book reviews – Integrating the Spirals

May 24, 2026 Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey Balancing Perspectives, Connections, Expanding Consciousness, Mind-Body, Reviews

Building boundaries so we don’t absorb too much, especially for empaths; plus radio shows and sketches

Empaths are sponges and until we learn that we can either build boundaries to not absorb what we don’t want, yet, OR we come to know that EVERYTHING works FOR our good, either to grow us or glow us like a slow burn candle… well then, we may FEEL too much (too much emotions), or react inappropriately and turn others off. And when we turn others off, it may take us YEARS (if ever), to reestablish those relationships–whether friend or family, such as when adult children cut off their parents because their parents have come on too strong (even if the parents think they’re good intentioned). Ah!

I’ve been learning a lot while reading all three of the following books (at the same time, I rotate them on a daily basis, and study (not simply read) them. I’ll be doing video book reviews on each of them, per my notes in the margins, and already completed one (part 1) of this one by my friend, Jennifer Carey. Here’s the link to it: https://youtu.be/NtHNcOlCOMY?si=7ChQiP-m-6CXrKDM

As well, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, and Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I’m also reading How to Become a Christian in Seven Days by Russell Brand. It’s enlightening and entertaining as well. I’m not sure I’ll do a video book review on it though–let me know if you’d be interested in seeing that. I’m reading it on my phone at night before I sleep, so I’ve not been taking notes. (I sometimes nearly laugh out loud though! I muffle myself because if I woke Richard up with my laughing HE would NOT be amused.)

I Am Infinite Awareness; a Fractal of Omniscience. And so are YOU. We Are All Connected. –Sheila Murrey

Current happenings

I’ve been continuing to see my naturopathic doctor to resolve the toe issue, or should I say, toes plural issue, but that doesn’t sound right when I say it. And I tweaked my arm the other night when I went to our eldest granddaughter’s last choir/band concert of the school year! Ugh. Why didn’t I say NO to going? Why did I change seats TWICE at her boyfriend’s request? Apparently, my daughter was right when a day previous to this experience she told Richard that I (me) just cannot say, NO! Go figure. And then the Universe proved it to me. I don’t say NO nearly often enough! Lesson learned.

And here’s the update to a video I did two months ago, but I added screen titles to illuminate my lessons learned regarding these physical issues: https://youtu.be/DGpYUK4tqKA?si=9oTUpwsIEwhCTGi6

As well, I’ve been watching several of these Gina interview shows via her “Buy Me a Coffee” portal:

Now, we’ve got three more music radio livestream shows for you to watch/listen to, if you haven’t subscribed to our Unsolicited Radio channel already:

Country music show #2: https://www.youtube.com/live/LGUBBK45lG4?si=ij0iJ5XxOIVTl39C (The link to the first country music radio show was on my last blog article.)

Rock music show #1: https://www.youtube.com/live/2E-0gl-9x7I?si=CtqOFGtcmeZR7ZNq

Blues/Reggae show #1: https://www.youtube.com/live/_wIhuVPJP-4?si=e3NfsIhrcm_I9t68

AND

Country music show #3: https://www.youtube.com/live/H9QuCVygbWo?si=n7wXukdFW37R21ia

Richard is several shows ahead of me and I am working feverishly to get all the parts and pieces together in iMovie on my now, very overworked, MacBook Air, to livestream all of these shows. Sometimes my MacBook will spontaneously shut down and reboot in the middle of a livestream and the show ends abruptly! Not good when one is trying to launch a new YouTube channel and gain subscribers! But I suppose that’s a “first world country” kind of issue that no one really wants to hear about. I might have to buy a new laptop soon…

My last sketches

As you know, I continue to use my friend, Linda Lewis’ sketches as models–follow Linda at: X Yes, I continue to practice sketching. And yes, while I’m monitoring our livestreams of the radio show, that’s when I do my sketching. I can’t work on my laptop while the shows are live-streaming, so it makes sense. And I enjoy these. Richard also asked for one based on one of his artworks too, and he surprised me by using Photoshop to integrate my sketch INTO his art! Wow!

My “shrines” sketch, based on Linda Lewis’ sketch model.

