“Love is the most beautiful thing to have, hardest thing to earn, and the most painful thing to lose.”
Death-an inevitable foe which claimed millions of lives, including the lives of our loved ones leaving us a considerable amount of grief and emptiness that can never be replaced. But, amidst all the loneliness and pain lies a cure that is often overlooked. What that is, is covered in today’s podcast. On top of that, get a wider view of what faith is and how you can have a spiritual awakening. Don’t give up on yourself! Gear up to find your purpose in life.
Listen to the podcast here:
Highlights:
0:50 1993- Unlike Any Other Years
16:29 Channelling People
22:28 Faith and Mysticism
27:33 What’s Good and What’s Evil
33:55 The Materialistic View
39:51 A New Perspective in Grieving
42:23 Don’t Give Up Yourself
44:28 Misty’s Book Tours
Resources:
By Your Side- A Journey of Two Sisters Through Love and Sacrifice by Misty Thompson
Expectation Therapy: Mastering Your Expectations by Art Costello
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Heaven by Randy Alcorn
Quotes:
“Forgiveness is a powerful tool.” –Art Costello
“People have their spiritual awakenings in different ways. And most of the time, it’s an awakening from something that’s happened with you.” –Misty Thompson
“Every single thing that happens in this world is meant to teach us something in order for us to grow.” –Art Costello
“When you cut out the possibilities of things being able to be possible, you shut everything out, and that’s why people don’t learn and don’t believe.” –Art Costello
“I think it’s important to have savings. But I also believe that I need to live a little too.” –Misty Thompson
“But, if we really break it down, looking at all of the heavy, dark, sadness, and all those things do happen. But let’s also focus on all the encouraging things that grief can teach us.” –Misty Thompson
“We’re honoring our loved ones, by looking at grief in another way, another perspective.” –Misty Thompson
“I think the biggest grief that we have, is when we lose our sense of self… And that happens a lot more than we would like to think.” –Art Costello
“I feel like I’m a little more free, because I am actually moving towards myself.” –Misty Thompson
“When you live to the expectations of others, you give up yourself.” –Art Costello
Join @myexpectation and @mistyMEMC in an enlightening conversation on healing the mind, body and spirit. #spiritualawakening #1993 #grief #acceptance #healing #purpose #expectations Click To Tweet
Trancriptions:
ART: Welcome to the Shower Epiphany’s podcast. Today Misty Thompson is my guest. She is a spiritual life coach, mind, body, Spirit practitioner. She uses different modalities to help our clients find their purpose, validate their feelings, obtain clarity, and find their connection to source. She is the author of, I think it’s nine books now by your side journey of two sisters through love and sacrifice, which is about the story and disappearance and the death of her sister Stephanie in 1993. She found her purpose through that event and I think she has another book coming out soon. So anyway, Misty has been well received with awards and all kinds of accolades. With that being said, ladies and gentlemen, Misty Thompson, M
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah, well first of all, thank you for having me. It’s great to be here and like you said, my story started in 1993 with the death of my sister and I live in a small town in southeastern Arizona and back in 1993 my sister was missing and her remains were found in the desert about 10 miles from where I live now. And during that time she was coming to me, and I don’t mean physically because she was passed away, we didn’t know it at the time, but she was coming to me on a soul spiritual level. And I didn’t really know how to even put that into words because in 93 we didn’t have internet. I couldn’t look it up on the Internet to see if anyone else was experiencing these things. And you know, I talked to my mom about it and my mom did believe me, but she was focused on my sister. Now back in 93 I was 24 25 years old and my sister was 23 going to be 24 and she turned 24 during the time she was missing. So my mom is really focused on finding her and finding out what was happening. And we did not have a lot of help from local law enforcement, small town, you know, that kind of the small town mentality I guess. You know, it wasn’t until my mom did go to a private investigator in Mesa, Arizona and he was asking her a series of questions and he was just trying to determine whether or not he could help my family, find her. And during that time one of his questions was, has anyone in your family been spiritually contacted? And so that was the first time I was validated that what I was experiencing was real because to me it totally seemed real. I was having conversations with her and it was at night when I was about ready to fall asleep, I was half awake, half asleep, and she was coming to me and she was telling me these things. And of course my first thing to her, of course, this was all in my mind, I was talking to her, my question to her was, where are you? You know, we need to find you. We can’t find you. And all I remember receiving the information receiving was that it’s not time for us to find her yet and we would, we would find her. It just wasn’t time and that we needed to focus on the things that are more important. You know, my mom wanted revenge. My sister’s ex-husband, based on his own statements, said that he was the last person to see her alive. And for me, how do you know that unless you’re the first person to see her dead? So that was how my mom just really was focused on. She was angry and I understand, but I always received the message that it didn’t matter that we needed to look at the bigger picture of things. So this was again back 20 something years ago, and during that time, my three older kids were small and I was working at the federal prison and I kind of just pushed all of that down. We did find her remains. We had the funeral, and I was just surviving and I thought I had