The Good, The Bad, and The Grateful
by
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A typical day started with a long drive to meet customers. I often called extended family and friends to catch up and pass the time. On routine winter day, I set out for work early in the morning, and I called Michelle. We had a typical conversation. We talked about the trivialities of life including toddler temper tantrums, yummy quick dinners, and then my marriage issues just got sandwiched in, like it was normal. I am not sure how it happened. I did not plan to tell her about our Ryan’s depression and my failing marriage, but it is as if she tied wonder woman’s lasso around my waist without force, and I had to tell the truth. The tears streamed down my face as I drove. I admitted my feelings out loud to Michelle for the first time. I was not sure what would happen next. Initially, I felt disloyal to my husband. Then, I felt scared. Maybe she would realize that I wasn’t as perfect as she thought I was. My ego was on full display, but that moment of vulnerability was my first step to handling a five-year battle with my husband’s undiagnosed bipolar disorder. It was a courageous first step to admit everything was not okay.
She responded to my news, and I didn’t hear what she said, but I felt her warmth and kindness and my heartbeat lowering. She suffered with me. Once I calmed down, she told me how much she was there for me, and how much she loved me, and how much joy there still was in life. I felt a sense of peace. It was as if telling the truth had set me free. I was like a little kid who fell on the playground, and she helped me back up and made sure no one laughed. She was generous with her time and patient with my struggles. The next five years were tough, and she served as my rock many more times.
From that day on, I had an outlet to voice my pain and a friend to help me through a very scary time in my life. I couldn’t not have done it without her.
Thank you, Michelle, for bringing joy, peace, and love into my life. You are in my soul tribe for life. I am GRATEFUL for you!
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About the Book
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.
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.