Unexpected Reunions & Their Purpose

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Hey friends, in this episode, I take you on a personal and emotional journey in three parts — all beautifully connected by a deeper purpose I’ve been stepping into more and more. This one is close to my heart. It starts with a powerful message I shared in a divorce support group that sparked a realization in me about how we transmute pain into purpose. I open up about a surprising reconnection with someone from my past and how that experience became a mirror of the work I feel called to do.

Then I share an unexpected, soul-shaking conversation I had with a rabbi that led me to a life-changing insight about leadership, healing, and the deeper “why” behind the work I do. If you’ve ever felt like your life’s hardships were molding you into something greater, this episode will speak directly to your heart. Let’s walk this healing path together.

 

Episode Highlights:

[0:20] – Opening thoughts and setting up the episode’s three-part structure
 [0:45] – Reading my response to a meme about “the rare breed” of givers, lovers, and forgivers
 [2:10] – Reflecting on how turning pain into purpose fills me spiritually
 [4:22] – Reconnection with a man from my past who returned during a difficult time in his life
 [5:44] – Realizing my role in helping him heal and how intuitive the guidance felt
 [7:18] – A new appreciation for vulnerability in men and how refreshing it felt
 [8:36] – Receiving a surprise piece of art with my name in it — a beautiful gift of gratitude
 [10:19] – Deep conversation with a rabbi that parallels my journey to the story of Moses
 [11:48] – The powerful shift from focusing on “how” to embracing the “why” behind leading others
 [13:40] – Feeling emotional and humbled by stepping into a path I was always meant to walk
 [14:56] – Closing thoughts and how you can reach out or share your story anonymously

 

Links & Resources:

Be sure to follow, share, and leave a comment if this show resonates with you! Send me a message at podpage.com/themusicoflife to share your experiences, or to leave a comment. I'd love to feature it in a future episode.

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:02):
Karen, hi everyone, and welcome to the music of Life.
I'm your host. Karen Portnoy,before I get into this episode,
please comment, ask questions,share some of your experiences,
and don't forget to subscribe.
This episode is going to be inthree parts, but you'll see at

(00:24):
the end how they all tietogether. But I felt like it was
really appropriate toincorporate all three parts
here. First, I'm going to startoff by reading something that I
responded to in one of thesedivorce groups. Somebody posted
a meme that said, there's a rarebreed of people that go all in
they keep their word. They giveit all. They go the extra mile

(00:47):
for those they care for. Thesepeople hardly ever receive the
same passion and effort inreturn, yet never change and
always give their all to thegivers, forgivers and selfless
lovers out there, keep beingbeautiful. Don't let this cold
world change you, and takeadvantage of every little moment

(01:09):
you are given. So I responded tothis because something happened
recently that I'll get into moreafter I read my response. I
wrote part of being that rarebreed is that as much pain as
we're ever faced, we don't holdon to it anymore. It doesn't
serve us. We master turning paininto power for ourselves. It

(01:33):
fuels our souls desire to helpothers, and we can't do that if
we're angry, bitter orresentful. We see situations as
lessons. We transmute andalchemize pain, sorrow, grief,
disappointments, etc. It helpsto elevate us even more. We
often experience energyvampires, people who want to be

(01:56):
around our energy to siphon andsteal it, leaving us depleted,
drained and at a lower vibrationthan where we were typically at.
But when unhealed, broken,tortured souls connect with us,
we want nothing more than tohelp heal them, not fix them,
not change them, not controlthem, but to inspire them to see

(02:18):
themselves and where they maywant to change themselves. The
beauty here is when someoneallows us to help them, they
listen with an open mind andheart, they feel seen and
understood and validated for whothey are and whatever challenges
they're facing. They aren'tsucking our energy. They are
receiving it. Big difference weknow and can feel genuine

(02:42):
openness and receptivity versusselfishness and manipulation.
Helping others in this pure andauthentic way may seem like we
are draining our own cup,leaving us dry and emptied. It's
actually counter intuitive,helping others who are open,
willing, receptive and able toconsider something outside their

(03:04):
comfort zone is wildlyfulfilling to us. In fact, it
actually is the thing that fillsour cup back up. Not only that,
but we feel overflowing love forhaving made a difference in
someone else's life, someone whoreally needed it, especially I
recently had someone return frommy past. When I was 19 years