And after coloring my sketch with oil pastels and black marker. I did use my laptop to show this model from Linda as I worked on it over several days. I typically use my iPhone to view the model sketches. – See Linda’s blog article: https://creativeartworksblog.com/2026/05/07/thursday-5-7-2026/

I’m very happy with this “shrine” sketch all colored in. Thanks so much to Linda for the original Thailand shrines sketch! See: https://creativeartworksblog.com/2026/05/07/thursday-5-7-2026/

A Linda Lewis original sketch from her post: https://creativeartworksblog.com/2026/04/29/wednesday-4-29-2026/

My copy or version of Linda’s cowgirl hat sketch. That white spot within the green thing is supposed to be her right hand. I know. I’m not good with hands. But I’m learning. I nearly didn’t leave room for her feet either! LOL I did enjoy trying to do this sketch though, and Linda always tells me that’s what is important.

Richard gave me one of his wolf art prints and asked me to “draw it like a child would.” Well, THAT was easy. Ha! LOL! (because I do draw like a child!) This is what I gave him.

Richard incorporated my wolf sketch INTO his wolf artwork! Ha! I think he’d had someone complain about his original wolf looking too much like their photographer’s work, so he removed the offending wolf, but I’m probably not supposed to talk about that story… so shhhhh! Haha!

Now, whew! How’s THAT for balancing perspectives?!?

Upcoming Dragon Dreamers Conference

Summer Daze! We are so pleased to have you as the keynote dragon speaker!

Check the link to watch/listen when I was a guest on Gina’s Story Species-Story Medicine show recently: https://www.youtube.com/live/mDHSHSmZeZU?si=5aGUoM1k939mVTGS

Here’s a link so you can purchase your affordable ticket-we’d love for you all to join us LIVE for Summer Daze June 13!

https://buymeacoffee.com/ginavirginiacasella/extras

Gina and I are making plans to use some of our original songs for some of her content and we are so excited!

Creators of life-enhancing spiritual and soulful information, music, and digital designs for wholly vibrant living!

With elegance and profound gratitude,

Sheila

Here’s the link where you can grab a copy of, We Are All Connected: The How and The Why. An analytical mind searches for answers.

See me talking about my new 5th book on YouTube –>> https://youtube.com/shorts/RKmIIucsMs4?feature=share and here’s how to get a paperback copy of, **We Are All Connected: The How and The Why**. https://amzn.to/4s7n3Jg or eBook version: https://amzn.to/3PAvfUK

I have restarted JIGGLE WIGGLE!

Yes, there are a couple of new video “shorts” on my channel now for JIGGLE WIGGLE, so be sure to check in there and check those out. I’m starting out S-L-O-W and incorporating the rehab exercises I’ve learned to work/stretch my back muscle (that runs from back up/around shoulder), the low back muscles that can cause sciatica pain, and the outer calf muscle in the leg that runs down and around the ankle and feeds he nerves of the toes!

In my YouTube channel, I encourage those “over 50” to:

Open to lifelong learning (observe, gently question, and loosen up pre-conceived beliefs, aka ‘Programming’)
Become more aware of our thoughts and emotions to encourage more ease
Loosen up and move our bodies (we’re stuck in our heads also due to our “Programming” and physically unhealthy)
And become strong and resilient in spirit, soul, mind, and body.
And to question EVERYTHING!

Here’s where you can access my YouTube channel videos: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. All while doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling thought ride to better health, through doing more with ease, to help us sustain the JOY in our lives! (With lots of Gratitude throughout.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (with over 1,000 original songs). You can view some of his artwork and listen to many of his songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

Here’s a video of us performing on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

Connect with us socially at:

May 18, 2026 Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey Art & Music, Balancing Perspectives, Connections, Expanding Consciousness, Holism, Metaphysics, Mind-Body, Moral Ambiguities

Book Review: Jen Carey’s book, Illuminating the Stories that Bind Us (Part 1)

First in a series of three book reviews, I’m focusing in on Jen Carey’s book, Illuminating the Stories that Bind Us. Here’s the book review video YouTube link: https://youtu.be/NtHNcOlCOMY

