Unknown Speaker 0:09 [musical interlude] Unknown Speaker 0:09 This recording is an offering of Networks for Training and Development's Online University. Jessica Stover 0:23 Hi everyone this is Jessica Stover with Networks for Training and Development and welcome to our monthly healing circle call. So happy to be with you all this evening. Now full disclosure, I am in my house. Jessica Stover 0:39 I am back in my office, the doors are shut. But I can't guarantee you might not hear my dogs chiming in from time to time. I've kept them active with some bones to chew on to keep them preoccupied. However, they like to keep our household safe from the wind and leaves. The occasional squirrel or rabbit they see in the front yard. So just want to give full disclosure on that. But again, thank you for joining us this evening. Jessica Stover 1:08 So today is April the first, April Fool's Day. I'm not going to talk about April Fool's day. I was trying to wrap my head of how can I tie that in? And I played with a few ideas today off and on and nothing quite seemed right. But the universe provides and when I was kind of clicking through today on the internet, I came across a fantastic posting I wanted to share with you all, it comes from the website Love What Matters. They have a Facebook page. And what this is - people share their stories. They share their stories about love, and finding themselves or refinding themselves or just sharing the human spirit of how we can all be better humans. And this particular one, it starts out very funny. Jessica Stover 2:08 It was written by a woman by the name of Diana Register. She's from Marian, Idaho. And she wrote two different books. And both of them are available in print and Kindle and she has a Facebook page and an Instagram page. So full credit to Diana for sharing the story, but I'm going to just read through this. It's a little long, but I think you'll enjoy it and I want to share just kind of my thoughts on it, and ask you to reflect on it too. Jess (Reading from Diana Register) 2:37 So here's what Diana has to say. "There is one moment in a tired mom's life that is the most freeing, liberating flash of twinkling stardust. It's when the clouds part and the heavens open up. And angels descend with golden harps singing the Hallelujah chorus. Your body physically changes. You stand taller, you swing your hair, you walk with conviction, smiling and twinkling. As you cross the threshold of the automatic door, you pause for a moment. You look to the right, then the left. You take a deep breath and you reach your arms to the sky taking on that Freddie Mercury pose, not just because you have found your inner rock goddess, but because you are the alpha female. You have done it. You have succeeded. You have mastered motherhood. You have made it to the grocery store alone. Jess (Reading from Diana Register) 3:40 Now, your first instinct is to skip down the aisles, eat ice cream from the container, flirt with the butcher. You have visions of standing in the makeup aisle for longer than 30 seconds and picking out some nail polish for when you actually get to paint your nails in the next five years. You take comfort in the fact you won't have 43 extra things in your cart that are sticky and unnecessary. And you won't be spending half of your shopping trip putting cereal back on the shelves. Jess (Reading from Diana Register) 4:10 Ahh yes, a mother's dream. It happened to me once. I really did saunter in, grabbed a $5 coffee, and headed down the aisles to grab some of the things I needed. First to the bread, then to the dairy, a gallon of milk, some string cheese, off to the vegetables, then some spices, and whole chicken. The last stop was the frozen - the frozen aisle, and that's when I saw her... Jess (Reading from Diana Register) 4:37 A sweet young mother with four young children. She was looking for something as she tended to the baby in her cart, while the other three were climbing into the freezer. "Mama Mama Mama" rang through the air. She fixed the messy bun on top of her head and trying to corral her brood. They ran from her they grabbed popsicles, they laughed. She was at war. And she was being defeated. She snapped her fingers and yelled their names to no avail. I found my item, still reveling in the fact that on this day, it wasn't me. On this day, I was free. On this day I was going into the store by myself. But as I watched her, my heart tugged, I wanted to help her. But what would I do? I walked. I wanted to walk down the aisle, walk down the row, grab her little ones by the hand and lead them back to their mom. Would she think I was interfering? Would she think I was a kidnapper? Would she snap her fingers at me, too? My thoughts were broken when one of her boys turn the corner and disappeared from sight. I knew I had to act. I turned my cart pushed it up next to her, looked her in her teary eyes and smiled, left my stuff and went into full sprint after him finding him one aisle over. I swooped in, picked him up, carried him back to the woman who gave him life. She thanked me when I handed him over. And for the next two minutes, I watched them while she gathered up everything she needed. But