heidi.skarie@gmail.com

Sep 05

Three Great Stories

By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Uncategorized | No Comments

I love good stories and wanted to share three insightful ones that I heard recently. The first story inspired me to be aware of how I touch others with just my attitude and presence. It’s about a clerk…

“I learned to love you today.

You’re miserable and probably one of the rudest people I’ve ever come across.

When I approach you, you turn away and pretend that I am not there, until you’re ready.

I have tried a thousand times to make you smile and you have tried a thousand times not to.

I have dreaded even having to deal with you. I even tried coming at another time only to find you there at all hours.

The hard, staid, look on your face remains unchanged no matter what day it is, what time it is or even what season.

A “Beautiful day!” gets a moan.

“Hello, how are you today?” always returns “The same.”

I have given up on you, I have been angered by you, I have even thought about complaining to the manager, but didn’t.

Then one day I caught myself acting just like you and realized that I must stop.

I finally resolved myself to the fact that you are who you are and I cannot change that.

You are a fact of my life and I must learn to deal with it.

You made me.

The one day that I permitted myself to return the emptiness, rude behavior, terrible attitude and silent treatment, you chose to say something.

I approached the checkout and you said, “Are you Okay?” I was stunned. I could actually feel my brow, my entire face scrunch up apparently angry that you would ask.

“Am I okay?” I said in disbelief.

“Yes.” you replied. “You are usually so upbeat and chipper.”

I stood in this dream-like state confused by what was going on.

You looked at me and said, “I depend on you to lift my spirits every time you come in. I work three jobs, my bills are piling up, my kids need clothes for school, my husband left me and three weeks later I found out I have cancer.”

I was speechless.

“Now you come in with this attitude today,” she said.

I actually apologized.

I never considered that you were much more than a clerk. I never tried to understand that behind that face was personal pain, life challenges and loss.

Sure you should learn to separate work and life, but sometimes life digs in, hurts, and you end up wearing it like an ugly dress. Fits, but no one wants to see it.

Knowing now how difficult your life is I will see you through the eyes of love.

Love is more than romantic. Love is compassionate. Love is kind. Love is forgiving. Love is seeing beyond the pain.

I learned to love you today.”

Bob Perks

Bob Perks is an inspirational author and speaker. Bob’s new book I Wish You Enough has been published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. A collection of stories based on his Eight Wishes expressed below. Visit www.BobPerks.com

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough “Hello’s” to get you through the final “Goodbye.”

Bob Perks story illustrate how important a smile or friendly greeting can be. Right after hearing this story I heard another one with a similar message.

This woman I’ll call Patty was filled with a lot of anger and hatred. She didn’t like crowds because she felt crowded in. One day she decided to go for a walk with a different attitude; she filled herself with love instead of her usual anger. On her walk a man and his dog went by and the man smiled at her. This didn’t normally happen because of the negativity that usually surrounded her. Patty’s mood lifted. A tingling of happiness filled her and she smiled back.

Life is a blessing and what we give out is what comes back to us. Be aware of what’s happening around you and how you affect others.

A third story I wanted to share is about a little bird that opened my heart and many others. We can learn so much about love from animals. Animals are soul just like us.

A female mate was hit by a car as she swooped low across the road.

Her male mate brought her food and attended her with love and compassion.

He brought her food again, but was shocked to find her dead.

He tried to move her – a rarely seen effort.

Aware that his mate was dead and would never come back to him again, he cried with adoring love…

…and stood beside her with sadness and sorrow.

Millions of people were touched after seeing these photos in America , Europe, Australia , and even India . The photographer sold these pictures for a nominal fee to the most famous newspaper in France . All copies of that edition were sold out on the day these pictures were published.

All three of these stories illustrate how we affect each other by our action and words whether we are human or an animal. Little things are important like smiling at a sales clerk or a stranger on the street. We touch people in ways we will never know. Give out positive, loving energy. You never know when the love you give out will uplift another person and bring more joy into both your lives.

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Jul 29

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Another Earth, Movie Review
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Movie review | 2 Comments

Last Sunday night I went to a pre-screening of the film Another Earth with my Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writer’s group. It was a unique opportunity because the lead actress and co-writer, Brit Marling, and the director and co-writer, Mike Cahill, held a questions and answers session immediately following the screening.

The movie itself is riveting. It is amazing that this small group of independent film makers put together such an excellent film. Two young people, Brit and Mike, had a dream to make a movie outside the system where there aren’t any rules. They had little money but their goal was to make a movie that would have a human story with a sci-fi twist. In an interview, co-writer, Brit Marling said, “We always wanted to do a sci-fi story in which, if you stripped away the high concept, it would still hold weight.” They certainly achieved their goal. The powerful story would hold its own without the sci-fi aspect yet this aspect is woven in throughout.

Another Earth premiered at The Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. No one was paying much attention to the film because it was written by two relatively unknowns: Mike Cahill was a documentarian and Brit Marling an investment-banking analyst. At the festival it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and was then acquired by Fox Searchlight. Fox said: “This is a film that questions the existence of a parallel universe, the possibility of another you.”