Interfaith minister, Sheila, your spiral sister. Intro bio image. Instigator; Author; Integrator; Unseen Bridger. –Sheila Murrey

Sneak peek of what’s coming in the June 13th metaphysical conference with Gina

I think you’re going to LOVE this video with an autistic Guinness World Record holder from Vietnam! I can’t say enough wonderful and inspiring things about this family… WOW! A must watch for sure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjAEttPHxcM

Grab a ticket if you want to see my keynote speech and full day of metaphysical speakers on Gina’s upcoming Dragon Dreamers June 13th full-day conference. Here’s the link for that: https://buymeacoffee.com/ginavirginiacasella/extras

Our NEW music radio show: Unsolicited Radio

Our NEW YouTube channel where you can see/listen to our music radio show, “Unsolicited Radio” (showcasing Richard’s original songs) is GROWING! We’ve got more than 60 subscribers now! We’re reaching for 500 subscribers so… help us out! Okay?

We’ve put a list of our original songs together in a format that marries the songs with some of Richard’s humorous (quirky, wacky, zany) ads in between a few songs to break it up! Don’t worry, the ads are for fictitious items. We’re not selling anything, yet, by doing these radio shows (other than the songs). It’s our way to help get the songs out to more people, and perhaps, even the “right” people, such as filmmakers, TV show producers, sound engineers, up and coming musical artists who are looking for original songs to sing/play, etc. We’ve never sought the limelight to be performers, simply songwriters.

I hope you’ll subscribe to our new channel and help us go viral! It’s FREE! And it means the world to us to get our 1,434 original songs out into the world! Thank you ALL so much! I’m excited about this!! Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/@Unsolicited_Radio

Our FIRST livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/DqyE9js0Fnc?si=WB-9a61B9Srefk0l

I’m working through my self assessed peeved energy. And I know that’s what caused me to wake up at 1:30am last night due to a nightmare. (I dreamt I got hacked and lost all the money in my accounts!) Ugh! Nightmares can be terrifying! I’ve simply had so much going on with the need to rehab my body–okay, thankfully only a few parts, and Amazon printing issues with the 600+ page paperback. The YouTube copyright issues. Even the art cast not turning out the way I’d worked so hard on to make my first attempt at that be pretty! Why did I have such high expectations? Whew! See? I’m working my Integrating the Spirals process, so I can let this “peeved-ness” go!

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

Here’s an older video on Vimeo of us performing back when we lived in an RV on an off grid plot of land in northeastern Florida: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

My books on Amazon

I have five books in total for sale on Amazon. The newest book is: We Are All Connected: The How and The Why, plus these: Have Yourself a Wholly Vibrant Life: Reversing Asthma and Other Chronic Illness Naturally and Blue Eyes: Ethereal Messages of Connection as well as two other co-authored books.

Connect with us

Here are the social channels where I am most active:

May 17, 2026May 18, 2026 Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey Art & Music, Balancing Perspectives, Connections, Expanding Consciousness, Holism, Metaphysics, Mind-Body

Integrating the Spirals: Self assessment and upcoming book reviews

I had a bad night last night. Wait. Let me reframe that. I had a restless night last night. I woke up about 1:30am after not going to sleep until around 11pm.

We’d had a fun evening out with our daughter and son-in-law, which is rare for us because they have a 14-year old and 9-year old twins. But I do think we’ll get out a bit more often because the girls all get along well and the eldest doesn’t have to do much for the twins–as long as they’ve all eaten something first. LOL

So the four of us adults walked two blocks to our neighborhood Italian restaurant (if you follow me on Yelp and read my food reviews there, you’ll know where we eat). We had drinks and delicious food and lots of lively conversation! Then we all walked home. Yes, we WALKED, not crawled. So, there’s that. None of us over imbibe, which is a good thing. Now that our daughter and son-in-law are in their 40s, they’ve learned, as we did years ago, that drinking to the point of crawling home (or to a hotel), or needing to sleep on the bathroom floor, isn’t fun. And it isn’t healthy. Of course I know many of you would say no amount of alcohol is healthy either, and you’d probably be right–though Guinness beer has been brewed since 1759. And no, I didn’t drink Guinness beer last night, I got a rather mild “mule” cocktail in a copper cup (a favorite drink to get “out” since I’m still debating buying some old copper mugs at our local consignment shop). I digress.

