Soul Talk Spiritual Counseling

For the past two years, I’ve been walking around feeling like I was here… but not fully living.
I couldn’t understand what was happening to me because I couldn’t name it. I thought grief was something obvious. Something dramatic. Something you recognized immediately. And because I had survived deep losses before, I honestly believed I had somehow become immune to it.

I wasn’t.

Grief doesn’t always arrive as tears.
Sometimes it arrives as numbness.
As exhaustion.
As anxiety that won’t let you sleep.
As feeling disconnected from yourself, your purpose, and even the things that once grounded you.

Instead of turning toward my spiritual practice, I turned away from it. I replaced meditation, prayer, and quiet reflection with binge watching Netflix for hours just to escape my own mind. I stayed busy. I smiled. I showed up. I told myself to “fake it until you make it.”

But grief does not heal when it’s ignored.
It waits patiently for you to acknowledge it.

Everything familiar felt like it was slipping away all at once. I kept trying to force myself back into the version of me that existed before the losses, but she was gone too.

That was the hardest truth:
sometimes healing isn’t about “getting back to normal.”
Sometimes it’s about learning to embrace a new normal.

Little by little, through prayer, honest conversations, deep friendships, and people who loved me enough to sit with me in the dark, the fog began to lift. Not overnight. Not magically. But slowly. Gently.

I’m learning that grief is not weakness.
It’s love with nowhere to go.
It’s the soul trying to make sense of change.
It’s proof that something mattered deeply.

And if you are in a season where you feel disconnected, anxious, exhausted, or unlike yourself… maybe you are not broken. Maybe you are grieving.

Be gentle with yourself.
Rest. Pray if you can. Borrow hope from the people who love you until you can hold it again on your own.

There is life after the fog.
Not the same life.
But still a meaningful, beautiful, sacred one.

It’s been a while since I’ve shown up here on Soul Talk. 🌿

Truthfully, the last 22 months have been some of the hardest of my life. I’ve been quietly walking through depression, grief, major life transitions, and the emotional heaviness that so many of us are carrying right now. The political climate, the suffering happening in wars around the world, personal heartbreak, and grieving the death of my soul-sister friend all left me feeling untethered for a long time.

There were days I felt spiritually exhausted. Days I questioned everything. Days where simply getting out of bed felt like an act of courage.

But somewhere in the middle of the darkness, I kept returning to compassion.

Not perfection.
Not toxic positivity.
Not pretending to be “high vibe.”

Just compassion.

Compassion for myself.
Compassion for others.
Compassion for this very human life.

That’s why this photo means so much to me. 💚

To me, Green Tara represents the energy of fearless compassion — the reminder that even in suffering, we are never truly alone. Sometimes healing doesn’t look dramatic or spiritual. Sometimes it looks like sitting quietly with your coffee, breathing deeply, crying honestly, and choosing to stay soft in a hard world.

So let me reintroduce myself…

I’m Stacey. 🌻
An ordained interfaith minister, spiritual counselor, meditation teacher, and a woman learning how to hold both grief and gratitude at the same time.

Soul Talk has never been about having it all together. It’s about creating a safe place to be real. A place for healing, mindfulness, spiritual growth, and remembering that tenderness is strength.

If you are struggling right now, please know this:
You are not weak for grieving.
You are not failing because life feels heavy.
You are not alone in your darkness.

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is simply keep showing up with an open heart.

One breath.
One cup of coffee.
One soft, compassionate step at a time. 🤍

Soiritual care isn’t reserved for Sundays or moments of crisis.
It’s meant for the everyday holy ground of your life:
• When you feel spiritually weary or uncertain
• When your mind won’t quiet and your heart feels heavy
• When you sense a gentle nudge whispering, “There is more for you.”

Beginning February 14, I have ONE opening available for spiritual care (ages 13+) that honors both faith and lived experience:
✝️ Spiritual Counseling — compassionate, grounded, and heart-centered
🧠 Mindfulness-Based CBT — thoughtful guidance rooted in awareness and grace
🌅 Life Coaching — discernment, clarity, and faithful next steps

Sessions are held via Zoom. My fees are Pay What You Can, because I believe spiritual and emotional support should be accessible, not transactional. This is one way I live out my calling and offer forward the care I have received.

If you are seeking a sacred, non-judgmental space where faith, questions, and real life can be held together, I invite you to reach out. 🌿

Grace and peace,
Stacey

What is Mindfulness?

Ever wondered what mindfulness means?

Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the surrounding environment through a gentle, nurturing lens.

Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future.

Another way to think of mindfulness is simply being aware.

Mindfulness can change your life.
↠ It changed mine.
↠ I have witnessed it change others.
↠ And it can change yours.

It has been scientifically proven to decrease anxiety and help you lead a healthier, more intentional life. And guess what? It is FREE and NATURAL!

Mindfulness is an easy self-care activity you can use at home, at work, on your commute, or literally anywhere to help ground you in the present so you can be more aware and intentional in the present moment.

They're not wrong.

Spirituality isn’t just for Sundays or when life falls apart.
It’s for:
• The moments you feel stuck
• The nights you can’t sleep
• The quiet “there has to be more than this” whispers

Starting February 14, I have ONE opening available for a new client (ages 13+) for:
✨ Spiritual Counseling (grounded, practical, heart-centered)
🧠 Mindfulness-Based CBT (thought-work with compassion)
🌅 Life Coaching (clarity, goals, and next steps)

All sessions are via Zoom, and my fees are Pay What You Can—because spiritual and emotional support should never be out of reach. This is one of the ways I pay forward the wisdom and care I’ve received on my own journey.

If you’re craving a space where your faith, questions, and real-life struggles can all sit at the same table, send me a message. 🌿

Some days, the world—and if I’m honest, our country—feels chaotic, scary, and unhinged.
I feel it in my body. I hear it in the noise. I see it in the way fear so easily turns into cruelty.

When I start to feel untethered, I return to Jesus.

I remember him walking calmly in the midst of those who wanted to silence him, stone him, destroy him. I remember that he refused to meet violence with violence or hatred with hatred.

Instead, he taught love.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31)
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
“Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9)
“Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

These teachings are what keep me moving forward in faith when everything feels like it’s unraveling.

And it is this same truth that draws me, again and again, to the teachings of the Buddha.

The Buddha taught compassion as a practice, not an idea.
“Hatred is never appeased by hatred. Hatred is appeased by love alone.” (Dhammapada 1:5)
He taught loving-kindness—metta—the intentional cultivation of goodwill toward all beings:
“Just as a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her own life, even so, cultivate a boundless heart toward all beings.” (Metta Sutta)
He taught non-attachment, reminding us that suffering arises when we cling—to power, to identity, to being right. (Four Noble Truths)

Different paths.
Same wisdom.
Same invitation.

Jesus and the Buddha were not competitors of truth.
They were brothers in divine love for humanity—each pointing us back to the same way of being:

Choose compassion over fear.
Choose love over ego.
Choose presence over reactivity.
Choose awakening over hatred.

In times like these, faith is not about certainty.
It’s about practice.
It’s about how we show up.
It’s about who we choose to be in the midst of the chaos.

And today, I choose love.
Again.
And again.
And again. 🤍