lessons learned – 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:

July 22, 2025July 22, 2025 Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey Art & Music, Connections, Expanding Consciousness, Mind-Body, Spirit, Travel

Integrating the Spirals: Family first! (Road trip vacation, 45th high school reunion)

I’m back from vacation with more lessons learned!

Sadly, I missed seeing many friends. People I have known most of my life, one since I was 3 years old!

I had a list. A To Do list of everyone I wanted to see, and especially loved ones I wanted my daughter to see again and my granddaughters to meet. (My daughter rarely visits our home state and town either!)

I won’t share my list, suffice to say I had a list of 11 family and close friends I wanted to see over the course of four days. I had reached out to the oldest folks (like my uncle who is nearly 80 and “second mom” who is 85), but the others all use Facebook.

I had posted on Facebook (not only on my personal page, but on the high school reunion group posts too) about when and where we’d be staying (name of the hotel and dates) for TWO MONTHS prior to going on this trip, so that hopefully, friends could do their part and arrange their schedules to have time to visit with us. I sent individual Messenger messages to several, but I am simply not going to feel guilty for not calling or texting everyone. There comes a time when folks need to acknowledge “the road runs both ways.” I spent over $1,000 to make this trip happen, and traveled over 14 hours in a car with three children (ages 13 and 8 year old twins)! I refuse to chase people down! There’s a point when you have to know you did all you could, and I have reached that point.

Thursday

Upon arrival, so that my daughter could sleep after driving all night, I took the girls to the hotel indoor pool. We all got in and I enjoyed the coolness of the water and that it quickly reduced the swelling in my ankles from having ridden in the car over 14 hours. I wore compression socks, but my ankles puffed up anyway. Go figure.

At 63, it’s always something.

Note: I was cold after getting out of the pool but the girls weren’t done, so I wrapped myself in towls and sat down. I just happened to sit under a big air conditioner vent and it was blowing fairly swiftly. That exposure, plus the mold I smelled in the hotel gym from a leaking air conditioner (the carpet was still wet!) may have also contributed to me getting sick. But one can never really know what causes these things.

My daughter and I specifically chose this hotel for its indoor pool and because of its central location to many friends. In particular, it’s near to our dear family friends’ home and just across the river from my high school reunion activities (thinking if nothing else, it would make it easy for people to come see me (as I knew I wouldn’t have a car – my daughter planned to take the girls to see her dad who lived a half hour away).

Friday afternoon

I had the whole afternoon free when my daughter took the girls to visit her dad’s side of the family. My son was still enroute from North Carolina, so I reached out to several friends to see if anyone might want to visit with me.

My “second mom” (what I have called Liz since my mom passed away in 2017), came over to see me and we visited for about an hour in the hotel lobby. I took a short video so I could get a screen capture). While we were visiting, she was using cough drops but I don’t know if she had a bug. She had said she went to the doctor that morning and had to pickup her prescription at a pharmacy near the hotel.

One school friend and her husband stopped to talk with us (we were the first two gals in our class to accept/allow our hair to go gray – at our 30th high school reunion)! Her husband is of German ancestry and they noted Liz’s accent (as she’s German), thus they got a bit of Liz’s immigration story, young adult story (Liz had been a model in Germany). I wish I had audio recorded that! It’s a great story!

When Liz left, I walked her to her car, hugged and kissed her on the cheek.

Friday 6pm
I was to meet my cousin Greg’s widow and one of my oldest friends (and more) at the neighborhood ice cream social. They all wanted to meet Marie and the girls. We didn’t make it there because just as we were headed in that direction, my son showed up at our hotel after driving over 9 hours from North Carolina. Of course, since I hadn’t seen him in 3 years, I put family first! I’m glad I did. (Special note: Matt brought us fresh squash from his garden!)

Susan messaged me to see where we were when she didn’t see us at the social and I invited her to stop by the hotel on her way home. She did! And we all had a great visit in our hotel room til nearly midnight.

As I walked Susan out to her car, sciatica hit me, running down both of my legs! I had prepared for that though, having brought all my creams and lotions for my sore hip! I thought that would be the only potential pitfalls to going on this trip. I was wrong.

Saturday 6pm
Go to reunion dinner. I had prepaid for my ticket to go, but by 3pm I began feeling horrible and had a fever. I called my uncle and he said a prayer for me. Knowing my best friend and her heart-transplanted husband would pick me up and take me to the event, meant I might potentially pass something on to them, plus I was feeling worse by the minute! Thus by 5pm I made the call to stay in bed and not attend the reunion dinner. Yes, of course I was bummed! I had several friends who wanted to visit with me and vice versa. But I knew isolation would be the best at that point.