grieved and I hadn’t. So fast forward five years or so before I retired, I retired from the prison in 2015 and I started getting these feelings again. So everything was kind of pushed down about five years before I retired. All of this started coming back to me and I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I knew I was going to be doing something bigger and I knew I was going to retire from the prison when I was eligible and my mom did ask if I would write a book about our experiences, and that’s the book by your side. That’s the book I wrote regarding that. And it wasn’t until I wrote the book about by your side that all of the information started flooding to me about the things that I wrote in from grief to acceptance, which the book from grief to acceptance did come out April 1st and that was like a huge game changer for me because it made so much sense that I couldn’t believe that I didn’t pick up on this already. And from grief to acceptance and the subtitle to that is an act of process for healing while honoring our loved ones. Because I do believe that our loved ones are still with us no matter what. They don’t want us to be in a place of grief. You know, they want us to live life to the fullest. And I learned that from my sister when she passed away. So the book from grief to acceptance is it talks about a new perspective on how to grieve. And I guess it gives you permission to grieve the way you need to grieve. And there is no right or wrong way. Whereas the Kubler Ross method talks about you have denial, you have anger, you have acceptance, you have bargaining, you have all these. And so when I was finally grieving for my sister, I always thought I was doing it wrong because when I was angry, I really was angry. But I wasn’t angry because she was taken from us. I was angry because my mom had to go through this hell. And it wasn’t fair to my mom that my mom had to go through this. I was angry at my sister because I’m stuck on earth dealing with human problems and she gets to go float around in heaven with God, you know? So that’s the kind of angry, not that I wanted to die, but you know, I’m like, wait a minute, you have took the easy way out and that’s not right. So it was just totally different than what I was taught.
ART: I’m very aware of it because in 2006 I lost my wife to ovarian cancer.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Oh, I’m so sorry.
ART: I know the grieving process and –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: -there is no way to grieve. Everybody is different and how and what they deal with. You know, sometimes we as humans like to look at degrees of pain and there really is no degree of pain. Either you have it or you don’t.
MISTY THOMPSON: –That’s right.
ART: But for me, after my wife passed and a little bit of a story and I’ll just briefly tell you how before she died, she told me, she released me from my marriage vow so I could go marry someone else. After she had passed and I did not know how big a gift that was. And the three years after she died, I went nuts. I started drinking, running around doing all kinds of stupid things are not like me. And then my kids –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: -finally poked me in the head and said, dad, you promised. And that’s how my book came expectation therapy. But anyway, I do understand the grieving process and I will say, I am sorry for your loss of your sister, and it’s tragic. I hope they have caught her perpetrator.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Well, actually they haven’t.isty, tell us your story.
ART: They haven’t.
MISTY THOMPSON: No, but not that I’m okay with it, but I’ve come to peace with it because that’s one of the things that I learned from her that that’s a human issue that is not really important in the scope of things. In the big scheme of things. It’s a way for us to come to terms with death, but I was at peace with it. Now my mom totally different. I mean, I can’t imagine losing a child, especially in the way my mom did. So a siblings a little bit different, but that just goes to show how real those messages were to me. I believed them so much. I mean, it just totally envelops me in belief and I saw things totally from a different perspective.
ART: Yeah, forgiveness is a powerful tool. Do you think that even though you didn’t necessarily know who it was, but the whole situation, is there a way that maybe forgiveness when you were able to release and forgive whatever happened? Do you know? I mean in just in a general way, not a specific person, but in a general way. Do you think that that helped you?
“Forgiveness is a powerful tool.” –Art Costello Click To TweetMISTY THOMPSON: Absolutely. And you know the thing about it too, with my sisters, our relationship with each other is we were 18 months apart, so growing up we were pretty close. People thought we were twins even though we didn’t look alike. But as we grew older we had so different ways of living and we just did not relate to each other. And it’s interesting that I am closer now to my sister than I ever was in the physical. I know it’s interesting because we were so different that I’ve learned so much. I’ve learned forgiveness. Whereas when she was alive I didn’t, I was very judgmental of the way she was living her life and she was judgmental the way I was living my life and we couldn’t understand each other. Like, how can you do that? You need to have, I mean, my thing was I had a career, I had a house, I had, you know, reliable vehicles. I mean I was a bit materialistic, I guess you could say. Whereas my sister was like, Eh, whatever. It’ll work out, you know. And I was happy with my way, couldn’t understand her way. She was happy with her way, couldn’t understand my way. So I did learn so much. And that’s why this book, when I wrote the first one by your side, how all of this stuff about the different, looking at death from another perspective, it just hit me so hard and it just, this book just came out and I didn’t write it yet, but I knew I was gonna write a book about five encouraging phases of grief.
