Episode 216 | Creativity and Faith with Sheila McDaniel

In this episode of The Art of Letting Go, I sit down with Miss Sheila McDaniel, a powerful storyteller and mother of my dear friend Shaughn. We talk about her journey through faith, the life lessons that led her to write her first book Tears of Faith, and what it means to speak boldly about your relationship with God. Her honesty inspired me to reflect on my own connection to spirituality, and I share some of those personal thoughts at the top of the episode. This one’s about truth, connection, and how creativity can be a spiritual practice.

Tears of Faith by Sheila McDaniel is available now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

This episode also features a guided meditation by James “DatYogaDude” Woods and original music by Mike Brown.

Transcript

Mike Brown

[ 00:00:00 ] What's going on, everybody?  This is Mike Brown of The Art of Letting Go, and I wanted to welcome you to this week's episode.  I know it's been a minute since I put a new episode out, and I just wanted to let y'all know during that time, I really was focusing on getting better at my craft.  In these next couple of weeks, these next couple of episodes, you're going to see me trying out some new things, switching up the format a little bit of the show, and really just bringing you all the best show because I care.  And with that said, on this week's episode, I'm talking to one of my best friend's mom, Sheila McDaniel.  She just wrote her first book and I just felt so inspired that I wanted to talk to her about it.  She also inspired me to reflect on my connection to my creativity and I'll share more about that.  This episode is packed with a lot of gems, so get comfortable, relax, and enjoy the show.  Yo, what's up?  This is Mike Brown, and this is The Art of Letting Go.  It's been a minute since I checked in.  I've been working a lot.  I know last year I didn't record a lot because I was just not in the mindset of sharing with y'all.  And this year I have been very busy, very busy.  producing shows outside of my own.  I'm producing a show called So Glad You Asked with Dr. Ruta Nonax.  Y'all should definitely check that out.  Shameless plug.  It's been exciting to learn how to work with different formats of podcasting and really being able to showcase the skills that I learned here and use them in other places.  So it's really been a dope experience.  And I've been busy and I've been working my creative muscles, but also reflecting.  I've been reflecting a lot.  I talked to Sheila.  I'll call her Sheila for this episode.  But, you know, that is Miss Sheila, my friend Sean's mom.  I recorded an episode with her and we had a really dope conversation.  And what stood out to me most was just.  How she spoke so openly and freely about her faith and her connection to God.  And it just, there were parts of it that made me feel a little uncomfortable just because I am not so expressive, or at least I don't feel like I am, but she really inspired me to check in.  With just where am I at in my connection to God?  Because I do believe, you know, I always say that I'm more spiritual than I am religious.  And I know that I've explored just spirituality in a lot of ways.  And even in like what we do with The Artist's Way and trying to make people comfortable with the word 'God'  by calling it good orderly direction.  And, you know, to talk to someone who just was unafraid and, you know, not hiding how they felt made me question, why don't I express myself that way?  Or what does my version of that look like?  And I sat with that for a couple of weeks.  What came up most for me was in the way that I create.  Art has always felt like a direct connection to God for me.  And even when I didn't have words to express how I felt, sometimes when I would create music as a younger person, that would be my direct connection, or at least it felt that way.  Of speaking with and to God, and you know, reconnecting with that has felt special lately.  I've been making a lot of music and being intentional about spending time with my creativity, just even if it's like 10, 15 minutes a day, just taking that time to create.  And that feels like my radical expression to my spirituality.  Like when I create, that feels like my way of freely and openly expressing my joy to just, you know, the Most High.  I go through waves of how I communicate with God or my version of God.  You know, sometimes I'm talking to God like a homie.  Sometimes I'm talking to God like a parent and I'm learning how to speak to myself in the way that I speak to God because I can be hard on myself, but I don't need to be.  I don't need to judge myself.  But in short form, I really wanted to say that I just felt inspired by the conversation that I had with Ms. Sheila because it requires a lot of vulnerability.  To share publicly, you know, your spirituality, your faith, or whatever words people want to put on it.  So like I said, she inspired me to just share where I'm at and just explore and go deeper.  So that's where I've been at.  And, you know, I'm still figuring it all out and still releasing parts of what I think my spirituality has to be and allowing it to be what it is.  And here's our conversation with someone who inspired me to reflect in that way.