(03:26):
old, we hadn't spoken in years.
After catching up briefly, Iwondered why God brought this
person back to me. It took meminutes to figure out that I was
meant to help heal him, afterdigging deeper into what was
going on for him in his life,total confirmation that I was
right. It was truly my honor andprivilege to help him and his

(03:46):
willingness to hear, trulylisten and consider all that I
said was remarkably rewardingfor me. My cup is so full now,
not that I don't fill it up onmy own too. I see how God uses
me for good. I accept hisinvitation every time, and I'm
so rewarded for it, not inmaterial ways, in spiritual

(04:09):
ways. Can't beat that foranything.
So that was the first part.
Youthe second part is, is just to
talk about this person that cameback into my life, that really

(04:30):
came out of nowhere. We haven'tspoken in years. We've known
each other for decades,obviously, but we haven't really
spoken, and when we did speak,it really wasn't in depth. You
know that I remember, it wasjust kind of like catching up
and and kind of surface stuff.

(04:51):
But this time was different,because he's really in trouble.
His life is kind of like a messright now and and totally.
Justifiably, but he's reallyhaving a hard time. And I don't
know that he was messaging mejust to kind of spill everything
out, but it just kind of went inthat direction. And I felt very

(05:15):
open to hearing his story,hearing what was going on,
trying to understand where hewas at. And it was, it was a
lot, it was a lot for anyone tohave to to go through. And, you
know, we had some similar pathsand some totally different but I
understood where he was at, andI had empathy for for all that

(05:39):
he went through and and I couldreally feel what he was feeling.
And I remember saying, you know,sort of at the beginning of this
exchange, you know, I wonderwhy, God, had you reach out to
me? And it became clear kind ofearly on, but in the last
several days that we've beenmessaging each other. It's so

(06:01):
clear. It is so clear to me whatmy purpose is in this exchange
and this reunion of sorts. Soit's interesting because, you
know, as he was sharing storieswith me and things that have
happened and and that stuff, itwas kind of intuitive for me to

(06:23):
kind of the things that cameinto my my intuition and my mind
was just kind of the right thingto say at the right time, under
the right circumstance. And Isaw that this was happening
along the way as we kepttalking, and I could tell that
whatever I was saying wasresonating with him, and it was,

(06:44):
you know, starting to marinate.
And you know, he would give mesome feedback here and there,
just saying what would resonate.
But at the same time, I knewthat I was on the right track
with him, and I was also veryaware that not many people would
be open and willing to listenand to stay with it, and to

(07:07):
really, kind of get invested inwhat he was sharing with me. I
mean, I'm, I'm at a place nowwhere I'm
can't believe I'm saying this.
You know, I'm reallyattracted to men who are open
and vulnerable and willing toshare their feelings and their

(07:29):
emotions and and he was wideopen for that. I mean, 1,000%
there was it was so refreshing.
I mean, that makes me want to bethere more, because I was so I
was so taken aback that, youknow, he was that open, because
my experience in my past with myex husband was the total

(07:53):
opposite. So this was veryrefreshing for me to, you know,
listen to someone who was soexpressive. So it made it that
much more interesting for me togive honest feedback and, and
kind of give my perspective andwhat I saw was going on and what
the big picture was, and, and,you know, my perspective and,

(08:17):
and he totally appreciated it.
He's also an artist. And whatwas so amazing was that, I think
we've been chatting online for,I don't know, three, four days,
something like that. Andthis morning, I messaged him
about something, and when hewrote back, he shared with me

(08:39):
that he he made a piece of artwith my name in it, and he
showed me a picture of it, and Iwas blown away, like this was
something he just did in like anhour, and he sent it to me, and
I was just so, I mean, that wasso sweet, and I don't know what
to say about it. It's just, Iwas really grateful for it. It

(09:02):
was beautiful. It was, you know,I just, I was really surprised
in a good way. And he offered toactually make me a more
substantial piece, like onCanvas, and he would send it to
me, and, you know, asked forwhat I wanted it to say, and
what colors I wanted and andlike, really wants to put his,