ART: You know, It’s really interesting you said that, that this, looking at it as a different perspective, and I’m sitting here thinking about you and your sister and living life at a different perspective because you both lived, there’s no right or wrong way to live your life. You just live it according to what I believe was when we’re all conceived where ingrained with a seed of expectation and we all live that expectation differently and that’s how we develop because I’m totally different than my brothers or my brother and sister were. We were all raised in the same household and it always just, I look back on it, I was just thinking how could I be so different? But I noticed that us that are intuitive and in touch with our feelings and more cerebral in our way of living, there’s something different. We have a different way of processing and seeing the world and it really does make a difference. So your journey is really interesting.
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah you know I look back and I think, wow, you know, this is like being back there in 1993 that was so much of a different time for me. It just seems like that doesn’t even seem like that was my life back then. But the one thing that is true is that, you know, we have people have their spiritual awakenings in different ways and most of the time it’s an awakening from something that’s happened with you or you know, I’ve heard some people get into car accidents and they are, you know, have a brush with death or whatever. But for me it was my sister’s experience. I had my spiritual awakening from her and every day, especially now, like I said, I’m retired and now that I’m doing this work, the goal is to help people and she pushes me every single day, even when I don’t feel like I’m up for it. She’s like, ah, guess what. [inaudible]for you today.
“People have their spiritual awakenings in different ways. And most of the time, it's an awakening from something that's happened with you.” -Misty Thompson Click To TweetART: To me that’s really an interesting perspective because you know, it actually makes your sister’s death part of your journey and part of your growth. And I know it sounds strange, but you know, sometimes we have to go through these things to get to our level. I mean, a lot of people blame God for things, you know? And I don’t think God does things to people. I think that, I mean it just doesn’t, the way it works, but people like to blame, you know, –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Right.
ART: -so they blame God for it. But it’s a beautiful perspective that you and I both have, that every single thing that happens in this world is meant to teach us something in order for us to grow. And the more we grow, we are living to God’s word and deeds and what we’re supposed to be doing. And it is really powerful when you can tap into that because so many people don’t. I mean they ignore it and to tap into, it’s a beautiful thing and I really commend you on it. And this tragedy of the loss of your sister. You’ve really created a really beautiful learning experience for other people to see and to gear to the things that you’re able to expound to them now.
“Every single thing that happens in this world is meant to teach us something in order for us to grow.” –Art Costello Click To TweetMISTY THOMPSON: It’s so funny because I wouldn’t think of any other way. I mean I’ve realized that’s my purpose is to help with her message and between the two of us, you know, giving me perspective on life, on the other side and what she’s learned and because I can channel, you know, I’m, I’m a psychic medium and I can bring that to other people. And so between the two of us, we work together. And I know that sounds crazy too, but I’m serious when I say.
ART: You know, I’m a person who, and I said this to a guest the other day, I’m the person that believes in the possibility of everything and I just think that anything’s possible and I’m really, you know, because I am not the way you are with being able to channel, you know, things like that. And then maybe just training is in psychology and I’m just going grained in it that I don’t let myself –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: -go there cause I’m very intuitive. I mean I have really good intuitive skills and I’m really interested in hearing more about how you receive messages from your sister. You know, and if you want to share some of the content that she tells you, that’s fine. But I’m interested in the process. You know, how you open yourself.