James "DatYogaDude" Woods

[ 00:06:21 ] It's James Woods, aka That Yoga Dude, with Feel Free to Feel Free.  A breath can be all it takes to get out of my head, get out of my body being stressed.  Get out of my worries, my anxieties, my frustrations and get back to me.  My relaxed, my calm, focused, peaceful self.  Not letting any distractions, any stories, any disruptions, any annoying things, people.  Situations take me out of my place.  A place that's as near as my breath.  Restarting from home, from peace, from calm.  And as always, feel free to feel free.  And namaste.  Peace.

Mike Brown

[ 00:07:34 ] Your son is one of my best friends and he's been on the show multiple times.  So it's an honor to have you.  And I was like, I don't know if I should call you Sheila, Miss Sheila, because I've only interacted with you as Sean's mom.  But now I get to interact with you as Sheila McDaniels, the author.  Miss Sheila, would you mind giving the people an introduction to who you are?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:07:58 ] I am Chiola McDaniel, a first-time author, which I am so excited about.  I am an educator.  I believe in education, continuously learning.  I'm a mom.  I am a Gigi.  And Gigi is gracious and gorgeous grandmother, okay?  And that's really me, you know, love life.  love living life, love being around happy people.  I'm excited about sharing what God is doing in my life.  I'm glad to be on here with you.  The last time I saw you, we were in the DR dancing up a storm.  I was learning the salsa.  So I'm glad to be here.  So I'm feeling a range of emotions right now, but they're all good.  They're all good.

Mike Brown

[ 00:08:47 ] I love that.  And it's such an honor to have you here.  When I saw that you were releasing a book, it just inspired me because I feel like I'm going to be creating for my entire life.  So to see somebody that is still just continuously progressing and also creating like that's beautiful to me.  And I was curious to know, is this your first book that you've written?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:09:08 ] Yes, it is.  It's my very first book.  It was a learning experience, but it's a great learning experience.  I had a wonderful team of powerful women from across the world helping me with this book.  So it made it a little easier because I know that they had my back and they were encouraging me to do the right thing.

Mike Brown

[ 00:09:34 ] That's really cool.  So you wrote this book in a community of other writers?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:09:39 ] Well, I wrote the book based on my spiritual journey.  And so I am very particular about what I do.  And so I wanted to make sure I published it in excellence.  So I went on a journey to find a team that could help me do that.  I needed help with my writing.  I didn’t want a ghostwriter to do it because God gave it to me.  So I wanted to do it.  So after a long, long, long time, I got frustrated and was like, God, You told me to do this.  You just got to give me the team because I just can't do this anymore.  Right.  And so I did.  I went on the Internet and I Google don’t know what I Google, but her name is Pollyanna Reed and her company, her team is called the Writers Block.  And so we just connected.  Her team helped me step by step.  You know, it was it was a team effort and I couldn't have done it without them.

Mike Brown

[ 00:10:39 ] That's really cool.  Was there any fear in becoming an author?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:10:42 ] It was.  I was originally stuck on, oh, I needed a PhD because it looked better on the cover.  That's not so, right?  The other fear was, it wasn't a fear.  I needed to make sure I said it the way God gave it to me.  I didn't want to add any to it.  I didn't want to take any away.  And so with that, it was like, all right, Sheila, you got to rewrite this.  It's a run on, but they're not in your brain.  And I think one of the fears that I had to really pray and get over was how my family was going to react to this book, because it's my journey and there are deep, dark, hurtful things that happened in my childhood.  And so I wanted to be able to share that.  But in a way that I can help somebody else who is actually is going through or has gone through that experience, how I got over it.  So that was my fear: is that they wouldn't receive that family secret being released.  So what I did was I just I just prayed and I prayed differently.  I was like, God, you told me to do it.  So you need to fix it.  I don't have time.  If they receive it, fine.  If they don't, that's between you and them.  So that's how I handled it.

