Strength In The Hardest Moments

A lot of people are carrying pain quietly, and it shows up as stress, shutdown, or a harsh story we keep telling ourselves. We’re joined by Sharon Jones, a licensed marriage and family therapist with decades of experience, to talk about what it looks like to choose healing on purpose and to stop feeding the chaos. Sharon shares why she created new children’s books and journals through Alabaster Moments Consultant LLC, and how her work is rooted in resilience, self-awareness, and compassion. 

We start with the heart behind her children’s book, Tunu And The Buckets Of Strength, inspired by the late-in-life story her father finally shared before his passing. That story opens a bigger conversation about helping children talk about feelings early, building healthy coping skills, and reminding both kids and adults that strength can still be present in the middle of loss. Sharon explains how emotions need a safe outlet, how “anything shut down will begin to explode,” and why giving a child a voice can change a home and a classroom. 

Then we shift into practical tools: guided journaling for healing, reflective prompts for teens and adults, and the idea that lived experience can be “medicine.” Sharon also introduces a powerful reframe: remembering life is a ceremony. From small celebrations to intentional rituals, she explains how ceremonies can support the mind, body, and spirit, and help us reset when life feels heavy. We wrap with what she’s creating next, including inspirational card sets, more journals, translation plans, and a new poetry project. 

Subscribe for more Koffee Chit Chat, share this with someone who needs a gentler path to healing, and leave a review if the conversation helps. What’s one prompt or ceremony you want to try this week?

Transcript

Coffee Of The Week And Guest

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So, hey y'all, today we are back with another exciting episode of Coffee Chit Chat. But before we get started, you guys know how to do it. Let's shout out the coffee of the week, which is a creamy cinnamon toast coffee. Our guest is the morning only, Miss Sharon Jones. We just absolutely love her. She was born in the city of Shrekport, Louisiana, and raised in the rural area of Cashata, Louisiana. That's our home city, Cashata. Sharon currently resides in California and is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Sharon has a work experience of over 30 years. She has experienced providing services and support to diverse communities on suicide prevention and stigma reduction. Sharon has taken her experience and developed Alabaster Moments Consultant LLC, where she provides counseling. And I think once you listen to her, you're going to be excited that we have her again. She does coaching, custom courses, training, and workshops. Welcome back to the show. Let's talk about your new journals and your children's books.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Yes, yes. With all that, I'm so happy to be here. With all that's happening in the world, or how we perceive what's happening in the world, uh, as I was taking a little vacation over the December holidays, I decided to, you know, send more healing into the world in the form of journals, uh, children's books. And I took this the several things that my father, my father passed away in on Black Friday in 2023. And so I took some of the things that he said to me that would get my attention as a therapist. Uh he lived, and I'm going into the children's book, I guess, first. He he lived with a very evil stepfather, and he was really in a uh place of oppression as a child, and he had not shared that with me. I hadn't heard it for years, and my father shared this in his early 80s, and I held on to that. And so after he passed away, I was at home this uh this December, and I and something said, You need to write a children's book about that. And I said, Wow, I'm so busy, I'm all over the place, I'm doing things, you know, as that spirit speaks to it. And then I then it came to me. My father had a unique nickname, Tunu, T-U-N-U. And so it ended up Tunu in the buckets of strength, because his father would make him go get water in buckets, and if any splashed out of the bucket, he would make him turn around and go back that long distance and get two more buckets. He would make him pour it out and then turn around and go get more buckets of water. And so that's uh how I derived um the children's book. Also, in our lives, there are many things that happened. Like he lost his mother at age 48 because she was in need of a kidney transplant. And then a year later, he lost his younger brother who was age 15. And so I decided to craft all of this into a children's book, which were painful moments of loss and and where strength had to be displayed to send out to healing because someone may be in similar situations, and sometimes a book can speak for what you're trying to say.

Loss Stories And Finding Strength

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Okay, that is a lot. Wow. I'm sure for him to unpack and to uh share with you guys, you know. So what age are your books geared towards?

