Thank you for walking with Self Discovery Wisdom throughout 2025. Your presence, your listening, and your support mean more than words can say.
This year has been rich with conversations that touched the heart, stirred the soul, and invited deeper awareness. Together, we explored spirituality in its many forms—grounded, practical, and lived. We spoke openly about self-dignity, healing, and reclaiming confidence. We honored the journey of aging vibrantly, not as something to fear, but as a stage of wisdom, vitality, and contribution. We also held space for deeply personal stories, including conversations around self-image, compassion, and the courage it takes to be seen as we are.
We’ll return on January 26 with more heart-led, illuminating conversations, offering wisdom to nourish your soul and support an abundant, conscious year ahead.
In the meantime, check out the shows we have for you here.
An Author’s Kiss with Sara Troy and her guest R.L. Maizes, on air from November 25th
A Complete Fiction Told in a humorous vein, R.L. examines the very serious questions of who has a right to tell a story, and has cancel-culture gone too far in our social media–drenched world?
With little evidence, would-be author P.J. Larkin serves a “nibble” on the trendy new social media app Crave, accusing editor George Dunn of stealing the novel she submitted to him for publication. The nibble shoots to the top of the site’s Popular Menu Items, and before you can say “unpaid literary labor,” George is embroiled in a scandal, his job and book deal in jeopardy. P.J. ‘s novel is snapped up amid the publicity, but has she revealed her sister Mia’s secrets in the book? Some diners on Crave think so, and now it’s P.J.’s turn to feel the public’s scorn.
Fiction can give us a breather from the relentless churn of the news, and A Complete Fiction does just that—offering a thoughtful look at serious issues while keeping readers laughing along the way. Its very creation carries a touch of irony: a book critiquing the intrusiveness of social media must still rely on those same platforms for promotion. The author explores what makes social media so objectionable to her, from its noise to its pressure, while also touching on the quieter indignities of the writing life—like receiving the dreaded “remaindered” letter for earlier books.
Why she had her husband block her social media accounts for her while she wrote the book
R.L. Maizes’s debut novel, Other People’s Pets, won the 2021 Colorado Book Award in Fiction and was a Library Journal Best Debut of Summer/Fall 2020. She also is the author of the short story collection, We Love Anderson Cooper. Her short stories have aired on National Public Radio and can be found in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading and in The Best Small Fictions 2020. Maizes’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, O Magazine, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and have aired on NPR. She is a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow and the recipient of a Fellowship Grant from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for 2024–2025 for her novel-in-progress. Maizes was born in Queens, New York, and lives in Boulder County, Colorado, with her husband, Steve, and her muses: Rosie, a dog who spent her first year homeless in South Dakota and thinks Colorado is downright balmy, and the ghost of Arie the Cat.
All of our shows/interviews are done by donation; if you enjoyed this show, please support us here with either a one-time donation or subscription and support. Thank you. Please support Our Forgotten Seniors anthology and help to bring this book to awareness.
Sara’s View of Life with Sara Troy, on air from November 18th
Trust, it’s a small word carrying the weight of worlds. At its core, it means confidence, belief, and faith — in someone, something, or even in the unseen.
In our personal lives, trust is the heartbeat of connection — that quiet knowing that someone will be there when we fall, will hold truth when we can’t see it ourselves.
In relationships, trust is the invisible bridge between souls. It’s built one moment at a time — through honesty, reliability, and compassion — and when broken, it takes courage and consistency to rebuild.
In organizations and leadership, trust is the foundation of collaboration. It’s what turns a group into a team, a mission into a movement. Without it, even the strongest structure collapses under doubt.
I’m a strong advocate for AI as a powerful tool that can truly assist us and enhance our capabilities. However, in the wrong hands, it becomes a means of manipulation and distortion. Much of what we see out there that misleads or deceives isn’t AI acting on its own—it’s the result of people using it with the wrong intentions.
In the mind, trust is both rational and emotional — a blend of experience, expectation, and hope. It’s our brain’s way of saying, “I choose to believe.”
In the legal and financial world, trust takes on a structure — a fiduciary bond of responsibility and stewardship. It’s a promise, protected by law, that one will act for another’s good.
And in the spiritual realm, trust becomes surrender — the faith that life unfolds with purpose, even when we cannot yet see the path. It’s the whisper of the soul that says, “All is as it’s meant to be.”
Having a true belief means having faith in what cannot be seen. Many people say they trust in God—but do you actually see God walking around? Do you see any of your sacred figures in the flesh? No. Because the God you seek lives within you and is revealed through godly acts—kindness, compassion, caring, and consideration.
You may believe in what is written or housed within a church or a holy book, but do you carry that belief inside you? When you do, it becomes alive within—something you feel, trust, and embody. That inner knowing, that divine spark within you, guides your actions. And that, above all, is something you can truly trust.
When we trust the soul, its energy and intelligence aligned with our heart’s truth and our spirit in action, we begin to truly understand what information in the mind is relevant at the moment. We simply trust it.
It feels right. It just is. I don’t choose to believe it—I believe it.
When we rely only on the mind, belief becomes a choice based on facts or data. But when we move into the soul’s intellect, into that heart resonance, belief becomes knowing. There is no doubt—only truth flowing through you.