During the film, Rhoda looked at the “other earth” that had moved close to our earth and wondered if there is another Rhonda on that planet and if that Rhonda had made the same terrible mistake she had. Was the other Rhonda a better person? Implied is the question that we all ask ourselves: What would my life be like if I had made different choices or if something hadn’t happened that derailed my plans?”

Here’s how the story is described on the iTune Movie Trailer:

“Rhoda Williams, (Brit Marling) a bright young woman recently accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program, aspires to explore the cosmos. John Burroughs, (William Mapother) a brilliant composer, has just reached the pinnacle of his profession, and is about to have a second child with his loving wife. On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes, and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined. Estranged from the world and the selves they once knew, the two outsiders begin an unlikely love affair, which reawakens them to life. But when one of them is presented with the opportunity to travel to the other Earth and embrace an alternative reality, which new life will they choose?”

During the questions and answers session after the film an attendee asked Mike and Brit how they came up with the story. Brit said that she saw a documentary that Mike had done and loved it so much that she wanted to do something with him. Eventually they decided to do a film together. They met and talked about ideas and as a story evolved began to hash it out. Because they worked outside of the film industry they had more freedom to follow their vision. They had a small budget so filmed in Brit’s mother’s house, a school, and in an old farmhouse.

They were asked about the physics in the movie. Such as: If another planet got that close to earth wouldn’t it cause all sorts of problems? and How could there be parallel earth? Mike explained that the original film included a lot more of the physics behind it, which included string theory. The original film was two hours and forty minutes long. They decided to leave out the scientific explanations and cut the movie to about an hour and three quarters. They felt that the focus of the movie should be on the story. But they added when the film came out in DVD people could see all the scenes that were cut.

Brit and Mike also talked about their excitement of being in the film festival and getting a standing ovation after the film was viewed.   Afterwards they were thrilled to get an offer for the film from Fox Searchlight a prestigious film company who did such films as Black Swam. They’ve loved working with Fox Searchlight.

Hilary from the speculative fiction group said she hated cleaning but loved the metaphor in the movie of cleaning. For Rhonda cleaning John’s house was a way of cleaning her soul. She was trying to do something to make his life a little better, then realized she was helping herself.   Brit said that the film group of twelve would meet in an old farmhouse, which was used as part of the set, and eat their meals. Then she would have to clean up and be filmed as she cleaned. Brit doesn’t like cleaning and thought, “Hey I’m getting a bad deal here.”

Paul, a friend of ours, asked if Mike and Brit’s dreams and understanding of a parallel universe had changed since making the movie. Brit said Mike really believed it and the film crew wondered if they should tell him it was only a movie. Mike said is was a good question and that there is new research that supports the possibility of a parallel world being true.

When I walked away from the theater I couldn’t help thinking how amazing it was that these two young people with no experience making a fiction movie and little money could have a dream and make it into a reality.   It served as a reminder to never give up on your dreams. Amazing things can happen if you follow your heart.

I’ve included a trailer of the film and an interview with the Brit Marling. Even if you don’t like science fiction this is an impactful, character driven film. The trailer is described as “stark and chilling, the acting understated”—a perfect counter balance for all the action-packed movies of the summer.

I welcome any thoughts or comments you have about the movie or blog.

Here is NPR interview with Brit Marling

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/07/22/138606818/living-multiple-outcomes-brit-marling-is-a-hyphenate-on-another-earth

Here is a trailer of the movie:

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Jul 20

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Joan Grant: Author of Winged Pharaoh
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Book Review, Past lives | 21 Comments

Recently I went to the “King Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. The beautiful wall designs, jewelry, statues and architecture of ancient Egyptian civilization (which lasted for 3,000 years—from 3050 BC to 337 AD) fascinated me and rekindled my interest in that time period.

Ancient Egypt has been studied for centuries but it wasn’t until 1799 AD (after the Rosetta Stone was found) that modern man had the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs. The decree on the stone occurred in three scripts: Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic script and Ancient Greek. This enabled scholars to decipher it. The Egyptian hieroglyphs gave us a glimpse into their culture.

We learned much from the tombs, ancient runes and temples, but it’s hard to imagine what it was actually like to live back then. What did the people believe, how did they live and what was important to them?

While I was wandering through the museum, my thoughts turned to Joan Grant who wrote three books about her past lives in ancient Egypt. Her first and most famous book, Winged Pharaoh, was published in 1937. Grant shot to fame upon its publication and it is still considered a classic. The New York Times hailed it as “a book of fine idealism, deep compassion and a spiritual quality pure and bright as flame.”