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah, well you know, I do readings for people, I do see clients and it was one of those things that at first I was very nervous about because I’m like, I don’t know if I can really do this even though I know I can do this. I don’t know what if I say the wrong thing. But for me it started with my sister and now I’m to the point where I’m just, I call it my spirit team and my sister is like head of the line, you know, because she brings the people in. So when I do have clients or you know, if it’s just for my own messages, she’s right there guiding people. It’s Kinda like she’s like the director, you know, like directing traffic, you know, like okay this person can come through. Yes, no. Yeah. And then, you know, it’s really funny cause those who had readings with me, they know I talk about this, that I have a circle around me and it’s behind me and spirit comes through with my left side. So as I’m doing readings I’ll be like going like over my shoulder like okay you can come forward or go back and you know, and this is kind of funny, but it is, I have that circle and I feel like the circle is to protect me of my energy because I only want, I want to say who I allow in. And again, like I said, my sister helps direct that so I don’t have that energy. That’s not, I don’t want to say bad or evil, but you know, that’s not aligned with my energy. And also it helps keep me to where I’m not taking on too much energy so that I’m able to maintain it. And that’s why I feel like I have this circle around me and that it is directed by my sister, that she helps keep me grounded and helps keep me in the flow. So I don’t take on too much to where I’m exhausted. I give too much of myself or the energy that’s not quite in line with my purpose. But yeah, I, so I have them and they line up according to how they need to come through and when I’m ready I will send some. And it’s also the same for the energy of, you know, the spirits who are coming through. Maybe I’m not a match for them, you know, cause energy is energy. And so I want them that energy, those spirits to be able to, if they don’t feel guided with me, you know, it kind of gives us those boundaries. So my sister is kind of like the middle person for that. But when it first started happening, it just, I would be falling asleep and all of a sudden I would get flooded with information. Like I was talking and I could hear her voice. I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her and the thoughts would come and it would just be crazy. Now I can pretty much bring it on or stop it when I want. And when I go to the grocery store and I am, you know, in my flow, cause I’m doing my human to do list, you might human things and I’m not really in the mood to be connecting with spirit. But sometimes if there’s somebody there that you know, I know or I’m feeling something weird about somebody I used to work with, then I’m able to turn it on just like that and I can just take a deep breath and boom on there. But again, that’s all my sister that helps me maintain that and bring that energy on. So it’s really interesting. It’s hard to explain because I can’t say I’m just like the clear knowing or I can hear things. A lot of times now, it’s been so many years now. Sometimes I hear things, sometimes I can close my eyes and see things better. Sometimes I smell smells now. It just depends it’s just a variety of different things for me now. So it’s really interesting how that’s opened up for me.
ART: Does everything channel to your sister?
MISTY THOMPSON: Not everything, no.
ART: No. There’s a channel through other people too that you don’t know or?
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. It does do that, but I just feel like a lot of times my sisters is Kinda like on the sidelines. I feel like she’s like watching over me to make sure, you know what I mean? To make sure nobody takes advantage of me that, but it’s really interesting.
ART: –That’s good.
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah, yeah. It’s kind of like I have like, you know, she kind of guides me on the other side there, but interestingly enough, I don’t really connect with her specifically as much as I used to when I’m in bed. I don’t hear messages from her like I used to. It’s just like, all, here’s something. I’ll be like, okay, I know that you Stephanie, or whatever. And I just know, I guess because I am able to pick up on those cues a little bit better now than I used to be. But yeah, I think for a lot of it, she’s just like the referee for a lot of it now.
ART: Yeah. I know this is gonna sound like an odd question.
MISTY THOMPSON: No [inaudible] not when we’re talking about stuff like this.
ART: Are you a person of faith?
MISTY THOMPSON: Yes.
ART: I thought you were. Cause I’ve read enough to know that you are. How do you reconcile faith and mystic readings and all that mysticism? I’m interested.
MISTY THOMPSON: Very valid because I’ve had this conversation with my dad and you know, I think a lot of it, I was conflicted with that because I know well I’ve always been taught that it’s evil or it comes from evil and I’ve now changed because I believe anything that we do for the good to help people comes from God and like you said, anything is possible and I’m open to that and this is how I explained it to my dad. Same thing as long as I’m doing it for the right reasons and it’s for the good to help people or to you know, help for my higher good at which is helping their higher good, which is going to help do that ripple effect in a positive way on the planet. Then I believe it’s through God and I know cause I’ve read a lot about the Bible when I was conflicted with all of this and this, my sister did come through until I explained it to me. What I was explained or how she explained it to me was religion as we knew it as I was younger is so different now and people have lost faith and religion to me now that I understand this more connecting to God is the ultimate goal. You know, having that connection to source is the most important thing. But because the ego has gotten in the way, sometimes it’s been because of a fear of, you know, just fear of lack or whatever it is. Or for instance, power hungry because, and not necessarily those in religion, but those who take power away from those who might seem weak, they are in a place of fear as well. Now to me, I don’t care if they go to church every Sunday. If they’re operating from a place of fear, they’re not connected to source. Because to me, you either have fear or you have love. It’s hard to have both and God has love. That’s how I believe so what I was told was that because there is this disconnect from God because of the religious, so people have a bad energy, a bad vibe with religion because of whatever the reasons and people are moving away from religion. So therefore they are losing connection. So God has to use people in different ways and it needs to open it up in different ways to connect people to him because yeah, medium ship is evil in the Bible.
