Greetings!

Speak, Write & Promote: Become a Mover & Shaker is happening in Chicago on November 7^th –  9^th.  If you’d like to expand your audience or customer base for your book, product, or service, be sure to read all about this exciting program here. 

Have a great week!

Love,

Cheryl

 
p.s. – Need a little Divine Direction? Use the “Touch of Grace” button on our homepage here.
 
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Why we need a better relationship with people

instead of our cellphones.

As a little girl, one of my favorite memories is lighting candles with my mother at church. Often after the service, we’d approach the bank of candles near the altar and kneel to pray for someone in need — a neighbor diagnosed with a serious illness, an aunt who lost a job, or sometimes for people we didn’t know who’d experienced a disaster somewhere in the world.

Once we finished praying, we’d stand, gently pull a matchstick from the container filled with sand, touch the long, thin, piece of wood to the flame of a candle already lit by someone else, and light one of our own.

I believed there was magic in that light. This ritual has stayed with me. Often when I’m in New York for example, I stop at St. Patrick’s Cathedral to light candles. To me, the lighting of a candle for someone in need is a powerful act that reflects our connection to one another. When I touch a matchstick to a candle that’s already been lit by someone else, I imagine myself passing a tiny torch of hope.

In doing so, there’s an unspoken recognition that we need each other, that we have the power to heal each other with our love, and that when we join together with good intentions, the radiance of our light can overcome any darkness.

This week I light a candle for Robin Williams, for those who suffer with depression, and for their loved ones who desperately need our illumination, too.

In this age of technology, when it seems like so many people have a better relationship with their Facebook wall and cellphones, I worry about the emotional and physical health costs of isolation and loneliness.

I want to love and connect with real people, not machines.

So today I vow to smile more, to call friends rather than text, and to spend more intimate time in the company of the people I love.

And I light a candle.

Because I still choose to believe in the magic of that light…

 

This Week’s Video

This week’s video is a demonstration of how kindness can be passed around.  You can watch it here.  Thanks, Renee!