SPEAKER_00 3:31

I I think I put like age um 10. I well, the thing about me is I love the whole work on the inner child. So I would say that the children's book is even for adults who are emotionally shut down and don't know how to say, you know, to express their feelings because my father never expressed feelings, and so he's gone. But I'm gonna get this out in a book, these feelings, so that they can help other people. So I would say from about age 10 on up, you know, if not younger, it depends on the maturity level. You know, some children are very, you know, and and they they're able to receive it and understand it, whereas others, it may be a little too much. So I would say at least 10 years old up and up.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Okay, right, that preteen age. And what is the main message you hope children take away from your stories?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Uh, that you can even find strength when you're going through something very difficult. Oftentimes we throw in the towel when we're going through difficult moments because we don't have the right coping mechanisms in place. We can't handle it. We're already distressed, we're we're tipped over already with so many things. But to know, even out of bad situations, good can come. And as my um my nephew uh called me one day and he said that he had he had dreamed of my brother who passed away as well. I probably have talked about it on here. And he said, in the dream, the message was even though you think things are not going right, they're going right. And so sometimes we can be in a place where we think that all hope is gone, nothing will ever be right, but maybe it's still on course to be right. And so, yes. Oh, wow. And how old is your nephew? Uh, he's he's an he's an adult, he's about 30.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

So he was an adult, yes. Uh-huh.

unknown 5:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

I know you have younger ones too, so I don't know if it was one of the younger ones.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

No, it was one of the older ones who often, you know, has those dreams and and get those messages. And so I decided not to contribute to the chaos of the world, but to try to help out. I'm only one person, but I I said I'm gonna send out vibrations of healing through journals, through children's books, you know, workshops, training, and all of that. And so my whole goal is to, as I always affirm, that when a person is at their lowest, maybe they'll find something uh that's written by alabaster, you know, that that's connected to alabaster moments. It may be a children's book, it may be a nonfiction book, it may be a journal. But whatever it is, hopefully in that moment, it will spark the person to know that they do have strength, even though they are weak. You know, the Bible says, let the weak say I'm strong. And so if anything out of that children's book, that's a message. Let the weak say I'm strong. Yes, you're going through it and you got to get through it, but let the weak say I'm strong.

Helping Kids Talk About Feelings

SPEAKER_01 6:33

And I absolutely love that. Like we're not participating in the chaos. Yes, I absolutely love it. So, why do you think it's so important to talk about feelings with children early?

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Because, first of all, it gives them a release and it gives them a voice, and it gives them a way to advocate, you know, for their health or for their needs. Uh, anything that's shut down will begin to explode. And so you want to have that free flow, you know, that life force, whether it's through your voice, whether it's through your actions, and it's a way for parents to understand their children, you know, instead of just all of a sudden seeing all the bad behaviors or turning over the tables in the classroom or getting up and being disruptive. If we can help children to have a voice and to communicate and to release their emotions early in life, that will help tremendously. Also, depending on what we release, we release a certain type of chemistry. Like if you're releasing gratitude, that's a beautiful healing chemistry. But if it's anger and if it's uh shame and all of that stuff, that releases another type of chemical into the body system.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Okay, I love that. Absolutely love it. And if a parent is listening right now, uh, why should these books be in their home?

SPEAKER_00 7:59

The book should be in the home because the book is uh affirm with the energetic intention of helping people and bringing forth healing and understanding and insight and self-awareness. If a person does not have self-awareness, they can't begin to do anything. We often see um where we say little Johnny or or Big Johnny, they're not doing anything. Well, maybe their self-awareness is that things are okay, they don't need to do anything. So we have to be self-aware, even to begin a change for the better.

Switching To Healing Journals

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Okay. Awesome. So now we're just gonna do a little switcheroo and talk about these new journals. Okay, okay. All right, what inspired you to create these new journals?