ART: Do you know anything about my story?
MISTY THOMPSON: I don’t. I really don’t, which I do that on purpose.
ART: I did a brief rundown when I was nine years old. I was abandoned, but not in the traditional sense. I wasn’t put on the doorstep of the fire station. I was moved from a very urban area to a very rural area and everything that was near and dear to me was baseball. And we moved and my, our nearest neighbors were five miles, three miles away and they were 90 years old. And I’m trying to cut the story short so we don’t cut into our time. But I was so despondent and depressed, just giving up on life that I went to the top of the hill, laid on my back, and I had a conversation with God. God told me to just be patient. It was my job to just keep doing what I was supposed to do. And I made many, many, many, many, many trips up that hill. And I had many conversations with God and I listened to him through a voice and me and all my life, I made that trip so much. That is a nine year old that I began to believe in it. And my belief became so strong that it just carried me through. Is a marine in Vietnam, you know, 35 years old in my own business and then the loss of my wife and all that. Yeah. But when I started writing the book, I started looking back. I realized that my expectation was that everything was going to be all right because I had, my belief was so strong and my faith was so strong that I heard in the voice of God talking through me. But then what I started realizing was after my wife passed away and I went through three years being an idiot, I went back out on the lawn of the ranch and laid on my back and looked into the sky and I asked God what was going to become a me. Cause that’s the question I used to ask it nine and I heard his voice say, I’ve given you all the tools, you just need to use them.
MISTY THOMPSON: Wow.
ART: And then I got up and started writing and started living and started doing everything that was so re reinvigorating and rejuvenating. But what came out of it was that I realized that God planted the seed of expectation in each and every one of us. And he’s given us every tool to be successful. If we will just open up and listen to our instincts, our gut, and do the right thing and keep going through our lives can take paths that we never ever imagined. And you and I are living proof of that.
MISTY THOMPSON: Absolutely. Yeah. You know, I have family members that they talk to me just fine. But when I start talking about my business, what nothing to do with me because their faith is what I’m doing is evil, which it’s just interesting because –
ART: –Does it, that hurt?
MISTY THOMPSON: It does hurt, but then it really does hurt because I’m like, you guys have known me my whole life. I mean, come on.
ART: I write a lot about open-mindedness and mindfulness and those things. And you know, when you cut out the possibilities of things being able to be possible, –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yes.
ART: -you shut everything out. I mean, and that’s why people don’t learn –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Exactly.
ART: -and don’t believe because their minds are not conducive to hearing a message outside of what tradition has taught them.
“When you cut out the possibilities of things being able to be possible, you shut everything out, and that's why people don't learn and don't believe.” –Art Costello Click To TweetMISTY THOMPSON: –Exactly.
ART: And we got to start thinking different in this world.
MISTY THOMPSON: I agree and to me when you know, my dad goes to church and you know, some of my other family members, they are living a religious life, but they’re putting conditions on God because they’re saying that there is no possibilities. It’s not possible to do that. But with God, all things are possible. So –
ART: –Everything is possible. And he actually says it in the Bible that all things are possible.
MISTY THOMPSON: –That’s right, yes.
ART: You know? So when you believe –
MISTY THOMPSON: –So I believe, and that’s why, you know, I go back with my dad and I tell him, it’s like, you know, as long as I’m doing things for good now if I get that voice telling me that I need to kill people, obviously that’s not a place of love and God and that’s not good. I get that. But that’s not what I’m doing you know.
ART: When you come from a place of goodness –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yes.
ART: -and graciousness and kindness and love, hate and love cannot go together, they keep –
MISTY THOMPSON: –That’s exactly right.
ART: One just crosses the other out. Either you’re a hateful person or you’re a loving person.
MISTY THOMPSON: Exactly I agree 100%. So when I talk to my dad, he’s like, well yeah that make sense. But in the Bible it says this and I’m like, but I’m living proof that you know, and I believe the Bible, I mean I do. I believe what the Bible says is the truth at that time based on the people who told those stories, that was their truth. I believe that but that doesn’t mean that’s right for me at this time. You know? Cause the book of dawn is that version of what happened. And you know what I mean?
ART: –Yeah I do, I do.
MISTY THOMPSON: So I mean that’s, you know, I’m not saying denying the Bible, I’m just saying, but I am telling you dad, that this is so strong in me that, and as long as I am helping people with whatever it is with grief to show that they are worthy to be alive, they are worthy because God brought them here. They are a creation of God. So they are worthy to live here. And for them to be in a place of stuck in grief, you know, over and years and years. You know, it saddens me. And I’m not saying that everything we do is gonna be from a place of joy because that’s not realistic. We’re human. We’re going to have the grief, we’re gonna have the joy. We’re gonna have the happiness, the sadness.
