Celtic Woman - Amazing Grace

Some associate the words and lyrics to Amazing Grace with funerals, endings, and sadness. Throughout my life, this song is my song of grace and liberation and I sing it loudly and proudly as a personal spiritual anthem to the countless moments of enlightenment and grace. During my dark "lost" phases of life,  I was lost...then found myself I found a spiritual path through grace-filled gifts of love and light. I was protected, guided to a place of being safety, healed, whole and strong.  Against all odds,  I would make it though. Throughout life, I've been blessed with many miracles through shifts in consciousness and my spiritual development..and I truly feel they are an.Amazing Grace.

Short Documentary on Electro Convulsive Therapy 'Out of Mind'

When I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia in my late teens and early twenties I endured 129 Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) before the psychiatrist realized that was not the root cause of my "diagnosis." In later years I received a letter of apology from Selkirk Mental Institution for the course of treatment. The rationale was talk therapy with patients and family was not what they were doing in the late 1950's and 1960's. My hubs David and I decided against seeking legal compensation or malpractice and choose to live within the now of our great life rather than go back to what cannot be changed. The events happened, they are integrated into the chapters in my book that have been written and closed for me. I accept that when I went through this in the early sixties psychiatry was a still a new specialty/ During five years in and out of mental wards specialist did not consider the root cause of emotions, dissociated behaviors, repressed memories or dysfunction within the family of origin.  at the symptoms...not the root causes. I share my experience, s not as an outcry of injustice, rather a celebration of what is possible for anyone to conceive, believe and achieve. A happy fit and fabulous, healthy life.


This documentary about Electro Convulsive Therapy presents the experiences I had and are portrayed in some chapters  I write about in my book and what I witnessed on hospital wards. It is not for the faint of heart and ECT treatments are a part of mental health treatments today in a more subdued methodology. I know it works for some patients but in my case, it was not effective.  I accept that when I went through this in the early sixties psychiatry was a still a new speciality but all my years in and out of mental wards they only looked at the symptoms...not the root causes. I healed and become whole, healing, strong and healthy when I took the whole person approach as I discuss in my book.  As with this woman I lost touch with who I was and all the past social structures were also wiped out. I had to start from the bottom and work my way back up and I have. That is where I was...and where I am today. My recovery is a Testimony of Hope.

Sarah McLachlan - Fear (live) HQ

Sarah McLaughlin is a writer, eloquent wordsmith and her lyrics and performances resonate with aspects of my life past and present. With the trauma, drama, loss of control earlier in life I developed and lived within a fear-based reality for years.

My biggest fear was around the medical model and fear of what people would think of me and the shadow world I lived within for the first part of my life path.

At a pivotal point in my soul path discoveries, I found ways to cut the ties that bound me with fear when I had an epiphany around the truth that the biggest fear is from fear itself. I came to terms with the truth that most of what we fear is going ot happen never does and whatever we thought would happen tomorrow was the today I was living without it manifesting.

Within the entangling mind trips and mind traps, I tangled my thinking in were delusions,  perceptions, and beliefs from the past being projected into my now. A Buddhist teaching says, "All suffering comes from attachment."

That light bulb moment was a turning point. I began changing my beliefs and my life changed accordingly. The law of attraction is based on energy that whatever we give attention to expands. My wise mother always cautioned me by saying, "My dear, do not borrow trouble by focusing on what you do not want to bring into your life. Focus on what you DO want instead."

So I let go of fear, and the liberation continually frees up the energy to focus on manifesting the best life has to offer rather than hiding and worrying that "the other shoe will drop." What a waste of time and energy it truly is.

No matter what the injustice...never allow a person or system to silence you into a submission. Never submit, give up, or not fight for your right to be heard or your right to expose the truth. Never accept a deal or situation that devalues and silences your voice and alters your souls' journey! Stand up and fight for the truth!"~ L.E.Shaefer


"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend… when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present – love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure – the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth."~Sarah Ban Breathnach ....."I do not fix problems. I fix my thinking. Then problems fix themselves."
~Louise Hay

"Answer" - Sarah Mclachlan

I've Been There chronicles the family, health, personal and professional challenges and changes I lived through and this video, lyrics, and performance with Sarah McLaughlin resonates with me. My prayers for answers and spiritual clarity always came. Those who ask and are willing to know receive answers. I know this beyond any shadow of light and my life is a testimony to that truth.

 Answer resonates my appreciation to Source for prayers answers and everyone along my healing path offering their encouragement, belief in me,  love, care, and support. Many along the way became  "my answer" to prayers I sent up for direction and support.

Letting go is the most difficult task a human being will ever undertake. It isn't unique to any one individual. We will all someday have to face it; some of us in old age, others during adolescence. Regardless, the challenge is still there, because to live is to love and to love is to hope. I have never met people with more hope than those suffering from cancer or other debilitating, chronic or terminal conditions. They are courageous spiritual warriors who inspire others with their heroism. They understand the seemingly paradoxical truth that pain is a part of the happiness- an integral part. Please take this video share as a token of my love, respect, and admiration.

Blessings of love and light wherever you are as you read, listen and watch this.

Alicia Keys - Brand New Me

The message and performance of Brand New Me by Alicia Keyes echoes the many transformations I experienced during the  I've  "there" the brand new me of I live today Each setback, upset, pain, sense of hopeless, helpless self-doubt eventually led me to the awareness that the toughest lessons and changes are usually the ones that provide the greatest insights and life lessons to growth.

Now every daunting challenge is viewed through this lens on life. I have the confidence to know that I am on the brink of a deeper level of a "brand new me" that will emerge after whatever ending, middle and then beginning outworks. It always is and does.

In group sessions, public speaking or writing this ending, middle before the fresh beginning is the same metamorphosis for all of u.  It and when we get ourselves out of the way, conceive and believe we can and do achieve the feeling of the old falling away and there is a newness of the emergence that follows.

Yes, it feels risky, a little scary to move beyond familiar comfort zones. The courage it takes is worth it. This I know for SURE. My testimony of hope presents the many ages and stages of letting the old go so our  Brand New Me evolves.

Magic in Music Videos (playlist)

You Find Yourself Alone, Sometimes
Without A Home, No Protection
You Don't Know Which Way To Go
You're Lost, No Direction
Then, Suddenly, Out Of The Blue
Some Kind Of Magic Comes To You
You Don't Know How, You Don't Know Why
But Someday Gonna Take Off, Fly
Fly, Fly, Fly...
Make A Wish, Wish, Make A Wish, Wish
My Wish Would Be
(Chorus)
To Be Free
To Be Wild
And To Be
Just Like A Child
And If I Get Lost
I Really Don't Mind
Cos' I'm Me (Free)
Doing Just Fine
(To Be Free)
You're Out In The Cold, Sometimes
As Far As You Can See, Misty
You Want To Run, Into The Sun
The Road Is Lost, Sand, Shifty
Suddenly, Out Of The Blue
Some Kind Of Magic Pushes You Through
You Don't Know When, How, Or Why
But Someday Gonna Take Off, Fly
Fly, Fly, Fly...
And If I Had A Wish
My Wish Would Be
(Repeat Chorus Three Times)
Just Like A Child
I Really Don't Mind
Cos' I'm Free,
Doing Just Fine