Prologue
My first book, The Silver Lining Encounters with Angels, was not an easy book for me to write because I discussed some deeply personal details from my life. Many of them my birth family did not learn about until after the book was released. What greatly influenced my decision to write that book was my belief that all of us have at least one chapter in our book of life that we would rather not read aloud. In my case, it was more chapters than I can count. By allowing myself to become fully exposed, I attained a level of personal healing while aiming to help others find their own hope, inspriation, joy, and sense of direction. That goal made sharing my story fully worth my absolute exposure.
Allow me to step back a moment to explain why I am refered to as both Gretchen and Phoebe in this book. My given name was Gretchen, which you will see in the text of the book. However, through my storms, I learned that sometimes we become empowered when we make changes to significant parts about ourselves. That is when the name change occurred in my story.
The name, Phoebe, was not easy to find and did not come overnight. It was a process that took years to first identify the name, then determin the right time to make the shift, and lastly I needed to test the waters with the new name before making it official. Phoebe is the name you see on the cover of my books and it is associated with all details regarding my business, Silverliningsfyi, LLC. It is my prefered name.
In recent years, it was not only my name that I felt deeply compelled to change. Over the past two years I’ve received overwhelming response from readers. They shared endless appreciation my decision to share my story, explaining that it helped them in their lives in significant ways. The one major and constant concern I heard was the Christian-based language and focus in my first book. I took that concern to heart and decided that in order to reach more people, I needed to rework my book.
God clearly remains my source of hope and strength. However, as you read this book, I want you to be able to identify your peronal source of hope, strength, and faith [your silver linings] what ever they may be. So here is the fully revised book with updated information since new developments have taken place since the first edition.
In this book, I share how I identified silver linings and used them as lifesavers to pull me through of my life storms. At the root of every success was perseverance. When I learned to dance through life’s storms, I enabled myself to embrace freedom from the oppressing elements of each trial, one at a time. My hope is that no matter how dark your trials get, you too will be able to look up and find your own silver linings, a hope that surpases all words.
In the difficulty of life, I have found that sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to wallow in the trials for a night (or a couple days), but then we need to get up, brush off our rear ends, and set new goals—and then work towards those goals. But lets face it: most of us can’t get from our rear end to a standing position in a single move. Likewise, it often takes multiple steps to successfully transform trials into into triumphs. This book clearly relays a pattern from my own life: I wallow, silver linings are revealed, and through them I become motivated to move forward. I encourage you to not lose the forward momentum. If that happens it’s time to assess what went wrong and try again.
Throughout this book you will see me make reference to medical procedures and diseases. I am not an expert in either of these areas. What I have written here is solely based on my personal experiences. Please do not take my references as expert advice.
Lastly, when reading about silver linings, keep in mind what I have learned: silver linings will probably be different for each situation. Most of all, realize that it takes a hardship or trial to even have need for a silver lining—and to recognize that they exist in our everyday lives, too.
I bid you well on your search for your own silver linings. May my examples prepare you to better identify them in your time of need.
Aloha and Namaste!
Phoebe
My Silver Lining
“Having no idea who or what or where I am.
Something good comes with the bad.
A song’s never just sad,
There’s hope, there’s a silver lining.
Show me my silver lining…
… Show me my silver lining, I try to keep on keeping on.”
Song and Lyrics by First Aid Kit, Stay Gold Album
Then, as you keep on keeping on,
“Do the best you can until you know better.
Then when you know better,do better.
- Maya Angelou