Lived Experience And The Alabaster Metaphor

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Uh bringing healing, bringing uh reflective uh knowing for people, uh opening up, giving people permission to reflect and take a look at their lives. Uh it's not uncommon for a person to go through life, just go through at default, never think about their actions, never think about uh growing or anything. And so one of the journals is entitled Alabaster Moments, finding power in lived experience. We all have lived experience. Lived experience is the medicine to help ourselves and to help other people. And so we all have lived a life. And I think you said last time, mother wit. I equate mother with to lived experience. People have lived through things that they thought they weren't gonna make it through, that they thought were over, that they thought they were doomed. And so that lived experience helps us keep getting back up, keep going through it, even though it's uncomfortable. And so, as you know, the story of Alabaster that I base most of my work off of is the woman who had the alabaster box. She was put down, she was talked about, she was mistreated, but she held that precious all inside the box. And I think that's metaphorical for the precious all that we hold within ourselves. And so, in order to really, really fully embrace that precious oil, she cracked the box open and changed the fragrance of the people in the room and the fragrance of her life. Before she uh cracked the box open, she was the prostitute. They were saying all types of negative things about her. After the fragrance changed, they referred to her as the woman with the alabaster box. And alabaster box was equated to something precious, whole and oil inside, precious oil inside, that was worth something. And so I have that journal, uh, finding alabaster, finding power and lived experience. And then my second journal, I got this download or this message from the spirit, I would say, remembering life is a ceremony. And we were just speaking about your mother, Miss Dora, and how she enjoyed a birthday party, and that was like a ceremony. Not only will she remember the joy, but the family will remember the joy. And so we have to incorporate more ceremonies into our life. Uh, you we have it in terms of church, we have it in terms of family reunions, we have it in terms of parties and little children's birthday parties. And at those moments, people really kind of feel better, they have more joy, they're celebrated celebratory moments, and so uh having ceremonies and remembering that life is a ceremony, and also setting up ceremonies for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

To celebrate those moments.

Life Is A Ceremony And Rituals

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yes. I always talk about Bioko Island, you know. I learned that my uh maternal heritage goes there, and they have a ceremony called uh the Batoy, where on the full moon of the of the year they go to the sea and they collect salt water and they cleanse themselves under the full moon in the you know, salt water. And so that's a ritual to renew their energy and to recharge themselves. And then they have another ceremony called the busio, where you plan uh and set your intentions the day before. Uh, you're gonna plan a celebration, you're gonna have food there, you're gonna uh speak to spirit and and send the people who need to be there to join in your ceremony. And so all of those things really help you to feel better, help you to cope. And it may not be traditional therapy where you're just talking to a person and learning skills, but your body, mind, and spirit are all activated in those ceremonies. And so that's why ceremonies are so powerful. So we have to remember those ceremonies from a child on up, because that becomes coping skills for us, that becomes self-awareness that we can make it through and that we have some tools.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

I like that. Celebrate the ceremonies. I really, I really like that. And so your journals, what you just say they're for adults, teens, everyone, you know, like once they become a teen or uh just adults.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

I would say about age, some I usually put age 12 and up because you know, in most cultures, at age 12, most children have a level of maturity where they can. And I make it very simplistic. You know, I don't use clinical jargon or anything like that. It's just do you believe you are enough? Or when when was the first time you felt like you weren't weren't enough? Prompts like that. Uh letting go. Sometimes it's just two words, letting go in this journal, or where did I first learn I was not enough? Or other things, uh, looking at your layers of identity, like who are you? You know, what is your ancestry? What are your family stories? You know, what is the culture you embrace, you know, your birthplace, just very simple things. Uh, what parts do I choose? You know, things like that. You know, what parts of your life do you choose? So just very simplistic phrases to get people to work in on themselves and generating a higher vibration and a more positive vibration.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Okay, I love that. So about 12 on. And what makes your journals different from the ones we can grab at, you know, off of a shelf anywhere?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

I I think all journals are important. Uh, if if I had to say uh my journals, you know, I'm very intentional about it. You know, I'm a therapist. I really want people to begin to reflect. I because reflection leads to healing. And as you know, you can't heal that you're not willing to reveal. So journaling helps you to begin to reveal this stuff. And sometimes things that we don't even know about ourselves become revealed. Like maybe you're a little rigid, you know, and and people are noticing that you're rigid, but you think you're fine. Or maybe you're selfish and you're thinking that you're not selfish. And so when you journal, if you can become self-aware, some of those things flow to the surface and you can do something about them.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

