Be As One: A Single Flow - The Newest Blog from Susan Bailey

Be As One

Editor's note: I'm thrilled to congratulate my friend and fellow CatholicMom.com contributor  on the launch of her wonderful new blog www.beasone.org. Enjoy your visit! LMH

“Be As One” chronicles a life led by faith on a journey to becoming whole.

Susan Bailey

Writer shares the quiet yet profound changes in her life as she emerges from grief

Grafton, MA – Writer Susan Bailey has launched a new blog initiative with the purpose of sharing her journey of pulling together all the different compartments of her life into one single flow with the current being directed by God.

Of the blog entitled “Be As One: A Single Flow …” found at www.beasone.org, Susan says, “In our Western culture, we tend to compartmentalize our lives. I am a master at it with all my different roles, interests, etc. Trouble was, none of these compartments related to each other. My life was so fragmented that I was frustrated as a wife and mom, distracted at work as a graphic artist, and stifled in my creativity as a musician and writer. My spiritual life was dry. I felt disconnected, anxious and dissatisfied.”

She continues, “I reflected on how Jesus promised to make us whole and realized that it wasn’t just a promise of a healthy body, but of a healthy spirit as well. Submitting my life to Him and allowing Him to pull all the pieces together, like tributaries into a river, would create that single flow, and a whole person.”

Susan believes that wholeness from within sharpens our vision, enabling us to better perceive God in every aspect of our lives. “If all the parts of our lives are connected into one, we start to make connections beyond ourselves, with others. And we start to see God everywhere we look.”

Believing she is not alone, Susan ‘s goal is to create a virtual community of people sharing life stories, interests and experiences that will help all who visit the site learn how to live in that single flow too. “We’ll have fun sharing our interests while we learn,” she says, adding, “Right now I’m engaged with a large community of cat lovers and I’ve attracted people who love to kayak as well.”

The inspiration for the blog came from two transformative life experiences. “Over the last two years my life has gone through a quiet and profound transformation,” she says. “Emerging from the grief of losing my father in 2003 and then my mother in 2010, I have made some wonderful life-changing discoveries. As I learn to live them out, I am inviting you to come along on the journey and grow with me. You may find your life changing too.”

Besides losing her parents, Susan, a professional singer, was also coping with the loss of her voice. Active in music ministry in the Catholic Church since 1993 not only as a leader of song, but beyond her parish, she had performing at World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto and appeared on EWTN and Catholic TV. She recorded two CDs and publishing a ground-breaking Sung Rosary book and CD which was voted best Rosary product by Cheryl Dickow of Bezalel Books.

The same year her mother passed away, Susan began to notice a significant weakening of her voice. She was diagnosed with a form of acid reflux which coats the throat with stomach acid.

It was at this point that she felt led to make changes in her life. “I have accepted the fact that it's time to close this chapter of my life. I'm at peace with it and am even grateful for it because of the new windows God has opened for me.”

“Be At One” is the new chapter and Susan looks forward to sharing and conversing with you there. Come and visit at www.beasone.org.

Susan Bailey is a resident of Grafton, Massachusetts and a longtime active member of St. Luke the Evangelist Church in neighboring Westborough. She has been married 34 years to Rich, a deacon in the Eastern Catholic Melkite Church. They have two grown children: Stephen, 26 and Meredith, 24. Susan has worked for 20 years as a marketing assistant at Rutledge Properties, an independent real estate firm in Wellesley.  She was a Catholic recording artist for 17 years performing nationally and internationally. During that time she supported the Catholic artist community with GrapeVine, the only magazine devoted to Catholic performing artists.

For more information on Susan and Be As One, visit www.beasone.org.

Copyright 2012 Susan Bailey