ART: That’s why God gave us free will.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Exactly.
ART: Because he did not want us not to live a painful, like he knew we weren’t because he knew that some of us were gonna not make good choices.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yes.
ART: Doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you any less.
MISTY THOMPSON: –That’s right.
ART: We all make choices that are not the best that fits sometimes, but you know it. And part of forgiveness and part of understanding that is believing and having faith that no matter what God loves you, I believe that he loves each and every one of us. And I’m living proof of it cause I’m no angel. I’ll tell you.
MISTY THOMPSON: Me neither I mean you know we all have our [inaudible]I do my best to help people and that’s my mission as I know it’s yours. And you know, and I do that through my sister and I do that through the books and.
ART: Anytime that we can help somebody, we’re doing good.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Absolutely.
ART: Anytime we destroy anybody, we’re doing bad. Too much of it in this world right now. Too much of it.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Absolutely.
ART: I mean, too much divisiveness and too much wedges going in and I don’t care which side of the political spectrum you are or the religious spectrum, you know, because it’s all being painted as black and white and the world doesn’t work in black and white.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Right.
ART: It really doesn’t, you know –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Absolutely.
ART: -and it just doesn’t work. We were meant to meld together and to solve problems and all that, which gets me to, I just wanted to let you hear my idea on faith and fear. It originates with our expectations because we look at our expectations either through a lens of faith or fear. No, all in-betweens. It’s you either a faith or fear. That’s why some people are stopped immediately and always in this place of fear. They don’t do anything. They’re afraid to make a move of any kind because they’re in this fear.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: Other times with some people it fluctuates. You know, they can go from being, having lots of faith in certain things if they feel comfortable with it and having a lot of fear and other places. But when you can totally live in faith and know that everything is going to be okay, no matter what happens, boy, it’s a great place to be. I mean, I learned that a long time ago and I’ve done everything in my life I’ve ever wanted to do. I just mean it. I mean, I’ve just, you know, I try not to ever hurt anybody and I don’t. I’m sure I have at some points with words, but I never tried to do that. But you know, living in faith is a real good thing. But people again confuse it with the religious connotation of faith.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Absolutely.
ART: Faith is just having the belief that in our lives, everything is going to work out. It just always does.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: You can have all the anxiety in the world and it gets you nowhere. It’s a form of fear. Anxiety is a form of fear.
MISTY THOMPSON: And it’s lack of faith. You know, my husband, he, I don’t mind anyone to think I’m like, he has a fear of money. Like he’s always wanting to make sure we gotta have this much in savings. And you know, and I know it’s from a good place it’s security, but one time I told him, I’m like, when are you gonna realize that God’s gonna make sure you’re okay? Have you ever had a time when you weren’t taking care of? He says, well, no because I save, but is there a time where you’ve ever really needed the money?
ART: See, but he’s leaning on money and not on faith.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah. Exactly and me, I’m kind of like, I like to balance it. Yeah. I think it’s important to have savings, but I also believe that I need to live a little too. You know it’s not gonna do much good. If I’m not enjoying the ocean.
“I think it's important to have savings. But I also believe that I need to live a little too.” -Misty Thompson Click To TweetART: You know, I’ve had lots of it money.
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah.
ART: And I’ve had none and money to me is just get your things when you want them and when you don’t have it, you don’t get the things that you might want to really think you need. Most of the time you really don’t need them anyway. Because my late wife, my late wife was the same way as your husband.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Oh, really?
ART: Oh yeah. She would have been much happier married to a man who had a nine to five job or eight to five job, –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: -came home, brought home the check, put it in the bank on Friday, and they just lived on the mere existence where I was a person who was a big risk taker.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Hmm Mm.
ART: But that’s why I’ve had lots of money because I wasn’t a big risk taker and I took the money that I had and grew it by working hard and I started a construction company and it just got bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. But it’s what paid all of her medical bills when she passed away. So after she passed, I was left pretty much back to having to start over.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: But you know what? It didn’t matter. I did not have a fear –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: -because I knew, I don’t know how I knew I just had this thing. I have always trusted and had faith in that message that God gave me, that everything was gonna work out in the end.
MISTY THOMPSON: Yup. And I always knew I would never go hungry. I’ve never have gone hungry. I always knew that I’d have clothes to wear. I mean, those are the basic needs. My basic needs have always been met and I know they always will be met no matter what.
ART: I’ll give you the male perspective to that God brought me into this world and naked he’ll take me out naked.