Joan went on to write a series of “historical” books. It wasn’t until almost twenty years later that Joan claimed to recall the events in the books while in a trancelike state and that the episodes were of her own past lives. Winged Pharaoh is about Sekhet-a-ra, the daughter of a Pharaoh, who with her brother (Neyah) becomes co-ruler of Kam (Egypt). As a young woman she is sent to study at a temple to become a “winged-pharaoh”—a ruler and priest because of her clairvoyant powers. Her initiation into the inner mysteries includes a four-day ordeal where she is enclosed in a tomblike place and her spirit leaves her earth-body in search of wisdom. It is in this place that initiates die (to an old state of consciousness) and are born again in wisdom.

Far Memory: The Autobiography of Joan Grant was published in 1956. It’s here that Joan tells about how she came to remember her past lives. What soon becomes clear is that she learned her clairvoyant skills in her life as a priest in Egypt and those skills carried forward into her current life as Joan Grant. One of her skills was what she called “psychometrise,” the ability to touch an object to get visions about the owner and its history.

Joan experimented with many objects, going into a trance and speaking of her visions while her husband wrote down what she saw. Once she used an ancient Egyptian scarab made of turquoise. The scarab beetle symbolized the rising sun and constant renewal of life to the Egyptians and it was used as an amulet. Joan wrote of this experience: “The moment it touched my forehead I know it was warm and lively.” (p. 253 Winged Pharaoh)

By touching the scarab, Joan had visions from Sekhet-a-ra’s ordeal of initiation. Fascinated by what she learned about Sekeeta, Joan continued to use the scarab to gain visions day after day. Eventually she realized that she was remembering her past life as Sekeeta and she didn’t need to touch the scarab to have visions. Sometimes she watched the scenes while at other times she seemed to be experiencing them. The scenes from this past life were in random order. Gradually Joan put them into chronological sequence from when she was a baby to when she died.

As a child Sekhet-a-ra traveled out of her earth-body to other lands to learn about them. Sekhet-a-ra’s mother tells her: “All upon Earth are travelling toward their freedom and must one day reach the great gate where the last shackle is struck from their feet. Then shall all be equal in the light of the last sunset and the first sunrise.” (p. 77 Winged Pharaoh)

Sekhet-a-ra looked at death as a joyful occasion of returning home. At the end of her life she says, “Far below me I saw Earth as a little cold room that had opened its doors and let me free. . . . Then like a sun-shaft breaking through a cloud I left the shadow-land of tears and pain, to walk with my dear companions in the Light.” (P. 322- 323 Winged Pharaoh)

Joan Grant’s current life was just as fascinating as her past life as a pharaoh. She was born in 1907 in London, England and describes her resentment at being trapped in a baby body. When she was a child she saw a “monk” ghost in the music room of her home, “Seacourt ” shown in the photo, and tried to get rid of it.

The First World War broke out when she was ten and she started having dreams of being on a battlefield as an adult in a Red Cross nurse uniform or as a stretcher-bearer. She was frightened by these “nightmares” and too young to understand that she was tuning into soldiers who were fighting in the war. In her war “dream” experiences she had to report to duty and get orders. Sometimes she explained to a soldier that he had been killed and was dead or she had to encourage a seriously wounded soldier to return to his body as he wasn’t due to die. In these experiences she got close to people and could feel and see what they felt and saw.

As a young adult Joan dreamed of a man for a year before she met him in her “earth” life. When they met they both recognized the other from their dreams. They were already deeply in love with each other.

After reading Winged Pharaoh, it was clear that Joan learned clairvoyant skills and some ways to help people inwardly in her life as an Egyptian priest.

She carried these skills over into her life as Joan, even when she was still a child. As Joan grew older she was able to bring back more of her skills and continued to help others.

Winged Pharaoh is a beautifully told story that gives a detailed picture of life in ancient Egypt from the point of view of a person who lived back then.   It gives details about the dangers of lions, crocodiles and poisonous snakes, the climate, what people ate and wore, as well as insights about their religion and how they were governed. Reading Winged Pharaoh made the King Tut exhibit come alive to me on a whole new level.

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Jun 26

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Carol Bowman Children’s Past Lives
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Book Review, Past lives | 25 Comments

Some parents and preschool teachers have noticed that young children will occasionally talk about another lifetime. It’s as if the veil between their last life isn’t fully drawn. The glimpses these children get into the past allows them to remember a small piece of another life. At other times they’ll remember their most recent past life in vivid detail. The child may startle their parents by saying something like, “When I was big . . .” or “When I used to be a nurse or fireman . . . .”

At other times they have nightmares or fears connected to their past lives. My niece would wake up crying at night. In a past life her family died in a fire while she slept overnight at a friend’s house.

In Children’s Past Lives: How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child Carol Bowman researched different studies on children who remember past lives. She takes the field of healing from past lives a step further by teaching parents how to help their child get over phobias from another life.

