The Calling of My Soul…life Lessons from the field
“ I suppose I always knew. There was nothing else I wanted to be. I only wanted to be a nurse, and the only thing I had to figure out was how I could do that.”
I once knew a woman named Nurse Sheila Byrne. She lived a life of purpose because she followed her calling. Mahatma means ‘great soul.’ We all agree that Mahatma Gandhi was a man of greatness. Nurse Byrne was a woman of greatness. She was my Mahatma.
The Calling of My Soul is a creative nonfiction that shares stories about a nurse who followed her calling and lived a life of purpose. Born at a time when people were poor and uneducated, Nurse Byrne found a way to make her dream come true. Her life was not an easy one but you never would have known this as she breathed warmth into every person she met. Her smile lit up a room and her kind, gentle manner put everyone at ease. She lived her life on purpose, staying focused on her intention not on the tragedies that would have brought most people to their knees.
It was in Stephenville, on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland, where Nurse Byrne lived most of her life and practiced as a nurse. It was there that she left her footprint. She was that special person for many people; whether they were children, students, mothers, or friends, she left them in a better place just for having been in her presence. This book will help you understand why, and the world will know that an extraordinary woman lived and worked on the island of Newfoundland in the middle of the North Atlantic saving lives and saving souls because that was her calling.
As the second book in the series Life Lessons from the Field, The Calling of My Soul guides you toward leading a better life and finding your life purpose. Each story will help you understand that greatness comes from how you live your life. These life lessons will be highlighted as Soul Reflections at the end of each chapter and Soul Whispers will ask you questions that require you to dig deep and answer the calling of your soul. Through truth and self assessment you will find your life becoming meaningful. You will feel freer than you have ever felt before.
When I think of Nurse Byrne, I hear her sweet voice, a calmness comes over me, and I smile as I remember how she made me feel. As she gently performed her duties as the school nurse, she soothed many a child with words of wisdom. She may have been an ‘unconscious competent healer’, one that magically healed everyone with her loving presence without being aware of the impact she had on them. Few have been known to do this but names like Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, and Sheila Byrne come to mind.
