Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vicki Goodman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Vicki, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My mission is a movement! A movement to teach people to view death, loss and God’s plan in a whole new light.
I ask a stunning question: Is death really tragic?
Our culture conditions us to think it is. But if we believe in a loving God and an indescribably beautiful afterlife, then what exactly is terrible about death? Maybe it’s even enviable!
This cultural conditioning is so powerful, it prevents us from connecting the dots. It keeps us from drawing the logical conclusions!
My story began in July 2019, right after the passing from cancer of my husband Sam, the love of my life. I thought the day Sam passed would be the cloudiest day of my life. And I expected to be utterly lost for a long time afterwards.
But it didn’t happen that way. Instead, on the very day Sam passed I saw “sunlight” peeking through the “clouds” as I was flooded with optimism! The timing was so unseemly, my first instinct was to push this blessing away.
But then I thought about how strong I’d been during Sam’s two-year cancer ordeal, and how well I’d cared for him during his last few months of life. I reasoned, if good things want to come my way, even immediately after Sam’s passing, I should let them.
It turned out to be the best decision I could have made. The choice I made that day kickstarted a fulfilling new chapter of life. And it did so far sooner than I’d expected. It was as if a “helping hand” was coming from somewhere outside myself to guide me. Thank God I let myself be led!
Soon I was witness to serendipitous events, too many to chalk up to mere coincidence. Opportunities for wonderful new experiences presented themselves, and I felt motivated to embrace them all. I was blessed with insights and clarity providing brand new ways of understanding life, death, and God’s plan for each of us.
All these things happened during the months after Sam passed. After about two years, enough time to yield the necessary perspective, I thought the story could help others experiencing a significant loss. I decided to write my book, To Sam, With Love: A Surviving Spouse’s Story of Inspired Grief.
This mission and MOVEMENT are a way for me to give back to the world that has given me so much. Some people have spent their lives giving. It’s what they do! And I have admired them for it. Me as a giver? Not so much. This may be the first time in my life a cause has truly resonated.
In fact, it occurs to me, I am simply the messenger. It seems God has chosen me to deliver these concepts — fresh, new, far more uplifting ways to understand the nature of death and God’s plan — to others.
Why would God choose me for this task? Could it be because I speak and write well, and I’m not at all shy? Maybe it’s because He knew I needed to contribute something significant, vital, even monumental! And maybe it’s because my wholly secular upbringing lends the best kind of credibility to the effort!
I am retired in a lovely small town after decades of hard work as an engineer in the big city. I didn’t need to pursue this mission. Still, I took it on and enthusiastically promote its message. Isn’t that the definition of “meaningful”?
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a retired mechanical engineer from the Los Angeles area. In fact, I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, which makes me a bona fide “Valley girl.” I currently reside in Prescott, Arizona. I sing and play violin, both semi-professionally. And for over twenty years I served a Long Beach (CA) area newspaper as theater critic. I am currently writing my second book, Speed Bumps: And Other Impediments to Life in the Fast Lane, a slightly self-deprecating treatise on the trials of life, especially from the point of view of a type A personality.
My mission is to share with others the insights I received after my husband Sam passed away from cancer in 2019. Survivors often grieve hard and long. And I believe much of their grieving is caused by a misunderstanding of the nature of death, of God’s plan, and of life itself.
This mission is a MOVEMENT of divine inspiration leading to what I call “inspired grief.”
I view my three audio episodes and my book as the complete toolkit to “inspired grief.” “Inspired grief” means understanding death the way it is PROPERLY understood! The survivor benefits by:
1) Knowing where their loved one’s soul resides
2) Seeing that the relationship can continue, just in a different way
3) Understanding that they can quickly and happily begin a fulfilling next chapter of life
4) Considering another committed relationship if they so desire, and they can enter into that relationship guilt-free
Contact Vicki and read her blog at her author website: VickiParisGoodman.com
URL for discounted book purchase: InspiredGrief.com/book
URL for Vicki’s FREE belief-shifting 3-episode private podcast audio series: InspiredGrief.com
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My entire experience of life since my husband Sam passed is a story of resilience. Everything that happened seemed “designed” to guide me forward in the best way possible.