MISTY THOMPSON: That is very true. There’s a reason why. Huh?
ART: I said old man fake and stuff so.
MISTY THOMPSON: That’s funny but yeah my husband just as like you know, I gotta have money. You can have money, got to have money and I’m like, your basic needs will be met. It’s okay. Don’t stress out cause it really saddens me that he stresses out about money because –
ART: –Yeah.
MISTY THOMPSON: -the energy, I mean, you know?
ART: Yeah. Stressing out, out about money is not a good thing, you know? At least in my opinion, it’s not a good thing. And I understand it, you know, because in this world we’re taught now, you know, we got to have savings and we gotta do that. You know? I mean, and I understand it because you know, hadn’t I done all the things I did for almost 35 years? I would have never been able to pay the obligation, but I promised my late wife that I would pay every medical bill. She was a nurse. But anyway, I promised her that I would pay all the bills. She made me promise her. And my lawyers at the time were saying, Art just go medical bankrupt. And I said, I can’t do it. I promised her. So I sold all the real estate I had accumulated. It was all for our retirement, –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah, right, right.
ART: -but she gave me this beautiful gift by telling me that I could go find another. And it relieved so much guilt for me. And you know, three years later I did. I found the most beautiful kind, loving woman that is just so encouraging.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah. And that’s exactly what it is. Our loved ones when they pass, they don’t want us to live this world in grief alone.
ART: –No, they don’t.
MISTY THOMPSON: They really don’t. They really, really don’t.
ART: Yeah. Have you ever read the book heaven by Randy Alcorn?
MISTY THOMPSON: I don’t think I have.
ART: It’s a hard read. It’s a biblical description of heaven and it also points out all the fallacies that we have been perpetrated upon us.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: And it’s a difficult read, but it’s really well worth it. Particularly, if you know, somebody that has cancer and –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: -you know, heading in towards death. It’s a good book to read because it’s a whole different perspective of heaven.
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah.
ART: Nothing like you’ve ever read.
MISTY THOMPSON: Really?
ART: Oh yeah.
MISTY THOMPSON: Oh, I would, yeah. I’m going to have to read it.
ART: –Yeah.
MISTY THOMPSON: I’m so fascinated with all of that. So definitely I’ll have to retake that one up.
ART: We kind a got off of for your story, but can you tell us about the book? What’s going on?
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah, it’s all good. Yeah. So this book, um, my latest book is about five encouraging phases on how to grieve. It’s a new perspective on grieving and the perspectives that I’ve listed are, you know, living or choosing love, being vulnerable at times. You know, it’s okay to be vulnerable at times being compassionate and it’s just bringing all of the light more positive things to grief. As you know, it’s heart wrenching and it’s awful. But if we really break it down looking at all of the heavy, dark, you know, sadness, yes. And all those things do happen. I’m not saying that, but let’s also focus on all the, the encouraging things that grief can teach us. You know, just the love, compassion, being vulnerable, being grateful, you know, all of these things –
“But, if we really break it down, looking at all of the heavy, dark, sadness, and all those things do happen. But let's also focus on all the encouraging things that grief can teach us.” -Misty Thompson Click To TweetART: –Hmm Mm.
MISTY THOMPSON: -that, that will help us. So that’s what this book is about. It talks about incorporating that into our grieving process. And when we do that, we do honor our loved ones because that’s what they truly want for us. They want us to be compassionate towards ourselves and others, you know, that kind of thing. So we’re honoring our loved ones by looking at grief and another way, another perspective.
“We're honoring our loved ones, by looking at grief in another way, another perspective.” -Misty Thompson Click To TweetART: And people really, really need that. I mean, there’s so many people that need that, you know, this is just my different way of thinking, but we don’t always just grieve the death of someone. We can grieve the loss of a job.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Oh, absolutely.
ART: I’m mean, there’s so many other things that we can grieve about. I lost a few years back, my best friend, the dog that I had Chloe, –
MISTY THOMPSON: –Oh my Gosh absolutely.
ART: -and I’m telling you I was terrible for a couple months losing her. I mean, every time I thought about it, I just went into tears, you know? I just thought so much.
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah. And like you said, it’s the job. It’s a relationship. And maybe –
ART: –Yeah.
MISTY THOMPSON: -that the person didn’t physically die, but there was a breakup. I mean, oh yeah, there’s grief and all, all aspects of life.
ART: You know, I think the biggest grief that we have in the sadness, grief we have is when we lose our sense of self.
MISTY THOMPSON: I’d mentioned that. Yeah, absolutely.
ART: And that happens a lot more than we would like to think.