Bowman’s journey into this study began when her young son Chase suddenly became afraid of fireworks. Soon after, a hypnotherapist friend of hers, Norman Inge, came for a visit and Bowman mentioned her son’s fears. In an impromptu therapy session, Inge asked Chase what caused his fear of loud noises. Chase began to describe himself as a soldier carrying a gun with a sword on the end of it in the midst of battle, surrounded by smoke and flames. Eventually, he was wounded. Unlike adults, Chase didn’t needed hypnotic induction to remember his former life. After recalling his life as a soldier, Chase’s chronic eczema and phobia of loud noises went away. Later Chase remembered more about this fateful day in battle.

After his wound was patched up, he was sent back to the battlefield to operate the cannon and was killed. He floated above the battle, glad he was done with that hard life. Then he floated over his house and said good-bye to his wife and children. “They don’t see me because I’m in spirit, but they know that I’m dead.” (p. 24)

Bowman previously had a memory of a past life when she was very ill in this lifetime. Like her son, the remembrance helped her heal. In the experience Bowman states the following:

“I understood—really understood—that I was a part of something greater than the finite me. In a flash I realized that this energy I felt within myself could never be destroy—it would always exit. Only the body dies, while this essence that was everywhere but somehow still centered in my body continues forever.” (p. 34)

Bowman wondered why she was healed and came to understand that it had something to do with “recognizing patterns from the past and understanding how they carried over from life to life.” (p. 48)

Bowman’s inner question about what reincarnation meant for her present life was finally answered—directly and practically. “Re-experiencing my past lives released the grip of the past and gave me a fresh start in the present.” (p. 49)

Her interest in Chase’s experience led her to do extensive research on reincarnation. She found books by Dr. Edith Fiore, Dr. Helen Wambach and Dr. Raymond Moody. Wambach did experiments to prove past lives are real after having a spontaneous past-life recall. Wambach hinted that “The healing effect of recalling past lives is both powerful and universal. Just by remembering past lives, people could heal themselves of phobias. They didn’t even have to know it was possible.” (p. 64)

Fiore’s book You Have Been Here Before focuses on the healing benefits of past-life regression. She discovered an emotionally traumatic death is often the cause of the patient’s problems. Once the forgotten trauma surfaces, the patient’s symptoms begin to clear up.

In Dr. Raymond Moody’s book Life After Life, he describes near-death experiences similar to Dr. Fiore’s reports of patient’s descriptions of their death experiences during regression.

“Everyone who remembered dying described a continuation of consciousness after death; their awareness didn’t cease when their heart stopped beating. Their perceptions remained viable. They could see, hear, sense what was happening to them and around them . . .

“At the moment of death, they felt themselves leaving their bodies, suddenly feeling lighter, floating like a feather, rising up into the air, looking down at the scenes they had left below. . . . Many entered a celestial realm of bright light and bathed in its warm, loving presence.” (p. 68)

Bowman’s study led her to Dr. Ian Stevenson who wrote Twenty Suggestive Cases of Reincarnation and Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation. The first book is full of cases where two- or three-year-old children recall, without prompting, enough details of a past life for his or her former identity to be established. Bowman realized that Stevenson was addressing the question:

“What survives bodily death? Thanks to his enormous lifelong effort, for the first time in the history of science we have objective evidence for proof of reincarnation—evidence that suggests strongly that something of our personality does survive bodily death.” (p. 110)

For thirty-five years Dr. Stevenson and his colleagues collected 2,600 cases in a range of culture and religions from around the world. (p. 112)

Bowman pursued training to do past-life regressions and began her work with children. Once when regressing her son Chase, she asked him “What happens after we die?” He explained:

“You can go back to a scene from the life you left and get any information you want to answer questions to finish up your life there. You can see what happens with the people you left behind. You can go back while you’re in spirit and say good-bye and see what happens to them in the future. If you see that all is well with them, this frees you to leave the Earth plane.” (p. 139)

Bowman decided to write a book on children’s past-life memories, so she placed an ad in a parenting magazine asking parents to share their children’s past-life memories. Colleen Hocken answered her ad.

Colleen’s three-year-old son remembered being hit by a truck and killed. This past-life memory was confusing because he couldn’t differentiate that life from his current one. Bowman gave Colleen techniques she could use to work with her son to “clarify” the painful events that happened in his past life. He needed to understand his current parents loved him and that he was hit by a truck while in another body. After having a conversation with his mother about his past life, the child’s face lit up. “You could just feel this incredible weight lift off him.” (p. 174) Colleen told Bowman. He became a happy, playful child again.

Colleen went on to say, “‘More people need to know that children can have troubling past-life memories and that their parents can help.’ She added, ‘I’m going to write to Oprah Winfrey to tell her about this.’” (p. 175)

This resulted in Bowman, her two children and Colleen Hocken appearing on Oprah to talk about past-life memories. People in the audience also shared some past-life memories from childhood. One woman shared the following (excerpted from Bowman’s book):

“When she was a little girl, she heard a single plane fly overhead, but had a vision of the sky filled with squadrons of planes coming to attack. She ran to her grandfather, screaming, “Run to the cellar, the bombers are coming!” (p. 187)

This story brought back my memories. Many times I’ll be peacefully gardening and hear a plane fly overhead. Instantly I have an urge to run into the house and hide in the basement. I suspect this stems from my own past life in World War II.