Trust is the thread weaving all these worlds together — personal, relational, professional, spiritual. It asks us to be vulnerable, to believe, to open ourselves again and again.
Because without trust, love falters, leadership fails, and life loses its rhythm. But with trust — everything begins to flow.
All of our shows/interviews are done by donation; if you enjoyed this show, please support us here with either a one-time donation or subscribe and support. Thank you. Please support Our Forgotten Seniorsanthology and help to bring this book to awareness.
Sara’s View of Life with Sara Troy, on air from November 11th
I’ve just come back from a wonderful long weekend spent at my friend’s new home, where we celebrated Halloween together. Even with rain bucketing down—truly monsooning—about 200 kids still came by for trick-or-treating. They’re still settling in, so I hung her pictures to make the place feel more homely, and we simply relaxed, laughed, and soaked in the togetherness. I don’t get Halloween with all my own family anymore, so being wrapped in her family’s fun felt especially sweet.
I then spent two days with my son and his wife. He and I haven’t carved out quiet time in ages, and we share a deep soul connection. We went out for a lovely meal and sank into the philosophy and big questions we love. The next morning I had breakfast at his restaurant—with him actually sitting with his back to the room so he could be fully present. Later, after his Chamber of Commerce meeting, dinner plans with his in-laws shifted when his father fell ill, so my son and I brought takeout home, watched a movie, and fell down a YouTube rabbit hole of America’s Got Talent kids—one moment goofy, the next channeling Janis Joplin. We cuddled the dog and cat and laughed ourselves silly. I boarded the ferry the following day with my heart warmed and my spirit lifted.
Back home, my daughter has a three-week-old baby boy, plus two little ones (four-and-a-half and two-and-a-half). The older two came down with croup right after the birth, so it’s been a balancing act between newborn needs and everyday life. I’m recording shows and then back on Nana duty tomorrow. As soon as I got off the ferry I went straight to hold the baby—nine pounds of squeaks and soft mullet hair—so precious to have that quiet chest-to-chest moment before the big brothers returned from daycare. I’m grateful for my life, my work, and my children.
I don’t need a crowd—just good souls and good conversations. My dearest friend Jan and I have been close for 41 years; our kids grew up intertwined—best man, bridesmaid, the whole tapestry. She’s always been my earth angel. I’ve also made a newer friend here: we’re the same age and meet for tea, coffee, or dinner and simply hang out. Otherwise, I’m mostly immersed in work, my children, and my grandbabies—a happy kind of full.
November is busy. I’m guest speaking on the 18th and the 25th: one talk is about knowingness in business—trusting your gut—and the other is about channeling that knowingness by reconnecting heart, soul, spirit, and mind. Different audiences, same core truth. On a personal note, a recent toe procedure went wrong—the doctor removed half the nail bed—so I went to my longtime pedicurist on the mainland to sort things out. Lesson learned: next time, straight to her.
A spark for next week’s show hit me: trust—what it is, how we build it, how we recognize it, and how we learn to trust again after being hurt. It’s in the little things, and I want to offer a way we can all adapt to, adopt, and embrace. This week’s episode is short and sweet—a warm download after a restorative pause. I’d been missing that soul-to-soul time with my son; now I feel reconnected. Helping my friend settle in and being surrounded by her family lifted me, too. Sometimes we need to set down the overloaded plate and say, “I need a break.” I felt a pang leaving the newborn so soon, but her husband was home, they’re building their rhythm, and I truly needed this reset.
We’re heading into a busy season. I’m already scheduling December shows—there’ll be one on great books to gift—and then I’ll take two weeks off from around December 20th into early January. I’m also recording ahead so we can start January strong with a series on embracing 2026: mindset, skills, tools, and heart-led wisdom from many voices to help set us up for a meaningful year.
Please, give yourself permission to step away now and then. Even a weekend where you drop the to-dos, let calls roll over, and simply sit with good company—or your own company—can reset everything. Meet by a fire, share a meal, let the conversation flow, be fully present. Fortify yourself, or burnout will do it for you the hard way. Until next time, enjoy the shows on SelfDiscoveryWisdom.com—they’re brought to you with love.
All of our shows/interviews are done by donation; if you enjoyed this show, please support us here with either a one-time donation or subscribe and support. Thank you. Please support Our Forgotten Seniorsanthology and help to bring this book to awareness.
Building Your Business with Sara Troy and her guest Robert Butwin, on air from October 28th
As a best-selling author, speaker, and elite Networker, he is known for his expertise in turning entrepreneurial visions into reality. As the author of Street Smart Networking and an educational content creator, his insights have appeared in professional trade journals. With a proven record as a top income earner committed to helping others succeed, Robert’s influence reaches across Europe and Asia, where he mentors entrepreneurs in building meaningful connections and speeding up their success. In 2009, he was inducted into the MLMIA Hall of Fame for his contributions to the industry. Robert’s strategic guidance focuses on virtual networking, the 8 Ps of a prosperous life, and 13 keys for Business Success for entrepreneurs navigating today’s dynamic business landscape.
All of our shows/interviews are done by donation, if you enjoyed this show, please support us here with either a one-time donation or subscribe and support, thank you. And please support Our Forgotten Children’s anthology and help to bring this book into production.
You must be logged in to post a comment.