Mike Brown

[ 00:12:09 ] That's kind of how this podcast started for me.  It was something that I felt like I needed to release to help myself, help other people.  And yeah, kind of getting over that feeling of: what are other people going to think of what I'm saying?  Because it's very vulnerable to share your journey, but it's also so freeing.  I love that you're doing that.  I kind of want to backtrack though, like: Just what inspired you to write the book?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:12:33 ] It wasn't on my mind to write a book.  My life was in chaos when the Lord told me to write a book.  When he told me this, my marriage had just fallen apart, right?  Single parent, two kids in a state where I had no family.  So it wasn't like something that I had planned to do.  I was resisting it because it was like, that's not on my plate.  I'm trying to take care of my kids.  I don't want to be bothered like that.  This is what I'm telling God, you know, and I know people say, oh, you don't talk to God.  Yeah, I do.  And so it took years, but I was a journalist, right?  I kept writing down my struggles, my successes and things that I was going through.  So I had stacks of journals.  I would say it was at least 15 years before I actually said, okay, I'm going to do this.  It actually, it was in 2022.  Was when I said, I'm going to sit down and do this because God kept saying, and I was like, I don't have time for that right now.  I got to get my kids through college, you know?  So it wasn't something I wanted to do.  It was, he kept knocking.  And then in 2022, I paid my last tuition payment for my daughter.  So, she didn't have any college debt.  And so, I was free.  So, I had no excuse that I'm too busy to do it.  So, that's when I actually started to put the drafts together and get all my journals and try to make sense of it.  So, I don't know if it was an inspiration, but that's how it formed.

Mike Brown

[ 00:14:03 ] And I'm curious because I feel like God does send me messages as well-of like, when I need to do something.  And do you almost find that when you are in that space of kind of resisting that it just keeps like, almost being put in your face more?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:14:18 ] It does.  And I always say 'me'  because I'm his special child.  Right.  So anybody that knows me knows what I'm going to say.  I feel that I'm God's favorite daughter.  Right.  So when I do the resistance, I always imagine him sitting there like, oh, what is wrong with this girl?  She has a mind of her own.  Right.  So he does one of two things.  He'll keep knocking harder or he'll just say, OK.  I'm just going to let you bump your head.  And when you get tired, you'll do what I asked you to do.  So that's the resistance.  I'm either going to do it or I'm going to get tired of fighting not to do it.  He gave it to me.  He gave it to me when he first told me to write the book.  And I wrote it down in my journal.  And, you know, time passed, time passed.  And then when I was like, OK, I'm going to get serious with this.  So I'm going to Google Tears of Faith because he gave it to me.  It is the only book of Tears of Faith, right?  Wrong.  And I got an attitude.  Right.  And I was like, how are you going to give me something?  And there's another title that got tears of faith.  Right.  And did you do what I told you to do when I told you to do it?  Hmm.  You didn't.  Right.  But because he gave it to me, it has power.  It's anointed.  So it doesn't matter if it's a hundred Tears of Faith books.  There's only one Tears of Faith written by Sheila McDade.

Mike Brown

[ 00:15:44 ] That's real.  That's so real.  I love that.  I wanted to ask you a little bit about your journaling process because I journal as well.  And I've been doing it, I want to say, for about 10 years now.  And I started just like journaling my ideas and things that would come to me.  And then I read this book called The Artist's Way.  So there's a thing called Morning Pages where you journal three pages in the morning, just kind of like a brain dump.  And I've been doing that for some years now, but I started writing for guidance where I ask a question to the paper and allow the answer to just flow through me.  And I'm curious to know, what is your journaling process like?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:16:24 ] Well, I have several types of journals.  I have a journal that is only for when God gives me something special to write in, when He tells me, 'This is what I need you to do.'  I have a journal for when I do research, when He gives me insight on things that He wants me to do.  And because of the person that I am, well, that sounds good, but I need to do some research.  So I have one.  I have another journal where I just write what comes to me.  I get up in the morning.  I spend time with God.  I read my scriptures.  And then sometimes I'll write.  The scriptures that I read, and other times is whatever He lays on my heart.  So there's no search, no particular process.  And then if I'm really going through something, oh, it's not a two or three, I'm writing everything down.  Like this person got on my nerves and this is how I felt and what you're going to do about it.  So I have all types of journals and I don't have a particular style because I don't feel a certain way every single day.  My emotion.  So if I feel that, if I'm going to truly capture what I'm feeling, I just have to capture that at that moment.  No certain style.  Just write it down.