(09:23):
his all into it, and as a way ofthanking me for helping him. And
I just, you know when you givebecause you want to give, not
expecting anything in return.
And then when, when you get somesort of reciprocity in some way.
It's like, it's like the cherryon the cake. I was never doing

(09:47):
it for any, you know, anythingin return, or that wasn't why I
was involved or invested in thisat all. I wasn't thinking about
what he was going to do for me.
I was thinking about, how can Ihelp?
So it made it extra specialthat, you know, he was willing
to make this piece of art for meand send it to me and and I was

(10:07):
just really very grateful.
So I would say, not really sure.
Not really sure when this was,but I was speaking to somebody I
know who is actually a rabbi,and we started talking about my

(10:29):
story and this podcast and my,you know, my intention to help
and inspire other people whowere going through, you know,
difficult divorces, like I did,and all this stuff. And we
started talking about Moses,and there was some really
interesting parallels and thingsthat we were discussing that

(10:54):
really was, like overwhelmingfor me and and I just, I walked
away feeling so good andoverwhelmed and emotional. And I
just want to share, you knowwhat, what we were talking
about. I made some notes becauseI didn't want to forget it. But
this is really how it went. Sowe all know that Moses freed the

(11:16):
slaves from Egypt, and hisbiggest feat was going through
the Red Sea on dry land. Youknow, once the Red Sea was
parted, he was able to walk theslaves through the Red Sea on
dry land. And I was starting tolearn something really beautiful
about what it's like to be likeMoses. So what Moses would say

(11:37):
is his greatest feat wasbasically the words, Let my
people go,and the lesson is really in the
why. Why he said that. The howis what everyone sees, how it
happened, and what it lookedlike, and how cool that was, but
the why is what was moreimportant to Moses? So I'm

(12:01):
learning this process of beinglike him, just like the examples
that we were given throughouthistory. And it's, it's such a
beautiful reason, the why,instead of the how, which is,
you know, the how is so cool.
You get to see, like this lessonin in reality. But you know, if

(12:22):
you focus on the why, you know,Moses parted the Red Sea, David
defeated, Goliath. You know, thewhy is so important here. So let
my people go. It has to do withwhat your heart is set on. So
when you set your heart onsomething like that. Moses
didn't cross the red sea alone,and I'm starting to see this.

(12:46):
It's about love for others. It'sabout unconditional love,
sacrificial love. Moses didn'tcross that alone, and he sure as
hell to collect any tolls forit. He wasn't charging anyone
any money to get across. Heblazed a trail, he lit the way,
and he guided them throughsafely. There was no reciprocity

(13:10):
required, because that's not theway that God works. And I'm
learning that I'm just not meantto heal I'm meant to heal others
too, which is what a leaderdoes. And I I see how I'm
growing into a leader in helpingto heal other people. And you

(13:32):
know, I keep saying that I'm atthe beginning, I'm at the
precipice of something reallybig, and this is kind of the
direction I see myself going inso it's exciting and it's it's
just very humbling and veryoverwhelming, and I do get very
emotional about it, because youknow when you when you finally

(13:54):
get an understanding about whatyour path is in life and what
your purpose is, and then tostep into that and actually work
towards that. It's like, it'struly amazing. I really don't
know how to explain it, butthat's why I get emotional about
it. Because, you know, I never,ever would have thought in my

(14:16):
earlier life that this is whereI would be, and yet this is what
I feel destined to be all mylife. So I don't know how to
make sense of that, but it'svery exciting and it's very
rewarding. And I'm lovinghelping my friend, and I'm
loving all these comments that Iget to make on these divorce

(14:36):
groups that are impactingpeople. People are thanking me
from my perspectives, they'resharing my post, all the stuff,
and it's it's very rewarding, Ihave to say,
anyway, I think that's it fortoday. So I'm gonna wrap it up.
Thanks for listening. Catch younext time.
Please join me every Thursdayfor a new episode.

(15:00):
You can reach my website at podpage.com/the,
music of life. Feel free toleave your email address. You
can also leave a voicemail andshare any kinds of stories or
experiences or anything thatyou'd like to talk about. I
promise I will keep youanonymous, but I assure you that
whatever experiences or storiesyou leave for me, you are not

(15:24):
alone, and I would love to sharethat with other people who are
also going through similarthings. Thanks again for
listening. I'll see you in thenext episode. You you.