Welcome to my blog, where we explore a practical, spiritual approach to a more meaningful life. I believe that everyone has a spiritual journey to embark on, and my blog is here to provide guidance, hope, encouragement and inspiration along the way. Spirituality is not only about belief, but about action – and I’m
committed to sharing actionable tips and insights that can help you live your best, most fulfilling life!
I am an author whose other areas of interest and study include Christian Counseling, drama, and art. As a Catholic Christian, I often draw inspiration from this perspective, but with a respectful and inclusive approach to people of all faiths and backgrounds, as well as those who have no religious affiliation but are looking for a deeper connection to a Higher Power. I strive to use an open-minded approach that draws from various spiritual and inspirational sources. Join me as we explore the practical side of spirituality, sharing insights and tools to help you cultivate a deeper, more fulfilling relationship with yourself, others, and the Divine! Although I am a Catholic myself and make very effort to present accurate facts, any personal insights are totally my own. I do not represent the Roman Catholic Church or any particular denomination, religion, or organization.
Despite the current popularity of the term “the Universe” to describe where our power originates, I do not use that term. I believe in God, and I believe that God dwells within each one of us, but also that God exists as the Origin of everything and the giver of all good things. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” ~ Hebrews 11:3. So, if God created the Universe, the Universe in and of itself has no power to create. Nor do I believe that “we are God,” but I believe that we are all part of God. My perspective on it is that if you filled a billion cups of water from the ocean, the ocean would still be there as a whole, but you would also have a part of the ocean in each one of those cups that you filled from it. Yet, each individual cup is not the entirety of the ocean. So I use the term “God” in my posts, but call this Higher Power whatever resonates with your own belief system.
I also will sometimes use the pronoun “He” when referring to God. I believe that, being pure spirit, God of course encompasses both male and female characteristics. So my use of the male pronoun, which is traditional, is used only for better flow during the writing process. It is not meant to exclude the female aspect of God.
I believe that all of us have access to the God within us, by tapping into our inner guidance. I use this term to describe wisdom and inspiration that is clearly outside of our conscious mind’s ability to give us. Some choose to believe that this wisdom comes through their Soul or Higher Self, some believe it is from the Holy Spirit, Jesus, angels, archangels, saints, or guides, etc. I believe in all of these sources, and that we can receive guidance from any one of them. But I also believe that ALL good and true guidance originates with God and flows through to us in various ways, assisting those of us on earth who are struggling to live the best lives we can. Much of what I post here was directly given to me through this inner guidance.
As it says in Matthew 7: “By their fruit you will recognize them…every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit….Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” This is how I discern what is authentic, good inner guidance for me, and it is how I know when it originates with God.
MY MISSION STATEMENT:
My goal is to help provide a practical spiritual approach to a more meaningful life. I continually strive to give hope, encouragement and motivation to those who are determined to stay true to their faith, beliefs, and High Ideals, while effectively coping with the stresses and problems of everyday living. Above all, I want to reassure you that you are never alone — that God and God’s helpers are always nearby to assist you and will never abandon you!
If you enjoy my blog, please subscribe, and tell your friends about it! You can find audio and video versions of many of my blog posts here: Everyday Life Spirituality
Everyday Life Spirituality 
Ciao e Buongiorno!
I would like to thank you and compliment you for your wonderful work in putting together your Blog and your lovely videos on your YouTube channel. Very nicely done, and very informative and helpful in so many ways, in shining a light on our wonderful Catholic Saints and their lives. Your Voice overs and narrations are very nicely done, with a very relaxing tone and delightful ”Story time” feel to them. I have actually fallen asleep late at night many times with the Playlist on autoplay. Just really relaxing to fall asleep to your narrations of the lives of the Saints.
By the way, did you previously post a different type of format for your videos? Are you now incorporating “AI” images of the Saints into your videos, versus other kinds. Looks like AI images and they are really nice – – a little bit idealized and ”cartoon-like” and fairy tale ish looking… but I do like them just the same. I wonder what kind of feedback you are getting from others regarding the images. Not complaining here – i do like them – just wondering how you came to choose to use them. They are becoming very popular all over the internet. I don’t think their use diminishes the seriousness of the realness of the Saints’ lives, but the images are just so “perfect” that I think they can inadvertently draw viewers into a ”fantasy land” concept of these very real people who existed in history. Just curious what you think?
And finally, I really do want to compliment you on your Blog site itself. Looks like lots of work has gone into it, and I really like your Intro page – which explains how you are interested in drawing all kinds of people in – but you are careful to emphasize that you in fact Do have a very Catholic mindset in terms of identifying and giving credit to the source of all good things, Our Father in Heaven – GOD Almighty. SO Glad you are not shy about crediting God in the truly Catholic understanding of things. Also, loved your clarification of the use of traditional masculine pronouns when referring to God. Great job on that.
Keep up the great work with the Videos! … and the Blog site!
God bless you!
~ Rich T in Texas
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Hi, Rich. Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement! I do work hard on my saint stories and make sure to do all my own research, draft the script, and do my own narration. I do use AI for most of the images and sometimes to “tighten up” the script, although I end up rewriting the AI suggestions lots of times, anyway! The reason for the AI images is that since starting the YouTube channel a couple of years ago featuring videos of these saint stories, it is extremely hard to get enough images off the internet. Most are copyrighted, and the “public domain” ones are few and far between, not nearly enough to make an interesting video. I do not like “talking head” videos, as I don’t like being on camera and don’t want the attention on me, but on the subject of the stories. That’s why I prefer a “documentary style” that shows images with a real human voiceover. The images you’re seeing in the blog are taken from the images I use in my videos. Yes, they are somewhat “idealized,” but so are movies about saints using Hollywood actors! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to see beautiful people in a movie, or beautiful images on a video, just as people do when they visit a museum. Throughout the ages, artists have strived to honor God with beautiful images. I try to keep them as close to what the person supposedly looked like (although many times we don’t even know), and I work hard to create images that move the storyline along. I make sure that all of the episodes are “listenable” and also available as YouTube podcasts, for those who prefer to listen. The script is almost identical to these blog posts, as you’ve probably noticed.
It’s impossible to please everyone, but I’m grateful that you appreciate the angle from which I approach my blog topics. It maybe won’t appeal to “hardcore” Catholics sometimes, or conversely to those who don’t believe in the concept of saints, but my goal is to make the saints human and approachable to anyone who might be curious about them. I can only be me and don’t pretend to be otherwise, so the blog posts and videos reflect my own perspective, which is why I emphasize that I don’t represent the Catholic Church or any other religious organization.I stick to the truth, but anything created will always somewhat reflect whoever created it.
I’m really happy that you enjoy the blog and the videos. BTW, contrary to what many people might think, creating appropriate AI images is not always easy! I work hard to get them “just right,” although sometimes they might fall short of what I’d consider perfect. AI can be a great helper tool. I just hate when a channel is totally AI: script, voice, and images, with no human touch at all. To me it’s worth the extra effort to do the groundwork and narration myself, even though it means that I don’t pump out as many videos as the totally AI channels. I hope you will continue to watch/listen/enjoy my channel! People like you make it all worthwhile! 🙂
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