Mike Brown

[ 00:17:49 ] I feel that.  I love that.  Something that just came to me just now because, you know, I see a lot of parents like once their kids grow up or adults, they just almost like.  Don't know how to do anything outside of being a parent.  So I'm curious, what advice would you give to parents?  Because like I said, I think this is so dope that you, like you said, you paid that last tuition payment, then you had time to focus on yourself and really take time to do what you wanted to do.  And I'm curious, what advice would you give to parents that-And I guess stuck in their ways is the thing that comes to mind for me.  But like just to be more open to like life can still continue, you know.

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:18:36 ] So what I did was my like I said, my focus through my earlier adulthood and 35 is my magic number.  So as I kept continuing to hit that age 35 every year, I had a goal.  My goal was to get my kids out of college debt-free.  And so once I did that, I could live.  And what I mean by that is I could do what I want to do.  You know, I didn't have to be a place at a certain time.  I could spend my money almost on myself.  You know, it was just a freedom that I could do because I put them first because they were supposed to come first.  You know, I jump on a plane.  Now I could ride first class all the time.  Well, before I was counting my pennies, you know, it was just things like that.  And then I would reach out to my son and I was like, 'Hey, I'm thinking about this.  What do you think?'  And his word would always be, 'Ma, live your life.  Go do you, you know.  And it was like, OK, cool.  Right.  And I would say the same thing to my daughter.  And she was like, OK, that's what you want to do.  That's good.  So I had a lot of support, but it's my opportunity now to just be free.  Just no worries.  My money is my money, if that makes sense.  So if I want to go out and just throw it up in the air, I can do that because there's no one depending on me.  So right now, I'm enjoying me.  I'm rediscovering me.  I'm not looking for a mate.  Because I don't feel like that.  I just want to enjoy me right now.  So I'm just living, if that makes sense.

Mike Brown

[ 00:20:19 ] It does.  And that's beautiful.  Like I said, it's just so beautiful to know that life can still continue.  Life can still progress as long as we are still walking and just being able to be alive.  That's amazing to me.  I wanted to go back to the book, though.  I wanted to ask you, what was the inspiration behind the cover?  And like, why did you choose The Purple Tears?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:20:44 ] Oh, I love that cover, right?  So I didn't get the idea for the cover until, oh, I was almost done writing the book, right?  And so Pollyanna, she said, have you thought of a cover?  And I was like, I got to think about it, right?  And so I just kept doing what I was going to do.  And then I was praying and God gave me this vision of a woman praying and she had purple tears.  It's like, OK, you know, it's you gave me the title.  OK.  And so when I met with the graphic designer, she was amazing.  Right.  And she had sent me two different diagrams.  Right.  Of what she had done.  And they were gorgeous.  And I love color.  They were just beautiful.  But I said, that's really not what I want.  She says, what do you want?  I said, I want a woman praying and I want her tears to be purple.  She said, okay.  She said, can I ask you a question?  I said, sure.  She said, where did you get that idea from?  I said, God gave it to me in a vision.  She smiled and said, okay.  And two or three weeks later, she sent me two designs.  The first one I opened up was the one that you see now, right?  And I was blown away because She took that vision and put it on paper.  And because I didn't give her all of the details that she came up with, it was like she was in my brain; I was so excited.  And then after we came up with a release date, I was praying.  I'm a morning person, right?  And I spend my time with God in the morning.  And so I always knew purple was royalty, but it didn't click.  And so God told me, he says, I need you to remind my daughters that they are royalty and that because they are royalty, their tears are royal tears.  Their tears are purple.  And he gathers those tears in a jar and he puts them.  So he wants us to know that we're not only royalty, we are so royal that our tears are royal, right?  And so when he told me that, I was like, oh God, really?  I mean, I actually cried because it was like, really?  And then people that see this cover, they message me and text me.  They say, oh, buy the book.  I love the cover.  I love the cover.  And it's the cover that draws them.  And it's to let women know that.  No matter what people say, when you look in the mirror, you have to know that you are royalty, that you are so royal that your tears are purple, you know?  And so that's where the inspiration came from.  And you could tell I'm passionate about it.  I go on and on.