I love that. And I truly believe that because this year, um, the first 12 days of the year, our church did a corporate fast. It was um 12 days of consecration and very intense questions as we were journaling, and it just kind of like made me aware of some of the things that wait a minute, this means why you were answering those questions. So I truly believe that it can help you with that self-awareness piece.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Yeah, one of the most painful things is to look at yourself, to take a look at yourself. You might notice everybody else is pointing the finger at other people, but it starts within.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Yeah, I totally agree. And for someone who's never journaled before, where should they start?

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Start with what's comfortable for them. You don't have to write a long narrative or dialogue, you're not writing a story. You can just put one keyword down a day if you want to start out like that, and then kind of look at what that keyword means for you in your life. You know, you can do little bullets. Some people can draw pictures if you're an artist or you can doodle. But whatever it is, you want to do it regularly if you can, some type of regular pattern. And what happens is you can see, you know, what you're dealing with, and you can see what you need to improve or what you need to expand upon. And so it's really about releasing the healing through journaling. That's how I see it. And getting a changing those self-narratives that we have. Most of us have a terrible self-narrative. It doesn't matter if you're a therapist or whatever, those self-narratives, I'm not good enough. You know, I can't let anyone know that happened to me. Um if my mother finds out she'll be so upset. Uh, you know, I really don't want to do this. You know, I stole a book once or something like that. You know, all these different things that we hold that we we're afraid that it'll the mask will drop down and people will see us for who we are.

unknown 17:19

Yeah.

Stress Relief And Self-Awareness

SPEAKER_01 17:20

And you know what? That just leads us right into the next question. Can journaling help someone manage everyday stress?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Uh yes, I think it can because it touches all of those five senses, you know, taste, touch, um, smell, and all of that. You can use um those markers that have the smell. You you're touching the paper, uh, you're looking at what you're writing. And I think that it's definitely a way for you to take a pause and see where you are in life, and to see if your version of where uh your view of where you are in life is what everybody else is saying around you. Because sometimes there's a disconnect. You know, have you ever noticed sometimes there's a person that everybody knows how that person is and they're avoiding that person? Like there may be a person that borrows money all the time. This is just an example, and so people are starting to walk away when they see that person coming, they peek through the curtains and then they close the curtain real quick because they say, Oh, echo that person again. And so that person isn't even aware that they're creating this situation for themselves through their actions. And that's just an example. There are other examples too, and so oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, and so oftentimes people just go to shutting down and treating them a certain way, and that person is still not aware, they're doing the same thing. And so if they could just sit down and say, Why is Sharon shutting the curtain? Or, you know, why people are not answering their doors? And if they journal that out, it'll be that, wow, you know, you're gonna have to get this behavior. You know, you're you're asking people for money repeatedly, and you're not paying back the money, and and it's creating a little situation, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

I was about to say, are they not picking up the phone? They're not returning my text. What's going on here? Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

I rang the doorbell, but and it looked like a light was on in there, but and I heard some running with little feet, but nobody came to the door. And so when we journal, we can see, you know, what harm or what healing we need for ourselves and how we need to change our approach to other people. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