before we parted ways, I wanted to offer her some reassurance. I wanted to tell her everything would be all right. I wanted her to know there was hope. So I hugged her and whispered the life changing phrase into her ear that somebody told me when I was at my wit's end one day, "They grow up". Jess (Reading from Diana Register) 6:35 Two years later, it happened again, but under very different circumstances. I was at a cancer specialty hospital with my now late husband, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. We were there to consult on a surgery to remove more tumors they found after he completed several months of chemotherapy. I knew it would be close to impossible to save his life after cancer invaded his organs and I was scared. I was tired, frightened, anxious, and full of worry. But in the midst of it, I was hopeful. I was hanging on to every shred of possible good news we could get and trying my hardest to stay the course. Jess (Reading from Diana Register) 7:19 We went to the appointment. And when, as we were walking out to the car, I saw her again - a different woman, but another woman who was alone in the middle of a crisis. She was sitting on the bench outside of the hospital, and as we walked past her, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was crying. I smiled at her and she tried to smile back. I took 10 more steps before that feeling hit me in my gut, and the thoughts raced through my head again. Do I invade her space? Will she be offended if I talked to her? Will she think I'm crazy? Will she push me away? Jess (Reading from Diana Register) 8:03 I suddenly decided I didn't care. This woman was in pain, and I had to take the chance. I turned on my heels and beelined back to her. I said nothing as I sat down next to her. She looked at me for less than a second, and then leaned her head on my shoulder and cried. I wrapped my arms around her and she buried her face in my chest and she sobbed. And when she finally found the courage to pick her head up, she wrapped her arms around me and cried some more. When she was done, she wiped her tears and whispered, "I will be okay". I nodded and quietly said "Yes, yes, yes, you will". Her car pulled up and she squeezed my hand and she disappeared. As quickly as she came into my life she left. Jess (Reading from Diana Register) 8:54 To this day, I do not know her name, nor do I know why she was crying that day. I do not know her circumstances or her story or what happened to her. But what I do know is that people in their time of crisis, no matter how big, or how small, should not be left alone to face it on their own. There is goodness in people. There's a sisterhood we are all part of. And sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we are scared or overwhelmed in our own lives. Sometimes we feel like we're crossing a line. I am not suggesting you go out and hug random people all day. But I am suggesting we remember our value and what we can offer to each other when we need it the most. That's what I'm trying to do in my life. That's what I'm trying to teach my beautiful children. And what my friends are teaching theirs. Sometimes that actually is a hug. Sometimes it's a kind word. Sometimes it's just a smile. Whatever it is, give it. Your heart and their heart will thank you." Jessica Stover 10:07 And that's what Diana Register wrote and was shared on Love What Matters today. Jessica Stover 10:14 This comes from me. And I think many of us or even all of us, at some of the most perfect times, given everything that's happening in the world to remind us that we need to give. And what we're giving is enough. Because that smile, that hug, or whatever it is, it's enough and it's making a change for people. And you may not see it in the moment, but they're going to carry that with them, I guarantee it. So again, this was a little bit of a different meditation tonight. But when I read this, this really moved me because I think oftentimes, sometimes at least when we see people or are with people who are in need, are having just a terrible day, or the midst of a crisis and terrible turmoil, we don't know what to do and we want to fix it. We want to make everything better. And just being able to be with someone - and let them guide - and let them do - and direct us of what they need. And that's what that - that's what had happened here. I think if we can just learn to be with people and try to learn better to be with people. I think we'll all be in a really much better place in the world. We're getting there slowly. Jessica Stover 11:40 So I'll leave you with that. So as we leave for the evening, sit down. think good thoughts. Think about the people in your life. Love them. Hold them tight. Hug them hard, if they like their hugs And just love each other. Jessica Stover 12:01 Our next Healing Circle Call is on May the sixth. It's the first Monday of each month at 8pm. Eastern Standard Time. And I hope you'll join us again. Thanks so much, everybody. Bye bye. Jessica Stover 12:29 Thank you for listening. We hope the information provided was helpful. Don't forget to stop by our website and take advantage of all we have to offer. Transcribed by https://otter.ai