Sharing links and people that inspire me and uplift my spirit
Elsie Kerns - Overwhelm Warrior
For over 25 years, Elsie Kerns has been a steady guiding light and mentor to me. She introduced me to Reiki, prayer bowls, and energy healing. She opened the door for me to become a Sacred Passage Doula, a heart‑centered way of serving at life’s most profound threshold.
Elsie is an Advanced Eden Energy Medicine Practitioner, Authorized EM101-102 Teacher, and Energy Medicine for Women Instructor. She became a Certified Spot-It Coach in 2023 sharing stress management practices for worksite wellness. She is the sage in my life, a grounded, heart‑wise mentor whose guidance has been central to my spiritual growth.
Visit her YouTube Channel at Elsie Kerns (Overwhelm Warrior) - YouTube
Jonathan Ashford - Messenger and Spiritual Guide
There are days where I swear he knows just what my soul needs: from understanding vulnerability, to suffering, and he even shares my view that "God" is too small a word for the One who flung stars and planets into the universe. Visit his Blog posts and sign up to have them sent right to your inbox. He also does live Zoom calls where you can jump in and ask questions. He is the next level in your "soul awakening".
When I was a young mother and wife, I would call my mother for guidance and a shoulder to cry on. She would ask if I was taking my B complex and prescribed one of Joel's messages. Since that time, Joel is like a warm bowl of comfort on the days I think I'm walking this world alone. I sometimes listen to his audiobooks when mounting large projects. His Texas twang and jokes that are welcomed even among the most tempered family gatherings, Joel is like your favorite cozy blanket on those days that you feel the world is collapsing around you.
"Can you say 'Amen'?!"
The World to Come by Dara Horn
This book sits on my nightstand under a black and white photo of my husband holding my then 5-year-old daughter laughing together after a day of fishing. She now is going to be a mother of her own, and this sweet book that is steeped in Jewish folklore makes me think that my father is my little "Not Yet's" guide through the "School of Divine Knowledge". Dara uses this term to show how generations of a family are bound together in an eternal knot, blurring the lines between the world before birth and the afterlife. I reread of how the lesson of love is taught, and how a speck of truth is enough to neutralize a putrid petri dish of lies and gossip. It brings me to tears every time.
In Jewish legend, an angel presses a finger to a baby’s upper lip before birth, causing the small indentation making the cupid's bow above the top lip, making the child forget all the divine knowledge it knew before entering the world. I can't wait to see that in my first grandchild's lip, knowing that baby, in that instant, holds "Divine Knowledge".
This quietly powerful novel invites us to consider how those we’ve loved now beyond this earth, mentors those who will follow us, and how the world to come unfolds like a peaceful two-way road.
What would our lives be like if we never feared the unknown?
Edward Bloom, a charismatic storyteller whose life is filled with extraordinary adventures, mythical creatures, and larger-than-life experiences looks into the eye of a witch and sees how his life will end. This gives him the courage to accomplish amazing feats without anxiety and always with a bright cheery smile, even when jumping from a plane surrounded by antiaircraft fire. Yes, he did get a spoiler alert to how he would die, but the thought of that in our own lives is compelling. What if?
My father was that "Big Fish". Life through his eyes were colors and pictures and stories. He also had a talent of making people laugh wherever he went and helping those in need. That's what I love about this movie, and like the character Will, I learned to embrace my father’s imaginative legacy, appreciating the colorful life he lived and the lessons imparted about caring for others, bringing love, laughter, and adventure to those around us and living a life that welcomes it with open arms.
Now that's a life well lived!