A lot of my herbal tinctures are made with alcohol, so again, I default to my saying of “levels, layers, doses, and degrees.” And a splash of cold water on the face, or turning the water on COLD at the end of a shower is sooo invigorating–and healthy! But that makes me think of my holistic health book, and not the point of this blog article.

So, what is the point of this blog article?

Book review videos

In the middle of the night, while praying, and shedding some tears over several poignant memories I had of visits with my mom and dad (before their passing), and then reminding myself that I know where they are as explained in my book, Blue Eyes: Ethereal Messages of Connection.

After the tears passed, I went into meditation and BOOM! A great idea dropped IN! I am reading multiple books and just did that video about the art class… soooo… I’m going to start doing book reviews on VIDEO! Ha! Here’s a taste of what I’m going to put out: https://youtu.be/-H3YrlxZN7U

Exercising

I also decided that exercising first thing in the morning, like my friend Linda Lewis does, is NON-FREAKING-NEGOTIABLE! Today is the third day that I’ve exercised with Dr. Kristie Ennis (who is local to us, but she only offers Zoom classes). And she’s on YouTube – here’s her link: https://www.youtube.com/c/kristieennis I put one or two of her videos on and workout. Tada!

I just must do this as soon as I wake up, either in bed or next to the bed, or it’s not going to happen. Then, I can add some more movement like the JIGGLE WIGGLE later on and record it for my channel, etc. after I get the back/shoulder/toes in good shape again, as every time I’ve tried lately to do that again, I’ve hurt again. Ugh!

Upcoming metaphysical conference

To get to know Gina first, before you commit to a conference ticket, check out her YouTube channel interviews. Of those, I highly recommend her interview with Missy Hill #17 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUexA69x4O0 and the interview with ME, Sheila Murrey #18: https://www.youtube.com/live/mDHSHSmZeZU?si=vpFP9tL-7mnW-fw3

While listening a second time to Missy’s interview with Gina, I left the following comment:

“Epigenetics matters” is sooo tweet able, Gina! Yes! Empaths are sponges and until we learn that we can either build boundaries to not absorb what we don’t want, yet, OR we come to know that EVERYTHING works FOR our good, either to grow us or glow us like a slow burn candle… well then, we may FEEL too much (too much emotions), or react inappropriately and turn others off. And when we turn others off, it may take us YEARS (if ever), to reestablish those relationships–whether friend or family, such as when adult children cut off their parents because their parents have come on too strong (even if the parents think they’re good intentioned). Ah! There’s so much great stuff here! And Missy, I was certainly a “run-on sentence writer” when I was in school. I also tend to talk too much and over share. But I’ve come to embrace it, and breathe through some of it after realizing “We each learn at differing rates of speed.” I love your self assessment too, Missy, on how good of a singer you are–though you’re probably better than you think! Remember even the pros have people talking over them when they sing! I’ve noticed this in small and large venues. I could talk for hours with you on the moon landings too (having worked at Kennedy Space Center for 6.5 years! Ha! Love this conversation and I get more out of each listen! Kudos to you both!

She even gets into talking about her time out west, Joseph Smith Jr. ghost stories, the Biltmore mansion and hurricane Helene and how it changed the landscape of Asheville, NC and PLASMA! I definitely want to hear more, or even have a conversation or two with Missy Hill!

Our NEW music radio show: Unsolicited Radio

Our FIRST livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/DqyE9js0Fnc?si=WB-9a61B9Srefk0l

I’ll attempt another livestream at 3pm eastern time TODAY! So, go ahead and subscribe and YouTube will notify you a few minutes before the show goes LIVE. If for any reason it doesn’t work, I’ll try again around 6pm. I think both of those are good hours to livestream, so if today doesn’t go smoothly, I’ll try again tomorrow and each day thereafter. Deal?

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

Here’s an older video on Vimeo of us performing back when we lived in an RV on an off grid plot of land in northeastern Florida: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share