Tag Archives: Hope

My March Health Chronicles: 6th Floor Please!

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Stranger: “6th Floor Please!”

Me: “No problem, that’s our floor too.”

Stranger: “That’s a tough floor to have someone on.”

Me: “Who do you have here?”

Stranger: “My husband.”

Me: “What’s he here for?”

Stranger: “He’s having both his legs amputated tomorrow.”

Me: “I’m sorry.  I hope he recovers soon.”

Stranger: “He won’t recover.”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Stranger: “The doctors have already said that he will not recover.”

Me: “Then, why are you putting him through the surgery?”

Stranger: “That’s what I said to the doctors.”

“Yall Take Care of Me”

We got off the elevator and went our separate ways without exchanging names, only heartfelt sympathy and empathy.  Later that weekend as my sister and I stood vigil in my stepmom’s hospital room, I could hear a man moaning and groaning loudly.  It was an eerily depressing sound like none I’d ever heard before.  I couldn’t help but wonder if this were the husband of the woman I’d met on the elevator.   I turned my thoughts back to my stepmom who looked so small, weak, and fragile.  At times we were not sure if she would make it.  She would come in and out of consciousness, but would seem to perk up a little when she saw my sister and I.

She could barely talk, except to whisper, “Yall take care of me,” in her soft southern voice.   I assured her that we would make sure she was taken care of and to just rest.  She’d been admitted initially for dehydration.  Little did we know that her waning energy and spirit was due to her kidney’s failing.  Before she was admitted to the hospital, she was slowly slipping away.  All she wanted to do was sleep.  Thankfully we got help in time.  In the last four months, she has pulled through high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, diverticulitis, kidney failure, and now dialysis.  She’ll be 84 in a couple of months and has to have dialysis three times a week.  Still, she gets up every day now full of hope and faith and tells all of her family and friends that she loves them.

To continue to Part 2:  Health Is One of the Greatest Gifts, click here http://wp.me/ppImQ-jQ

Barbara Talley is a workshop leader, keynote speaker, author, and publisher who speaks and writes on value-based living themes. www.thepoetspeaks.com

A Leap of Faith Is Not Risky

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What “risky” venture is exciting your senses or calling to you? Remember, it’s not considered a risk when you are stepping out on faith.  It is a risk when you are making fear-based decisions.  Faith is a much more powerful motivator than fear. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?   What dream is whispering to you now to not give up?

About a year ago, my sister called me to ask my advice on a life changing decision she had to make within 24 hours.  Her job of over 25 years had given her an ultimatum, move across the country to keep her job or be unemployed.  Together we weighed the pros and cons.  Of course it was a difficult decision to make in light of the current economy.  I thought she had decided to make the move.  My final words to her were to just make sure that her decision was faith-based instead of fear-based.  Those words must have resonated with her, because the next day she informed me that she was “stepping out on faith,” and remaining in her own home, familiar surroundings, and using the year of severance pay to finish her Masters Degree.

Take the Leap of Faith In Spite of Your Fears

Fear abounds everywhere so it may be harder to find people willing to encourage  or support you to take “a leap of faith.”   Everywhere people are telling you to take it easy. Don’t rock the boat.  But what if the boat is crowded, going no where, going in the wrong direction, or slowly sinking?  Do you just hold on until it sinks or start swimming now?

You May Have to Take Your Faith Walk Alone

2009 was an extremely challenging year for me.  I had tremendous pressures on me and at times could not see a way out, so I just prayed harder and held on.  I got by, so to speak, “on a wing and a prayer,” and “with a little help from my friends.”  I had to make some serious changes, set some new goals, and go into uncharted waters. At times I couldn’t get encouragement from my most trusted friends.  The economic times made them think about survival instead of thriving.   So I had to go within, and purely on faith, take my faith walk alone.  Jumping from the boat was scary and perhaps even risky, but I knew I had to be true to myself.  That meant continuing to hold on to my dreams and not giving up.

Barbara Talley is a speaker, author, and poet who speaks on the themes of vision, values, and virtues.  Her life mission is to help others live a more meaningful life.  For more info or to book Barbara to motivate your audience, check out her website.  www.thepoetspeaks.com

1st of My Fave Five Dr. King Quotes: On Faith and Hope

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Today, as I reflect on Dr. King, the media is filled with reports on the catastrophic devastation going on in Haiti.  Sources fear that up to 100,000 people may have died and describe it as the worst earthquake to hit the Caribbean nation in 200 years.  Everywhere, people of conscience are being moved to help.  We cannot let our fellow brothers and sisters lose hope and we can’t lose hope either.

Dr. King’s life was dedicated to uplifting his fellow man, the downtrodden, the poor, the hopeless, and the forgotten.  In Trumpet of Conscience, Dr. King reflected on hope, “If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose the courage to be, the quality that helps you to go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.”

We’ve got to do what we can to “keep hope alive.”  Not only for the Haitian people, but also for the jobless, homeless, and hopeless people right here at home.  Reflect on the time in which Dr. King lived and how he responded to difficulties.  In spite of everything he endured, the hoses and attack dogs, his home bombed, being spit on, jailed, ridiculed, and threatened with death, he still had hope and faith.  To read about my second favorite Dr. King quotes on Justice, click here… http://wp.me/ppImQ-e8

Barbara Talley is a keynote speaker, author, poet, and trainer who can be reached at www.thepoetspeaks.com.  Still looking for a keynote speaker for Black History Month, Women’s History Month, or Administrative Professional Day, phone Barbara at 301-428-4831.