A Story of Love, Loss, and a Spirit Message

By Elizabeth Parrish

Telling our stories is a sharing of community, teaching, and healing as we all walk the same road of life. This is my story from the halcyon days of youth, a near-death experience, and events of synchronicity that changed my life and search for meaning.

It’s an abstract of life’s wisdom lived and learned, covering the spectrum of our humanity, its conflicts, its joys, and the value of love, faith, and family, challenging us to question and reflect on what core values guide our lives and relationships to a healing process in remembering our essence of who we are!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662454097

Book preview

cover.jpg

A Story of Love, Loss, and a Spirits Message

Elizabeth Parrish

Copyright © 2021 Elizabeth Parrish

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-6624-5408-0 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-5409-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

About the Author

From my heart to my hand, this book is written and dedicated to the following with heartfelt love and appreciation:

To my parents for their faith, love, guidance, and gift of freedom to question and explore my search for truth.

To my husband, a life and spiritual partner for his love, commitment, joy, and presence in sharing my life and our family’s lives.

To my brother, John, friends Jimmy and Jerry for their love and presence of guiding truth and light.

To all my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren near and far for their love, laughter, and joy in sharing of our life, growth, and life’s challenges.

Especially for my sister Cathy, whose gifts of love and labor in transcribing my notes, an arduous task. This book is as much hers as mine! Thank you! I couldn’t have done it without you!

To all those who have touched my life in the crossings of our paths who left their mark of influence.

To all the readers who take the time to read and receive the message of my story. I hope it encourages one to embrace their inner light and truth.

Again with heartfelt love and appreciation, I say thank you to everyone!

Elizabeth

Notes from the Author

Dear readers, the contents of this book are based on my truths and life experiences personally and professionally. As identifying characteristics and names have been changed as well as dates and time lines are omitted to protect one’s privacy and ensure confidentiality.

A book…

A story…

A song…

If I speak with tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains but do not have love I am nothing.

—1 Corinthians 13:1–2

The songbird sings not because he knows

The answers to the mysteries of life he

Sings because he has a song!

This is my first endeavor to write a book,

A story, a song as I am feeling the pull of

My spirit and I must follow!

This is not a scholarly or academic script,

However, influences of science, psychology,

Shamanism, metaphysics, and spirituality

Underlie its contents as touchpoints.

It is a mosaic, a puzzle of my memories,

Beliefs, values, and life experiences. It is my story.

Telling stories is as old as our civilizations,

A way to teach, to learn, to expand our beliefs

And knowledge of new skills, ideas, customs

And cultures to share, to entertain, to laugh

To cry and to grow together with our families

And communities, whether in caves, tents,

Around campfires, on beaches, on porches, or on homesites.

Today vast worldwide technological advances

And telecommunications systems are our prominent means

Of communications. (What will be the future of our stories

And communities?)

Stories are our soul prints (the essence of our being and divinity). Everyone we love or meet, everything we do, everywhere we go, every action, every work, every touch, and every breath leaves its presence. Each soul print is unique in form and design, and yet a silver cord binds us to our humanity in collective consciousness!

There will always be believers, nonbelievers, and skeptics; whatever you believe and value, be open to all possibilities!

Many stories have survived the ravages of time (biblical and philosophical texts, esoteric art, the Tao, Talmud, Shamanism, Buddhism, Bhagavad Gita). The petroglyphs, pyramids, and hieroglyphics are just a few.

These continue to impart relevant truths and knowledge if one is receptive to its wisdom! The world’s oldest stories and ancient wisdom told of man’s search for self as the purpose of our life. Stories are meaningful and important as they hold our memories and our history individually and collectively as a species.

Our humanity runs deep to our core of being, but we are so much more than our humanity; we are spirit!

Contemplating, with a pen in hand, I ask myself, Why? What brings me now to this crossroad? It’s death and my search to find purpose and meaning for the remainder of my life!

My husband died suddenly this summer. I was in shock and totally devastated; my love, my life, and my soul mate for fifty short years is gone!

The journey of loss and grief is so very painful! Knowing death is part of the cycle of life and that we all are earthbound spiritual beings having a human experience offers no solace now!

Without the love and support of our family and a friend who is a grief counselor as well as a retired army chaplain’s support whose listening presence, compassion, and wise counsel gave me solace and encouragement as we walked through this dark valley.

Without the love, support, and hand of God pushing me, I would not have made it; I almost had a stroke!

Life brings many transitions and challenges. Every ending has a beginning; every beginning has an ending. It’s the aftershock and gap between them that bring confusion, depression, withdrawal and isolation, disorientation to time and to place, self-doubts, guilt, and doubts in our faith and God. The dark nights of the soul will find us, questioning and searching for answers in the emptiness. I am in that gap time now!

