The Good, the Bad, and the Grateful

A. Daniels

Description

The book explores how ordinary people can serve as our best teachers if we recognize life is happening for us to evolve into beautiful souls.

The Good, The Bad, and The Grateful is personal story chronicling everyday teachers, family, friends, and co-workers who were spiritual teachers during the first 50 years of the author’s life. It is a celebration of all the defining moments of life, good and bad, and how they all give us blessings. It encourages reflection with famous quotations from some of the greatest spiritual teachers of our time after each chapter to help bridge the ordinary events in the author’s life to some of the most well-known spiritual practices.



The intention of this book is to inspire anyone who reads it to take time to reflect on his or her private life and realize how we are all evolving into more beautiful beings. It is the author’s hope that readers use this book as a guide to help identify the angels in their lives and take time to share their stories, good and bad, with each other and demonstrate how grateful they are to have loved and learned despite any obstacles or pain they may have experienced.



True leadership serves and empowers. The back of the book has names of organizations that are on the front lines helping those in our communities with mental illness. A portion of the proceeds from each book will be donated to help raise mental health awareness. Each reader can also log onto the author’s website to directly to purchase the book and post the name of a loved person in their life that is suffering with mental illness and send them an intention for healing. It is a spiritual wake-up call to affect change in a safe environment with an open mind-set and a willingness to act with a collective, clear, joyful, intention.

Sujets

• Form of the Good
• Self-help

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 17 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665739344
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Good, The Bad, and The Grateful
A. DANIELS


Copyright © 2023 A. Daniels.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Bible Scripture: James 1:17; Hebrews 11:1
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3933-7 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3934-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023903388
 
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 03/30/2023
Contents
About the Author
 
Miss Smith, The Wake-Up Call
The Arts, Creativity takes Courage
Dr. Wordsworth, Intention Matters
Ryan, My True Love Part 1
Kurt Warner, Unexpected Outcomes
Jasmine, Motherhood
Molly, Opposites Attract
Edward, What Good Leadership Looks Like
Michelle, Joy, Peace, and Love
Joanie, A Beautiful Blend
Mary, The Baby Whisperer
Jim, Walk Softly and Carry A Big Stick
Ryan, Sometimes to Love You have to Let Go Part 2
Family, It’s Ok to Ask for Help
 
Acknowledgements
Don’t Be Scared to Call Life Should Be Full of Peace, Love, & Joy
References