Bowman also shared her upset and unhappiness as a child at being sent away to camp. Upon further exploration, she discovered that her feelings came from her last life when she died in a concentration camp. This also lit up for me; when I was a child I had the same unexplained upset at being sent to camp.

Bowman states the following:

“Any child, anywhere in the world, can have a past-life memory, regardless of the cultural or religious beliefs of the parents. Most of those memories don’t cause problems. They are benign and are useful to help explain a child’s talents, temperament, behavioral quirks . . . they can forever change the most fundamental beliefs of the parents about death and life. For, by sharing their memories with us, small children teach what we adult have forgotten: that life continues after death.

“Sometimes, though, children have troubling memories from the past that create problems, such as phobias or physical ailments. These children may need help separating past from present—they may need to be told that the past life is over. Or if the memory is a sign that something from the past is unfinished, they may need help discovering what that unfinished business is in order to resolve it. They may need to examine their feelings and thoughts at the moment of death and be guided toward a resolution . . .

“For some children it’s even simpler than that . . . all the parent needs to do is simply acknowledge the truth of the memory and not deny it. Then the memory will run its course.” (p. 152)

The second and third parts of Bowman’s book are A Practical Guide to Children’s Past-Life Memories and Listen to the Children. These two sections give techniques parents can use to work with their children who have past-life memories. In the last section, Bowman explores the reasons people are afraid to publicly come out and say they believe in past lives. It may come from a past life where people were executed for having ideas outside church dogma.

If you have a child with a past-life memory you’d like more insight into or if you are fascinated by the topic, you’ll find Bowman’s book a well documented, thorough study that can transform your ideas about life after death.

Below is a You tube video interview with Carol Bowman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-MVcWEusW8

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May 20

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HEREAFTER: A Movie Review
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Movie review | 3 Comments

Soon after my blog entitled “Have You Had a Spiritual Experience?” posted, I saw the movie Hereafter, which explores elements of the supernatural, including near-death experiences. The story opens with Marie (Cécile De France), a French political journalist who is vacationing in Thailand just as it’s hit by a tsunami. She is dragged underwater and has an amazing vision during a near-death experience (NDE). This changes her world and she is unable to go back to the life she lived before. Marie takes time off from her job to write a book. However, instead of writing the political book her publisher wants, she writes about her personal near-death experience and cites scientific studies to corroborate it. Her experience leads her to look at life differently. Ultimately, she finds that the people around her are uncomfortable talking about it.

The movie also focuses on two other characters whose lives are touched by death. The first is Marcus (George and Frankie McLaren), a London schoolboy who sets out to find a medium who can help him communicate with a loved one who died.

The second character is George (Matt Damon), a medium who gave up a business communicating with the dead to lead a normal life. In the end the three characters come together and profoundly affect each other’s lives.

In a review of the 2010 film directed by Clint Eastwood, John J. Puccio asks two friends with paranormal backgrounds for their comments. The first is Loyd Auerbach, a leading authority on paranormal phenomena and the second is Willie Swenson who has a degree in Interdisciplinary Consciousness Studies.

Loyd Auerbach worked with people who had NDEs and those seeking a connection with the other side (the hereafter). He felt the character of George rang true in that many psychics want to live normal lives and find their talents difficult to handle. Marie’s behavior after having a near-death experience also rang true for him.

“About 15% of all people who have a NDE are impacted to where they, like Marie, have fundamental philosophical change with regards to Life and Death, and even who they are.” Marcus is young to be searching for a medium to help him talk with the dead; however, some who have lost a loved one do react in this way.

Willie Swenson felt that those who had a NDE or an understanding of this subject matter are more likely to enjoy the movie. He thinks this movie may seem like fantasy if you grew up believing that consciousness after death is not possible. But if you are aware of quantum physics you may be open to the larger reality beyond this material world.

He adds, “The day may come when humanity easily accepts consciousness after death. As has always been the case in scientific evolution, new ideas supplant old ideas . . . but old ideas do not go easily.”

Puccio concludes, “The story is an honest attempt to explore the single greatest mystery of life—namely, death—and to do it with intelligence, open-mindedness, understanding and compassion.” (Blu-ray review FIRST PUBLISHED MARCH 11, 2011 BY JOHN J. PUCCIO)

It’s possible that Hereafter wasn’t hugely successful in the theaters because it is about death and the spiritual nature of our world. Yet for those who are interested in these topics, this motion picture is a gem. I greatly enjoyed it and am glad that I discovered it.

Hereafter is now out on DVD in case you want to rent this fascinating film that explores how three different people were touched by death and longed to know more.

Have you had a near-death experience? How did it change your perceptions about life? What spiritual insights did you harvest from your experience and what would you like others to know about NDE? Please share!