My husband has been gone for several months now, and I continue to feel his loss deeply as the pain of loss and grief continues its ebb and flow. I do find comfort feeling his presence and love surrounding me, enhanced by faith and the belief in a universal spiritual oneness!

A Prayer of Faith

We trust that beyond absence

There is presence,

That beyond the pain

There is healing,

That beyond the brokenness

There can be wholeness,

That beyond the anger

There may be peace,

That beyond the hurting

There may be forgiveness,

That beyond the silence

There may be the word,

That beyond the word

There may be understanding

That through understanding

There is always love.

—Author Unknown

Following the guidance and pull of my spirit and speaking from my heart, I write. There are three reasons leading me on this path:

The death of my husband who earlier suggested I write. He always supported my ideas and endeavors and told me, Elizabeth, not to use your gifts will be an insult to God.

Having been in nursing for fifty-three years with plans to work in hospice care, the doors of nursing have closed. I leave with no regrets; nursing was my vocation, a calling, as I wanted to be a scientist, an astronomer. However, when one feels the call of the Spirit, one must follow. I loved nursing, and I fulfilled my purpose.

Critical care was my specialty area; whichever unit was the busiest and most chaotic was my assigned unit. I worked in all (eight) areas of critical care (medical and surgical, cardiology, cardiothoracic, neurotrauma, cardiovascular, nephrology, burn unit, pediatrics, and neonatology). Later, I worked ten years in psychiatry (inpatient and outpatient) as a counselor and case manager.

During those span of years, I experienced many spiritual healings with my patients and clients. Families and coworkers told me I had the gift of healing; I always responded, No, I’m just the instrument. God is the healer.

There is power of healing in touching, talking, and a listening presence!

Over the last few decades, I’ve seen the wave of change in the healing arts from whole-person-centered care to separation and specialization. Specialization is good as it has expanded our knowledge, skills, and expertise in given areas and continues to do so.

There are progressive advancements in technology and its use in the health care systems with computerized charting, monitoring, digital reporting, cable TV and computers in patient rooms, more complex medical devices, more complex equipment and testing, faster data retrieval and storage, robotics, and computerization in diagnosing and treatment of patients.

It has shifted the focus from the patient and has diminished and diluted the human element of personal contact, communication, and relationship with patients to a technocratic and machinistic focus! In some areas, you interface with a computer or robot rather than a human!

If we lack or lose our humanness in caring for others in the healing arts, our services and treatments will become just functions!

To maintain the heart and spirit of the healing arts, we need to go back to explore and learn from the ancient arts of healing of mind, body, and spirit, to evoke our intrinsic power of self-healing, via natural pathways of love, touch, voice, sound, color, light, and earth resources. Everything is energy—a life force!

We need to separate the shaft from the wheat in a knowledgeable approach with discernment to find and use the best of the traditional and holistic to a synthesis for optimal healing. What once was old will be new again.

Are we losing the heart and spirit of the healing arts? If so, why?

It’s understandable why there is a high percentage of burn out in these fields, increasing substance abuse, and many in exodus to pursue other careers or retire early.

Why do some people stay the course in their careers or occupations and others do not?

Each individual is different in their perception and understanding of the whys; only they can tell you if they have the insight to do so.

Answering that question from my perception and understanding without elaboration, just touchpoints, as there are far more knowledgeable people who have the expertise in practice, study, research, and credentials for discourse. All these areas have been the focus of research study and specialization for decades, even centuries.

The reasons are variable such factors as age, sex, personality, health, motivation, disability, personal beliefs and values, self-esteem, support systems, relationship dynamics, stamina and resilience, security concerns, and stress factors. All play an important role.

Additionally, I broke down six basic elements I believe influence one’s decisions as well:

Enthusiasm—the energy of excitement being fired up (a Greek word meaning to be spirit-filled)

Resilience—a quality of bounce backness, a rebound, a regrouping of self, focus, and actions.

Challenges—a call or test to use one’s abilities and resources to meet a meaningful and stimulating cause and/or actions; an ability to meet goals for others or oneself.

Commitment—a promise or pledge to do something, an action or value, and follow-through with completion or attainment for others or oneself.

Control—when one has the ability and position of ownership, influence, and authority to act in given situations for others or oneself.

Security—a freedom of a person to be recognized and respected as a person of value. Freedom to voice your ideas, opinions, and oppositions without threat or fear of loss of influence and position. Freedom to express your feelings, needs, and concerns without fear, threats, or harm. Feelings do not need solutions; they need to be acknowledged and expressed.

We all want and need security and control in our lives—to make our own choices and decisions for our quality of life and what we do, not to have others enforce their choices, decisions, and control over us whether in the workplace or at the bedside of patients.

Patients need a sense of security and control; to be