“I think the biggest grief that we have, is when we lose our sense of self... And that happens a lot more than we would like to think.” –Art Costello Click To TweetMISTY THOMPSON: –Absolutely. It truly does. And the thing with me, it’s I feel like I’m a little more free because I am actually moving towards myself. Whereas I had lost myself who I was and I realize I was living for everybody else catering to their needs. And you know, with kids, I get it. That’s fine but.
“I feel like I'm a little more free, because I am actually moving towards myself.” -Misty Thompson Click To TweetART: This is my thing about that. When you live to the expectations of others, you give up yourself.
“When you live to the expectations of others, you give up yourself.” –Art Costello Click To TweetMISTY THOMPSON: Oh my gosh. Yes.
ART: I mean, and that’s what it happens way, way. I mean as parents we do it, we do it in the churches from the pulpit, we do it in politics and believe it or not, we even do it in advertising. Our advertisers do it to us. You know? I mean that just when you live to the expectations of others, you’re not living to your true self. And that is really, really where you get yourself in trouble.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yeah.
ART: That’s why people lose sense of who they are. I mean, you could have a spouse who is so dominant. Then he wants you to do this, this, and this, or she wants you to do that, that, that, and pretty soon the person’s depressed because they’ve lost their sense of self.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Yes.
ART: They’ve given up. And that’s why in a marriage, it’s so important to meld together and understand the expectations of each other and learn how to manage them and learn how to manage your family’s expectations. Because once you learn to manage your expectations, your life will take a turn for the better no matter what you do. And that’s why it’s so paramount to our growth.
MISTY THOMPSON: Oh, very true. Absolutely true. Yeah. And you’ll wake up and you’ll be like, what happened? How did I lose myself? You know, you don’t even realize it and you just wake up one day and you’re like, I don’t even know who I am. You know? I don’t know what I like to do. I don’t, cause it’s just a little bit over time. It just starts getting at you and before you know it. Yeah. So true.
ART: What have you got? The cooking?
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah now?
ART: What’s coming up? We’re almost at our end of our hour.
MISTY THOMPSON: I can’t believe it. It went by so fast. Well am doing a Seattle book tour here in July.
ART: –Oh Great.
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah, so I’m excited about that. I’m from Arizona so it makes perfect sense to go to Seattle, but it’s just, you know, July in Arizona is not the best time of the year. So –
ART: –Like –
MISTY THOMPSON: I am going to be doing a Tucson and a Phoenix book tour in the fall, but I’m going to kick it off in Seattle and I have some dates at Barnes and noble and at some East West bookshop and some radio shows. So yeah, going to be busy with that. And like I said, I see clients so yeah, I’m just evolved along.
ART: If people want to find out about your, where can they do that?
MISTY THOMPSON: Yeah, my website is mistymthompson.com and if they go to my website, they can get to all of my social media platforms cause I have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you know the usuals but yeah –
ART: –Linked in, all of them.
MISTY THOMPSON: All of them. Yeah. So they can connect with me on my website. It’s just easier to direct into my website and then they can choose the platform that they resonate with.
ART: That’s great. It’s been great having you on the show. We’re going to have to do this again.
MISTY THOMPSON: I would love it. I really –
ART: –Yeah.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Thank you so much.
ART: We’ll have to dig up some dirt that we can get spread around and cultivate some minds and really –
MISTY THOMPSON: –love it for sure.
ART: It’s been a pleasure having you on and folks, everything that we’ve talked about will be in the show notes and in my blog I’m gonna encourage you to get missed these books, even if you’re not grieving, it’s better to prepare for it beforehand. I speak of some knowledge with that. Had I better prepared myself for breathing, I would have been better at handling it. But Misty got some great material for you to indulge in and I want to thank you Misty for being on the show. It’s been a pleasure.
MISTY THOMPSON: –Thank you.
ART: And I’m going to have you again. We’ll do this and will cause some, some havoc in this world.
MISTY THOMPSON: –I love it.
ART: Everybody in the audience, this is gonna say goodbye. So with that being said, thank you much audience.
About Misty Thompson
The year 1993 was unlike any other year for Misty Thompson. It was a period of grief for her family as they lost a loved one in death. But this time, Misty also received her calling as a Spiritual Life Coach and a Mind/Body/Spirit Practitioner. Although her family became opposed to this, she was resolved to help her clients find their purpose in life and connect to their spiritual dimension. She also authored a number of books and is about to launch one that touches on a different perspective on grief.
Connect with Misty:
Website: https://mistymthompson.com/
Email: contact@mistymthompson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mystifiedenlightenment
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mistyMEMC
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misty_m_thompson/
Telephone: 1 928 362 8492
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