Here is a movie trailer:

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May 11

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THROUGH A CHILD’S EYES
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Uncategorized | No Comments

We all get emails sent to us with cute stories and photos. The one that came to me today was letters from children to God. I had just gotten off the phone with someone whose friend’s wife had died quickly and unexpectedly of cancer.

One of the children’s letters was:

It is an interesting question and one that we all wonder about at some point in our life. Why do people die? Why doesn’t God just keep the people he has? We all have our own beliefs. Mine is that this world is a school and we experience what it is like to go through all stages of life in many different countries over a series of lifetimes.

I enjoyed many of the other letters as well. Here are some more:

The letters are sweet in their innocence and honesty. While other letters are delightfully humorous. They also touch on truth. For example, Larry suggests that if Cain and Abel had separate rooms they “would not kill each so much.” He hints at one of the problems in the world today. There are a lot of people on earth with crowded conditions making it harder for everyone to get along. We fight over land, material wealth and different religions. Living at this time in history is a spiritual opportunity for people to learn how to share the world and how to love more.

Nan also writes about love and how hard it must be for God to love everyone in the “whole world.” “There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it.” She hits on something that is challenging for many people. It’s not easy to give everyone unconditional love, even within your own circle of loved ones. Yet we are born into a particular family because they are the right ones to teach us the lessons we need to learn to grow spiritually.

The letter from Denise is funny. She doesn’t want to come back as Jennifer who she hates. Is she really wondering about reincarnation? Do we return to earth and if so who do we come back as? Denise won’t come back as Jennifer, but she might come back as a person in of a different race or religion she was taught to hate or that she doesn’t understand. For example, a Christian might come back as a Muslim or a Muslim as a Christian. A black person might be reborn as a white person or a white person as a black person or Chinese person etc.

The last letter is particularly funny. The child thanks God for his new baby brother, but what he wanted was a dog. How many of us get gifts from God, but what we really wanted was something else? Maybe the relationship we wanted didn’t work out but we eventually found someone we loved even more or maybe we didn’t get the job we wanted but we got one that turned out to be even better.

I hope you enjoy these children’s letters to God as much as I did. There is a lot of truth in them.
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Apr 25

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Have You Had a Spiritual Experience?
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Uncategorized | 22 Comments

A study said that one out of every three Americans has had some kind of extraordinary spiritual experience. Most of the time these experiences are never talked about because the person is afraid of other people’s reactions. For the third of the people who have had these experiences or believe in near death and out-of-body experiences I’d like to share a few stories.

I’ve changed everyone’s names to protect their privacy.

Joe told me a story from over forty years ago when he was a young man. He went to visit his uncle who had a young toddler. After visiting for a while, Joe got in his car and was about to back down the driveway when a voice said, “Stop!” He turned off the car, wondering where the voice had come from. He looked around and didn’t see anything. He turned the car back on again and for the second time the voice said, “Stop!” This time Joe got out of the car and walked around it. In back of his rear wheel the toddler was sitting!   With his heart racing at what had almost happened, Joe lifted up the child. At the moment the mother came running out the door looking for her child. Joe gave her the child without saying anything about the voice. He was afraid she’d think he was crazy. Many years passed before he shared his story with anyone.

I found it surprising that this amazing miracle happened in this man’s life and he’d didn’t feel safe to share it. Yet, this voice saved this child’s life. Why is it taboo to discuss spiritual experiences in our society?

More recently I was at a luncheon when Peggy started telling about her friend’s funeral. She was outside at the burial when this bird flew overhead. She felt light shoot down from the bird and pierce her heart filling her with love. Peggy instantly knew that it was a sign from her deceased friend that she was all right. I was grateful that Peggy had the courage to share such a special story and heartened that perhaps people are beginning to feel more comfortable sharing them.

Jill shared a special dream she had as a child. In the dream she walked down the hall of a church and saw three doors to the left. The third door was open and inside the room was a bright yellow piano. She hit the b sharp key on the piano and it didn’t work. She was living in Minnesota at the time, but later her parents got a divorce and her mother took her to live in Texas. On the first day of Sunday school she looked down the hallway and saw the three doors to the left. She immediately knew where she was from her dream experience. Sure enough in third room was the bright yellow piano and when she hit the b sharp key is was flat. This experience touched her on a deep level. What an amazing glimpse into the future! How many of us are shown things in our dreams but never pay attention?

At a workshop recently I heard two amazing stories about out-of-body experiences. In the first one, Mike lay in bed one morning staring out the window at the orange sunrise and listening to the birds sing. Suddenly he felt a tingling in the center of his forehead. The vibrations of his body changed and he felt a swirling from one ear to another. He heard the loud sound of a drum, then a popping sound. Mike felt himself leaving his body and looked down at it from the ceiling.

