures, and I hope I was able to fill a few of their coffers as well.

Live and love abundantly!

Storylight A transformational journey SHARON M WIBLE

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