Heavy Lifting with Wendy Smedley
My guest today wants words for Christmas.
How cool is that?
She is Wendy Smedley and I’m so eager for you to get to know her better, because she is one of my most favorite people on the planet and a fabulous conversationalist. Wendy is the Marketing Manager at FamilySearch International. She is also mother to five (yes, 5) adult sons and just happens to also be the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Scrapbooking . We talk about all those things and a whole LOT more …
Photo by henry perks on Unsplash
A couple of years ago, Wendy found herself in the middle of an unanticipated divorce. For a women who poured herself into nurturing her family, this was a devastating shock. Her divorce among other challenges has invited serious soul searching, deep learning and new levels of self-care. Because of how Wendy chose to respond to unwelcome circumstances, she is now in a position to impart some serious insight and wisdom. Wendy seeks to be open hearted and always learning. She is curious and asks thought provoking questions—in fact, she sparked this episode for me when she related her almost daily observation of tower cranes near her downtown Salt Lake City home. What she discovered about these massive heavy-lifting machines is 100% applicable to anyone who is feeling discouraged or overwhelmed by life and trials. I know you’re going to relate to and come away grateful for Wendy’s positivity, vulnerability and sense of humor!
Ok, you want links to all of the goodness Wendy shared?
Here we go …
FREE Global family history event online, RootsTech Connect
Learn more @rootstechofficial on Instagram
Facebook Live with Wendy and Dave Isay (founder of StoryCorps)
IG Live Stream with Wendy and me (family history home tour)
The Second Mountain, by David Brooks
It Didn’t Start with You, by Mark Wolynn
Wendy’s new favorite podcast, Poetry Unbound.
Martin Seligman's 3 Ps can determine to a large extent someone’s ability to navigate hardship. Wendy discussed the danger of personalization, pervasiveness and permanence in your mental approach.
Wendy boldly declared that she has enough time for poetry and Billy Collins is one of her favorites …
Speaking of poetry, we both agreed talking that much of what Wendy has experienced is reflected in this well-known poem from The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran …
On Joy & Sorrow
“Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the reassure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.”
And, finally … in case you want to learn more about the amazing tower cranes, here the video I shared a portion of in my introduction …