Mike was scared at being out of the body and thought he was dead. Then he realized. “I’m not dead. I’m alive.” A master manifested and love poured out from this being. Mike was Catholic so at first he thought it must be Jesus. But the man had blond hair and so he decided he wasn’t. Mike told the master, “I’m not ready to go. There is so much more I need to learn.” The Mater raised his right hand and Mike flew back into his body. He woke up with a jolt and wondered what had happened. This experience led him on a spiritual quest. For eight years he explored different paths searching for answers. Eventually he learned about out-of-body travel. He even learned the name of the inner master he’d seen. The Master’s name was Gopal Das. Here’s his picture:

At the same workshop Ben told of his a near death experience. He was struck by lightning and found himself out of his physical body. While out of his body he went to a place of tranquility and love. It was so wonderful there that he didn’t want to leave. He met a wise white bearded man who knew things about him. Ben thought the man was God. Ben awoke from this experience to a life he didn’t recognize. He told the doctors about his experience and they told him he’d have to go to another type of hospital if he didn’t stop talking about this other world. They thought he was mentally unbalanced. Ben didn’t talk about his experience for twenty years. Eventually he found like-minded people he could share his remarkable experience with. He also saw a photo of the white bearded man and discovered the man wasn’t God, but a spiritual guide named Fubbi Quantz. Here is his picture:

Maybe you’ve had a spiritual experience like one of these or an experience that is uniquely your own that you’d like to share? Have you met one of these masters or another spiritual teacher? I’d love to hear your story on this blog.
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Mar 22

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Interview with Alison Wylie
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Past lives | No Comments

This week I interviewed Alison Wylie about her book Astral Dancer true stories of healing and adventures from the beyond. The book is a fascinating account of her out-of-body adventures where she meets herself as a man in another life and helps him heal. In the second half of the book she shares her experiences helping people in the Astral world. Some have died and don’t know they are dead and Ali helps them meet their guide and move on to the next part of their spiritual journey. I think you’ll find Ali’s experiences it the Astral world quite amazing.

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Mar 21

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On the Then and Now
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Book Review, Past lives | No Comments

Today’s blog is an article by Jo Leonard, author of The Would Be Saint.

Jo Leonard on the Then and Now

Heidi Skarie’s interest in Native Americans, and generally in past life recall, are two subjects that resonate deeply with me. I was looking at her website the other day and read this review from Colorado Libraries on her and her book entitled Red Willow’s Quest: “…and obviously has extensive knowledge about the life and customs of the Shoshoni tribe.”

I know that kind of authenticity doesn’t just come from an author doing research. Whether a writer is conscious of it or not, memories of the past are often sprung open from little cages stored within us as we write. Words then begin to appear as though by magic on the computer screen and even the author can be left to wonder: “Where did that come from?”

The sweat and toil of research aside, there is often a flow of what I have come to call superior knowledge (or knowingness) that surpasses what mere research can bring to a story. That superior knowledge often shows in the details; details that come about because one has known them first hand.

In the story below, I recalled “a gorgeous morning filled with bird song, the smells of impending summer, and the fluttering sound of curtains blowing in the open windows.” It was a memory from this lifetime. I also wrote, “I remember looking at a yellow sun hanging high in the sky just before I heard the pounding of horse’s hoofs and the screams of terror.” That was a memory from a past lifetime. Is one memory less valid than the other?

We each have a very long history extending across oceans upon oceans of time and space. How much you recall depends on how much you want to recall and accept. Learn to embrace your many lives, after all, you are the sum of all your parts and then some.

The story to follow is one of many Native American past life recalls.

Little Big Man

I was elated when I first heard the word reincarnation. It explained the inequity of life and the feelings of familiarity I had about certain people and places. But most of all, it eliminated my fear that a single lifetime precluded the possibility of any truly significant spiritual unfoldment.

Of all the past life recalls I have had since learning about reincarnation, one in particular stands apart from all the others. It was a lifetime in which I had been taken from everything I loved in an abrupt and horrid fashion.

In present time, I’d been hanging around with a group of like-minded Souls who met on weekends at a friends non-working farm. We’d gather as a group for spiritual conversations and meals, but we’d also spend time alone in various parts of the house or surrounding fields pursuing our own desire to read, paint, or meditate upon the mysteries of life.

The day of the past life recall was a gorgeous morning filled with bird song, the smells of impending summer, and the fluttering sound of curtains blowing in the open windows. I was sitting in the living room of the house wondering about some of the people who were currently in my life. These were people who were not present at these informal weekend convocations but were connected to me or to others in the group. Three people in particular paraded across my mind’s eye as I rested my head against the back of the sofa. I knew I knew them, knew them from before.

Was this a dream? A vision?

I saw myself as a Native American woman working in a field in the company of two of her three children, beautiful brown-skin children. My miserable, wizened, old mother-in-law was back in the teepee with my other child, the youngest of the three. The two children with me in the field, and the mother-in-law, were the three I knew in my current life.

It was a beautiful day. The men were out on a hunt while the women tended to the crops. I remember looking at a yellow sun hanging high in the sky just before I heard the pounding of horses’ hoofs and the screams of terror.   I watched from the dreamer’s perspective as Custer’s men rode through the fields and slaughtered me, my two beautiful children, and all the other innocents in that field.