So, what's next for you? Are there more children's books or more journals coming in the future? Because you're just you're popping those journals out and I love it.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Well, I'm gonna do more journals. Um one thing I failed to remember uh to mention, I'm sorry, to mention was that for the book Tunut and the Buckets of Strength, I also developed a card set along with that book um for inspirational, you know, for further inspiration. And so there's only 33 cards, but you can you know pull a card a day and kind of get inspiration and kind of reflect on that. So I have also developed that as well.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Okay, and it's they're like affirmation, inspirational cards that you can just pull out and read.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Yes, and they're based on the messages in the book. Okay, okay, and then uh I've had under work under I've been working on for a while uh Alabaster Moments cards to go along with my first book, Alabaster Moments, Celebrating Moments of Healing and Transformation. And so I'm working on that as well. Okay, there are so many things that I'm working on, you know. I'm there there are many successful authors, you know, and they base it off of the New York Times bestseller. But what I'm basing my work on is if I'm being obedient to the spirit, and if it reaches one person, uh one person can reach many. And so that's what I kind of base it off of. And just bringing heel into the world, I I see a lot of people that are just stuck in their pain. Uh, even out on Facebook, I see people just speaking words of pain and and and I know they're in pain, but there's something about words that are creators, so you got to speak what how speak the words to come out of the pain, you know, because if not, you just keep creating a frequency of pain. And sometimes I'll be wanting to speak out, but sometimes your words aren't received very well. But you got to speak it, believe it, and receive it. You know, it doesn't mean that things are not happening that that are hurting us or that speak to loss, but you have to know that words are creators and you're sending that out. And so send out words of encouragement. I always try to do that, send out words of encouragement. And I also try to help people when they're down and out and in and in need. And of course, it's intentional, it's not for shape, form, or fashion or an outside. Show, but it's because you know we are the catalysts and we're here to help other people.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Oh, yeah, because the fruit, you know, it's like in Proverbs, where it tells us um the power of life and death sets in the tongue. Yes. So the fruit of our mouth controls the outcome of our lives.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

We have to remember that. Yeah. And I think Joyce Meyer even says the battle is on your tongue. You have to be very careful with what you're saying. Because more than likely, what you're saying is what your life is evolving into.

unknown 22:32

Yeah.

How To Buy And Follow Sharon

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Definitely. Now tell people how they can buy the children's books, the journals, and follow you, all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Well, my uh Facebook name is Alabaster Spirit, so you can just message me on Alabaster Spirit. I think that's the easiest way. I do have websites and everything, but we're just gonna go with Alabaster Spirit and just message me. And uh I'll give you more information and more details, and I'll let you know. I'm looking at the three journals coming out around March 28th. And I should be receiving today my proof copy to look at my children's book to make sure that it's the way that I want it today. And so I'm gonna keep writing and uh I'm gonna keep uh receiving the feedback from people uh because one thing that I've noticed that my books or whatever I do is helping people to have a voice and to take a look at some things. And so I'm very happy with that. You know, I waited many years before being an author. I wrote my first book in 2022, and now I have seven books, you know, including journals and my nonfiction books, uh, and my my prayer book and all of that. And now I'm getting all of them translated into Spanish. So I'll be able to reach out to the Spanish uh community as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

I love it. Awesome. I love that. Um, and as soon as they come out, we're gonna put them in coffee chit chat on Facebook and on Instagram. We'll put the links because I'm sure they'll be sold on Amazon like the rest of them. Yes. Whereas yes, and so we'll put them in all of our social media uh platforms, chit chatter, so you guys can buy the book. I'm gonna make sure we blast it out loud and clear. And we really appreciate Sharon for getting up so early because she's on the uh west coast, and it's just a bit earlier there than what it is here.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

And Paula, I do have another project that I'm working on. It's another poetry book, and it's called Crown by the Light. So that's another project that I'm working on, a poetry book, Crown by the Light.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Okay, and your poetry is so portrait is so nice.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

So okay, and will that come out this year, or maybe it's gonna come out this year. It's already in draft form. I I've already spoken the poetic words. I just have to make sure it's what I want to say. That's awesome. You are really busy. Yes, yes. I mean, I'm serious about this thing, and and I would challenge everyone to get serious about healing and recovery and speaking kind words and and having kind intentions to other people, because that's how we create that that spirit of the land by having kindness and helping other people and and coming back to the the truth, true essence of doing good.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Oh, yeah, just continue to be kind, no matter how evil or weird or wicked this world may get, we have to continue to pour love and kindness into others. I love that, and that's what Alabaster Moments is all about as well.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

Yeah, it's about transformation. We have to be a part of the transformation.

Kindness Transformation And Closing Quote

SPEAKER_01 25:47

That is so true. And we thank Sharon again, guys. And our quote of the week is nothing can dim the light that shines from within. And that's by Ma Angelo. Tune in next week for another exciting episode of Call for Chit Chat.