First, I ignored the well-meaning advice of those who recommended I stay as busy as possible so there would be no time to think or feel. Instead, I created a balance of exciting new activities (like singing karaoke, joining a string quartet, and traveling to Antarctica!) and alone time. The time spent alone was necessary to “process” the enormous changes to my life resulting from Sam’s passing. This balance was crucial to my resilience!
But something unexpected happened soon after Sam’s passing, something that broadened my view of what’s possible. It also taught me valuable lessons about the power of observation, faith and resilience!
Within a few days of Sam’s passing I observed a smoky grayish white thing in the dark after getting into bed at night. It would appear most nights. But it was usually so faint, I wasn’t sure there was really something there. On the other hand, the “apparition” would occasionally appear much more vivid and was hard to dismiss.
After a few days, I found myself wondering if the phenomenon could be a visit from Sam. I began hoping to see it each night. At one point, I didn’t see the thing for two weeks and feared I wouldn’t see it again. I was so relieved when it finally returned.
Still, I wondered if the smoky grayish white thing was really there, or if I’d been imagining its presence.
This went on for many months until one day it changed color to a neon yellow green! The altered hue seemed to confirm I wasn’t imagining the thing.
A year after Sam passed, I’d begun to grow weary of wondering if the thing I’d been seeing really was Sam’s soul. I told God I wanted confirmation one way or the other. I had a plan.
If the “apparition” was Sam, I told God to make it look different that night… make it more vivid, or have it move in a different way than it usually did. If it wasn’t Sam, then God should give me jet black to indicate the convincing absence of the thing.
And if it appeared that night the way it always had, I would know God had chosen not to do as I’d asked, and I’d be no worse off.
That night, I was almost afraid to go to bed. What if I got jet black? Was I ready to find out Sam hadn’t been visiting me all this time? Had I asked God for this favor too soon?
But I couldn’t stay awake forever. So I reluctantly got into bed and turned out the light. I could scarcely believe what happened next.
The neon yellow green thing appeared immediately, when it had always taken a few minutes to appear before. It was shockingly bright! And instead of “floating” gently around, or in and out, for a minute or so, as it always had, it frantically flew across my view horizontally four or five times within a second or two, and then vanished in an instant.
I burst into tears, thanked God, and told Him I would never again question the identity of the “apparition.”
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
After Sam passed, I suddenly felt a need to learn more about the afterlife. And I also craved a stronger faith in God.
I’d been asking questions about both, and someone recommended a book called Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander. It changed my life!
Proof of Heaven’s author is a secular neurosurgeon who developed a brain infection, putting him in a coma for a week. I found his near-death experience, as chronicled in the book, so thoroughly convincing, I haven’t questioned the existence of God or the afterlife since reading it.
Dr. Alexander’s experience seemed divinely inspired, start to finish.
He’d had no wounds of the kind necessary for the infection to enter his body. Yet somehow he’d contracted the infection.
Dr. Alexander’s doctors, who were his colleagues, failed to get the infection under control and had told his family his death was imminent. They said if he miraculously survived, his brain damage would be so severe he’d remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. Yet he did emerge from the ordeal with no brain damage, going on to write this book and others, resume his career, and more.
Proof of Heaven set me on a path to extrapolate the astounding insights and clarity forming the foundation of the inspired grief movement!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://VickiParisGoodman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samnvic28/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vickiparisgoodman
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicki-paris-goodman-1021a6270/
- Other: URL for discounted book purchase: InspiredGrief.com/book
URL for Vicki’s FREE belief-shifting 3-episode audio series: InspiredGrief.com
Image Credits
Kristena Herrera
Lizzy McNett