Mike Brown

[ 00:23:43 ] I would also love to know, how does Sean feel about you releasing this book?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:23:47 ] He told me, he said, Ma, he said, I'm so excited for you.  He says, I don't like reading.  He said, but I'm going to read your book, you know?  And he always tells me.  Ma, do you.  Whatever you want to do, do you.  And so he was great.  And my daughter, she was the same way.  She kept saying, I'm so proud of you.  I'm so proud of you.  And neither one of them has read the book.  I just sent it to them.  So they should get it Saturday or Monday just before the release.  So yeah, I didn't want anybody to really get it too far in advance.  I wanted everybody to kind of read it together.  So they were very supportive, very, very supportive.  My sister circle, you'll read about them in the book and knowing them, well, many 35 years, right?  And so they have been supportive as well.  I have a sister circle here in Greensboro.  They're the bomb.  They were supportive.  Also, they're trying to say, okay, when are we going to do a book signing?  My family.  Like I said, they're encouraging.  My cousin just called me a little while ago.  I've been feeling love.  My sister, Tanya, give her a shout out.  You know, I have several sisters, but that one, she's behind me.  She's behind me.  She's like, I got you, girl.  I got you.  So it's been good.  It's been good.

Mike Brown

[ 00:25:06 ] I love that.  I really do.  What is one thing you would tell the listeners of why they should buy your book?

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:25:14 ] Why they should buy my book, because I'm an open book.  I'm real.  I didn't sugarcoat anything.  And women especially, they need to know that whatever you're going through, you're not alone, that somebody else has been through that.  And I feel by sharing my challenges, it will let them know that, hey, yeah, I felt that way.  I said that I did that, but God didn't leave me.  He was always with me, you know, and I had to go through some of that pain, some of that hurt so that I know how much strength he put inside of me and so that I could get closer and trust him instead of, you know, me being in control.  So, and it also lets them know that as God elevates me, oh, honey, I'm reaching back and pulling you with me because we're doing this together.  And that's why I want them to buy the book.  There is no good or bad.  God loves us all, but I'm his favorite.  So we throw that out there, but he loves us and he put everything inside of us that we need.  And all of these emotions that you go through and all of these struggles that you go through, they're not in vain.  They are to make you who you are.  And you need to know that you're a warrior.  You are strong.  And there is nothing you can't do.  And you do it with grace and beauty.  That's the killer.  You know, you could do it with your stilettos on and you still got that power, you know.  So that's why they should buy my book.  I wanted to encourage someone, if it's just one person, when they read this book to be encouraged.  And I done what I was supposed to do.  So I'm saying that to the women and men, too.  But, you know, read it.  And let me know how you feel.  My email is in the cover.  So send me an email.  Find me on Facebook, YouTube, and all that other stuff, TikTok.  And let me know how you feel.

Mike Brown

[ 00:27:14 ] Oh, man.  Miss Sheila, thank you so much for being on the show.  Before we close out, can you let the people know where they can find the book, where they can find you, how to get in touch?  Sure, sure.  Well, tears of faith.

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:27:32 ] You can find it on Amazon and you could also find it on Barnes & Noble.  You can email me, last name first, McDaniel Sheila.  Sheila is S-H-E-I-L-A @gmail.  com.  You can find me on Instagram; I don't know that handle, but you can look for me.  You could also find me on Facebook, you know, Google me.  And if you reach out to me, I promise.  I'll respond.  It won't be in 24 hours, but I'll try to respond within at least two to three days, to be honest.

Mike Brown

[ 00:28:10 ] And by the time this comes out, the book will already be out.  So make sure y'all pick up a copy of Tears of Faith.

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:28:17 ] It actually is going to be released on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Mike Brown

[ 00:28:23 ] That sounds good.  And congratulations again.

Sheila McDaniel

[ 00:28:25 ] Thank you.  Thank you so much.  And thank you for having me.  This has been Really, really fun.

Mike Brown

[ 00:28:31 ] I appreciate you so much for coming on.  Like I said, I really was inspired by just seeing you put out a book.  And I know other people will be inspired by that as well.  So thank you again for coming on the show.  Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode.  If you like what you heard, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.  Rate it.  If it's on Spotify, review it.  If it's on Apple, that stuff is so helpful.  And also I read it.  So I love to know how y'all feel about the show.  If you want to further support the show, please subscribe to my newsletter.  Please join the Patreon.  I promise I'm going to get better at putting more on the Patreon.  But I would love your support.  I would love to connect with y'all.  Please reach out.  And find me on all social media, The Art of Letting Go Podcast, All One Word, and Yeah.  Thank y'all so much for tuning in this week, and I'll catch you on the next one, Peace.