Spiral thought: Before the prayer, my uncle had asked me what I would take for this discomfort if I were home. N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) immediately came to mind. He had never heard of it. I had a feeling he would go buy some and bring it to me. But here’s what happened. When my daughter had told me she woke up feeling bad the Wednesday morning of the evening we were to leave New Hampshire, I had added 3 NAC capsules to my weekly pill container and put a piece of paper in with them that simply said, NAC! I rarely need this supplement and knew I wouldn’t recognize it later. And then I completely forgot about packing them! Ha! When I woke up Sunday morning I went to take my daily supplements and I noticed the paper in one of the other day’s compartments. I immediately thought “this is an answer to the prayer”! I popped a NAC capsule and immediately began feeling a bit better! Of course, I continued taking what my daughter had brought too, which she generously offered to share, some over-the-counter sinus medication, vitamin C lozenges, etc. but I knew I probably wouldn’t see anyone else on my list at that point.

Sunday

Go to the cemetery and see/take pic of mom and dad’s burial marker:

My parents burial markers. Unfortunately, it costs thousands of dollars to have upright tombstones made these days, so this likely the only markers they will have. And I have accepted that. As dad communicated to me, “Live while you’re living.” I know from their now vantage point, grave markers are of no concern.

I had agreed to go to home church with my uncle and aunt, so I canceled that but agreed we would stop by so they could see my daughter and meet her girls. Turns out, my son followed us there (and beat us there because we stopped at my best friend’s house so she and her husband could meet my granddaughters. My bestie doesn’t take no for an answer. She knew I wouldn’t have missed our reunion event unless it was serious. And they could have had a longer visit with us earlier on Saturday, but God has a way of orchestrating things for the best outcome of ALL. And though it was aggravating to me that I felt like I had to jump through hoops to make the visit happen, I have to accept it unfolded in the best way, and for the best.

While we were at my uncle’s house—I wanted my girls to smell the roses from the rosebush that grandmother had planted over 50-60 years ago; but I had also wanted to show uncle Jim the pictures from the Cole site I had found online (that I had saved on my phone); and I had wanted to ask if he might perform laying on of hands regarding the tinnitus, hip, etc.

The videos of my mom’s memorial with my uncle presiding (and the house that my grandparents built) are still available on my YouTube channel if you want to see:

Part 1 of 3 – My mom’s memorial service (2017)

I had wanted to visit with my cousin Greg’s widow, Susan (to see my dad’s baptism video that Greg had captured). Thankfully, they had attended the baptism in 2017 when I couldn’t make it. (I had already flown up for mom’s memorial and couldn’t do another trip that year). Susan has the video (on Greg’s older phone) but it wasn’t available for me to see. Old phones can be harder to charge, etc.

High on my list had also been to visit my longtime church friend, Cheryl (she’s a university hospital nursing teacher). It’s always tricky trying to visit her because she lives a few hours from my hometown. She had wanted a copy of my holistic health book. Now, I will sign and mail her a copy instead. We missed each other by mere minutes! She had driven in on Saturday to visit her 101 year old grandmother. I was going to go there (because I had known her too, Ginny knew both of my grandparents quite well), but when I started feeling bad, I knew I didn’t want to subject Cheryl’s grandmother to “whatever” I had.

My daughter had a priority to take her girls to visit their nana and papa (my first ex husband). (They have recently moved back to the area). The got to go visit them twice! It also turned out well because my son was able to go too! He hadn’t seen his dad in years (maybe 20 years?) and they had become estranged. So, I continue to consider and recognize this trip was to teach me the importance of “Family first”!

Yes, it’s disappointing when one travels so far and then I wasn’t able to get to either social event where friends we’re going to gather, but as I have said before… I’m seeing the yin and yang ☯️ of it ALL. And even more so I appreciate something my daughter says a lot, “Family first”!

Several friends reached out to me when I missed the reunion dinner, that they heard I was ill and that they hoped I felt better soon. I chatted with each as best I could even in my diminished state.

A few asked me how I thought I got sick and the only four thoughts that came to me (while I was laying in bed so feverish with the chills Saturday night ) was:

Caught it from my daughter (as I sat next to her on the 14 hour drive); she had been coughing and sneezing all the way, but had thought she just had allergies
Caught from friend who had just been in a doctors office (we know medical offices are often good breeding grounds for these bugs)
Getting chilled after swimming, I am also sensitive to chlorine and I had smelled strong chlorine in the pool area
Smelling the mold in the hotel gym

Oh, no! I’ve caught a summer cold!

I hope the family I missed will make an effort to see me at some point, as this trip is probably one I won’t make again. Unless I completely change my mind and body, which isn’t outside the realm of possibility. I just don’t know how likely that is to happen.

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 400 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 (on Vimeo) performing (back in 2020 when we were living off the grid): https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share