Uplift your soul

If there's one thing I've learned in all my perceived encounters with people who seem to represent guardian angels, or other positive forces, their gestures of kindness uplift my soul.

Each morning, when I awaken, I sense the warmth of light that beams in through my window and I'm grateful to have been given another day.  I have come to recognize the act of guardianship. Its a feeling I associate with intense light, and strong feelings of comfort and support that energize me. I've been fortunate to meet people in my life who have opened my mind to new opportunities I hadn't thought about before. I've learned helping people also helps myself.

I send out positive feelings to an older woman I know to be suffering from an illness its within her power to get under control.  It's a wonderful feeling to learn that she's experiencing a change of attitude about her health which is already ensuring her recovery.  She tells me she has always believed in angels and that people seem to show up and help her in her life just when she needs a helping hand. 

She told me she recently had a dream.  She was told her time had not yet come.  She found herself crying, then her fear about her uncertain health seemed to disappear. She had a feeling of being embraced by love. She awoke and realized someone already in her life had been helping her and she had not noticed to what degree. She became more grateful for what was already right in front of her. This man was there when she had to go to the hospital.  He represents more than an Earthly guardian angel. It took her time to realize how much he cared and how much she did.

This woman still denies that her health choices affect her illness, but she has felt increasingly close to the spirit world that has given her strength through very difficult times.  She is slowly letting go of bitterness and negative feelings.  She is developing new faith in people who have entered her life who help her see beyond her earlier life of deep distress. She has discovered more to her life.

Could this be for real?

You may have struggled with your bearings when trying to find a new place. How you choose to see this kind of journey relates to how you view your instincts and the possible intervention of invisible help.

When I was driving alone to my first cultural choir practice in Melbourne, I had to travel quite a distance from where I live. I expected to drive about 45 minutes to an hour in each direction of my destination. I had thought I mapped out the route through highways and freeways, but as I was approaching the Westgate Bridge, traffice became heavy. I sensed I'd missed a crucial turn.  My body become tense in four lanes meeting three more. I instinctively turned into the Shell Gas Station right before crossing the wrong bridge. Repeated experience has taught me service station cashiers in the area aren't often helpful for directions. I had my Melways book of city maps and made efforts to get my bearings yet without success. 

Next, I chose to get out of the car and approach a man who sat in his car drinking coffee. You ever get the chance that someone is waiting for you? Whether or not this was the case, he was able to direct me how to get back on the Monash Freeway, retrace my steps and take another bridge. Now this might seem like an overly logical thing, to ask a stranger a question and get back on track. So what if he was wearing leiderhosen on a hot day. Okay, it's not everyone who wears leather shorts with suspenders. I was thankful to reach my destination and join a group that reconnects me to my cultural roots.  Male members don't typically wear leiderhosen, but short pants with socks are actually part of the men's native costume.

Well, the night after my lost experience, a key dream led me to retrace my steps with a twist. I was driving in the wrong direction, but what was different was a hazy older man and woman dressed in ethnic costume sat (or rather, floated) in the back seat of my car. I could hear them speaking in a foreign language and about whether they would give me a hint about my incorrect judgment.  I sensed they disagreed about how I would use my resourcefulness to get to where I desired to go.  Then, I had a flashback to when I was driving home from the practice. The couple was again still in the back of the car and they had no reflection in my rearview mirror. When I felt uncertain about which exit to take returning on the Bolte bridge, I had this sudden hunch and took the proper left turn.  In the dream, I heard a chuckle in the back seat.  Were these some of my ancestors? Maybe. This dream was far more intriguing than those I've had hovering above my physical body, watching myself make mistakes on school tests that I had already written and couldn't change.

You're never alone

Elizabeth Kubler Ross became a recognized psychiatrist and specialist on death and dying.  She has published many books on these subjects in which she refers to her understanding of angels.

According to Ross, three reasons explain why no one dies alone. Aside from an absence of pain and the experience of physical wholeness in a simulated, perfect body, people who contacted her just before death, after near death experiences and from beyond, explain how they become aware that it is impossible to die alone.