I would like to dedicate this book to all of the healthcare workers in the mental health community, who not only saved my family from the devastation of bipolar disorder, but also risked their lives during the pandemic to shine their light on all those suffering with mental illness. You are truly earth angels.
About the Author
This book was written during the pandemic of 2020. It was an exceptionally challenging time for A. Daniels and her family. Writing this book helped her heal and fed her soul. The book was borne out of love and gratitude for all the people and events that have made her who she is today and will become tomorrow.
The quarantine of 2020 gifted her one of the greatest treasures-time. Time to reflect honestly upon her life and see clearly the good and the bad, and to find a way to see life lessons embedded in her stories. It helped her find the courage to write this book and share it. She details raw, honest, details about how her ordinary life took a turn in an extraordinary way. She tells the painful story of how unexpected mental illness changed her life and how her marriage of twenty years ended abruptly. She shares her gratitude for her personal pain and her journey to start over with the wisdom she has learned in her life.
Miss Smith
The Wake-Up Call
Fourth grade was my most challenging year of elementary school. It was an awkward physically transitional time imbued with knobby knees, skinny ankles, bad haircuts, and memorable iconic 80’s fashion which included florescent socks and silver handbags. I was a skinny, brown-haired, nine-year-old proud of her newly acquired white oversized belt, leggings, and feathered hair. I looked like every else on the outside, but I did not feel like everyone else on the inside. I felt very discouraged and uninspired to complete my schoolwork. I would stare at the assignments and find my mind wandering to topics that were not academic requirements. I managed to get a solid C in Math because I had a very difficult time focusing on my instruction in the classroom. The sixth sense that you sometimes experience when a teacher looks at you and you can feel the disapproval piercing through you seemed to be a regular distraction. Her disappointment in me was confirmed at a parent-teacher conference where she would claim, “Not everyone can be smart.” I felt labeled already.
I struggled to find friends that made me feel accepted, my schoolwork lacked effort, and my direction was questionable. I was lost in a way. This is the first time I can remember questioning my life’s purpose. I would think to myself, “Why I am here? Why do I have to learn this?” I was introspective at a young age and aware that I was different. Some kids seemed to just get to school, do their work, get good grades, play nicely, and leave. They looked happy, well-adjusted, and most importantly well-liked by my teacher. I was jealous at times. I asked myself, “What makes their days easier?” Maybe school was just as challenging for them, but they hid it better. Regardless, I felt like my world was unlike my classmates’ lives and I spent most of days at school feeling alone and sad.
The summer came and like most active kids with truckloads of energy, I went back to playing kickball and flashlight tag outside in our small suburban neighborhood, and I forgot about my academic struggles. Being outside in the fresh air surrounded by nature has always calmed my restless soul. As a kid I felt grounded outside because the sun did not judge me. It warmed my skin and radiated a healing power without saying anything. After all, I was productive with sweat dripping off me and company around me. I played outside until the daylight waned, and my mother called me home. I was busy. Playing outside was a great distraction.
As the days grew shorter, and the season started to turn, I started to think about my future. I could not dodge the pressure of the return to school. I spent time thinking about how I felt in fourth grade. I knew my schoolwork needed more focus. I intuitively knew that education was always going to be a part of my life’s purpose, even if I did not understand why. I asked myself some hard questions. “What do good students do?” “How can I emulate them?” “What do I want to be known as?” An inner voice was talking to me, and I was trying very hard to ignore it. I have come to realize as an adult that my inner voice is a gift, it’s my intuition, and it told me to look around me.
The closest person to me was my oldest sister, so I watched her. She was a good role model. She always got great grades. “What did she like to do?” She liked to read, and she did her homework before she played outside. I decided that although I wasn’t the smartest kid in my family, I could change some of my habits. Maybe if I tried to do my homework before I played, I read more, and I focused a little longer, my grades would improve. This became my new strategy for success. Although the outdoors called me when I came home from school, I learned to do my homework first and then reward myself with time outside when it was complete. Looking back, I realize that moment may have been the first time I started thinking about delayed gratification, a concept that I could not name yet, and one that I would study intently in college many years later as a philosophy major.
Like any good plan, execution is important, but there was another variable that stacked the odds in favor of success- Miss Smith, my 5 th grade teacher. I know it sounds silly and cliché, but she made me feel like it was possible to change the course of my life. I can still remember the clinking of her high heels, her wavy blond locks with feathers, and the faint sound of Barry Manilow playing on the record player during art class on a Friday afternoon. Her kind words and positive energy helped me feel “safe” to fail. She was the first influential person in my life that was not a family member. She is the earliest example of a person that comes to mind when I think about gratitude in my life. She taught me to trust. I don’t remember much about her, just how she made me feel. My strategy may have failed if Miss Smith did not believe in me the way she did. It is because of her that I did not let myself get labeled as the “dumb kid.” Looking back on my elementary school years, I know now that she had a greater impact than I ever realized. She helped me find value in perseverance while demonstrating what kindness and faith should look like from a leader. Under her calm and trusting smile, I not only improved my grades, but also made the honor roll. She did not have a special plan to help me feel capable and motivated, but she came into my life at a time when I really needed her, and her kindness and patience helped me restore my faith in myself. She helped me experience reward from perseverance. I learned how wonderful it feels to work hard academically and succeed. She taught me that intelligence does not mean anything without effort and strong leadership. My work ethic became a strong pillar that I learned to lean on many more times in the future and it paved the way for more than success in the classroom.
Thank you, Miss Smith, your kindness helped me persevere during a critical time in my life. I am GRATEFUL for you!
Spiritual Teachers
“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” – Samuel Johnson
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” -Pele
“Patience, and perseverance have a magical effect