Ross' research reveals terminally-ill patients slowly prepare themselves to die, such as children with cancer. Prior to death, they develop awareness that they have abilities to leave their physical bodies– they have what we call an 'out-of-body experience.' All of us apparently have these out of-body experiences during certain states of sleep, although very few of us are consciously aware of it. Ross explains how the people who do become aware of it gain potential to learn a  lot about different states.

Dying children, who are much more tuned in, become much more spiritual than healthy children of the same age. They become aware of these short trips out of their bodies, which help them in transitioning and to become familiar with where they are in the process of passing on.

During those out-of-body trips, dying patients describe becoming aware of the presence of beings surrounding them who guide and help them. This is the first reason you cannot die alone. Young children often refer to them as "their playmates." The churches have called them guardian angels. Most researchers would call them "guides." It is not important what label we give them. It is important that we know that from the moment of birth, beginning with the taking of the first breath, until the moment when we make the transition and end this physical existence, we are in the presence of these guides or guardian angels. They will wait for us and help us in the transition from life to life after death.

The second reason Ross highlights why we cannot die alone is that we'll always be met by those who preceded us in death and whom we have loved. This could be a child we lost, perhaps decades earlier, or a grandmother, a father, a mother or another person who has been significant in our lives.  Alison Dubois is another author who testifies to this from her own experience. 

The third reason why we cannot die alone is that when we shed our physical bodies, even temporarily prior to death, we are in an existence where there is no time and no space. In this existence, we can be anywhere we choose to be at the speed of our thought. A young man who dies in Vietnam and thinks of his mother in Chicago will be in Chicago with the speed of his thought. If you die in the Rocky Mountains in an avalanche and your family lives in Virginia Beach, you will be in Virginia Beach at the speed of your thought. According to Kubler-Ross, guardian angels may teach us this ability, that is, if we don't naturally evolve to discover it for ourselves.

See 'You Don't Die Alone'  at: www.elisabethkublerross.com

On the brink of disaster

Ever wonder why you may stop when you're on the brink of saying or doing something you'd regret? Does an invisible hand hide your car keys before you leave a bar? Do you experience a sudden bout of amnesia when you're about to insult someone? Do images of your life flash in front of you and sway you from joining a criminal element? Does some powerful force prevent you from hitting someone after you raise your hand? Is this a little favor from Forces beyond you who desire to save you from yourself?  You may not help but wonder about your guardian angels.

Consider the last time you almost lost your cool, almost embarassed yourself in front of a crowd, almost gave up plans when the going got tough, almost went too far too fast when you really weren't ready. What reason did you have for suddenly changing your course of action?  Perhaps an opportunity grabbed your attention, something didn't feel right or gave you goosebumps, the window blew open or something else happened to distract you.  Do you honestly believe that these were freak occurrences?  Could they have been efforts to bring you to your senses?

Reflect on the situations which created your deepest wounds, the things that were said or done, at home or at work, or in public places. You relive the feelings you had as you were betrayed, discarded, disrespected or otherwise mistreated.  When you're on the brink of taking steps to seek revenge, something causes you to lighten your emotional load and let go of the hurt before you hurt more than yourself.  A Force beyond you convinces you of the many benefits to be found in releasing negative, dishonorable thoughts, not only for you, but also for the sake of others who observe you, learn and follow from your experience.

On the brink of adisaster is a time of surprising growth and enlightenment. You suddenly see yourself and situations more clearly. At times, you sense a flash of foreseight to help ground you.  Imagine that this is meant to happen.  What do you learn about yourself? impatience? or ego? Maybe, just maybe, something beyond you is looking out for your best interests. Look at you now!

Timely lyrics

During times of trouble, uncertainty or need, people will say that songs with timely lyrics begin to play on the radio. Something beyond you may be reaching out to let you know you're not alone.  Recently, the following song I'd never heard before played on the radio and startled me out of a daydream. It was another example that something beyond coincidence 'just knows things,' and can give greater meaning to our existence.  What we notice, how we react, and the choices we make, depend on how ready we are to move forward to redefine success and defeat.

Angel
lyrics by  Sarah McLaughlin

Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there's always some reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memories seep from my veins
let me be empty
oh and weightless then maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

In the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you feel
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

So tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back
the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lies
that you make up for all that you lack
it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
it's easier to believe
in this sweet madness oh
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

In the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you feel
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here