It might have been months or perhaps years later, that I saw the film Little Big Man. In this satirical recounting of how the West was won, there is a scene that mirrors my recall of that day in the field. I was strangely detached as I watched the movie. I had already come to terms with how that life had affected this one. It was no longer of any consequence.

So much of the now is colored by past events that exist like little film clips we carry along with us from life to life. How do we keep from replaying these clips and start afresh? It begins by waking up to the fact that these memories of other lifetimes do exist. Then, when you’re ready, you ask to see them. Just put the thought out there into the great unknown that you wish to know. Ask for insight and, more importantly, ask for guidance lest you become entrapped in the past.

Want to get started? Here’s a way to prime the pump of past life recall. First, you ask to see. Next, you watch your dreams and the events in your waking life. Let’s say, for example, that your son asks for help with his homework. His assignment is to write an essay on the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of the Roman city of Pompeii. Later that evening, you tune into the History Channel. What’s on? A documentary on the city of Pompeii! It starts you thinking about a trip to Mexico and how strongly you reacted, though in no danger, to seeing smoke rising from “El Popo,” the volcano that sits between the cities of Cuernavaca and Puebla.

Are you beginning to get it? When you connect the dots, a picture begins to form. Pursue that picture as far as you want to or need to. Simply let it go when you are done looking and learning. Then is then and now is now.

Excerpt from The Would Be Saint by Jo Leonard

The Would Be Saint by Jo Leonard is a collection of short anecdotes chronicling the spiritual experiences of a soul in search of God. Writing with simple authenticity, the author demonstrates that the mystical experiences of the saints are actually available to us all.

Jo Leonard has traveled the world presenting consciousness-provoking talks and workshops to other like-minded seekers. A published author, her writings, both non-fiction and fiction alike, are spiritually insightful, inspiring, and often laced with humor. She currently lives in Occoquan, Virginia (near Washington DC) with her husband and a Siamese cat.

The Would Be Saint

by Jo Leonard

ISBN 978-1439232859

Available at www.amazon.com

Website: www.jeleonard.com
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Feb 26

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Michael Newton, Journey of Souls book Review
By heidi.skarie@gmail.com | Book Review, Past lives | 5 Comments

Most of us have pondered the questions, “Why are we here?” and “What happens after we die?” We wonder why some people are born to a wealthy and/or loving family and why others are born into poverty and/or into an unloving family. We wonder why some people suffer from disease and die young while others live a long, healthy life.

We may come to conclusions based on our own personal religious beliefs or based on what we were taught in church. Most think you can’t actually know the answers to these questions until you die.   Michael Newton’s book Journey of Souls Case Studies of Life Between Lives offers new insights into what happens between lives, why we are born, and why the physical world is such a hard place.

Dr. Michael Newton is a hypnotherapist who discovered that we, as soul, have a life in the spirit worlds between our lives here on earth. The first time he had a glimpse into this soul life was when he hypnotized a client and asked her why she was lonely. She replied, “I miss some friends in my group and that’s why I get so lonely on Earth.”

Over a period of ten years Dr. Newton worked with his clients carefully recording what they told him about their life in their “life between lives”. He discovered that helping people find their place in the spirit worlds was more meaningful to people than remembering former lives on earth.

Newton says, “Having a conscious knowledge of their soul life in the spirit world and a history of the physical existence on planets gives these people a strong sense of direction and energy for life.” (P. )

This remarkable book covers soul’s experience right after the body dies, and the journey to its spirit-world group of friends and what it learns there.

Many books discuss reincarnation, but this is the only one I’ve run across that goes into depth about what soul does between lives. One of the most important aspects of Newton’s finding is helping people to eliminate the fear of death. Newton says at the time of death, “All people report a euphoric sense of freedom and brightness around them. Some of my subjects see brilliant whiteness totally surrounding them at the moment of death, while others observe the brightness is farther away from an area of darker space through which they are being pulled. This is often referred to as the tunnel effect, and has become well know with the pubic.” (p. 9)

After this tunnel effect, soul is met by their relatives, close friends, and/or personal guide. More advanced soul isn’t met by anyone as they don’t require a support system.

Next, souls are taken to a “space of healing” to help soul recover from their last life. Here soul is debriefed by their guide about the life that just ended. Earth is a hard place compared to the love and wisdom of the place where soul was created, so soul often returns bruised and needs time to heal.

After healing, soul returns to its group of intimate old friends who are at about the same awareness level. This is “a small primary unit of entities who have direct and frequent contact, such as we would see in a human family.” (p. 8)

A guide, who is a more advanced soul, works with the group. “Guides only want the best for us and sometimes this means they must watch us endure much pain to reach a certain objective. Guides cannot assist in our progress until we are ready to make the necessary changes in order to take full advantage of life’s opportunities.” (p. 119)

With their group a soul will go over their last lifetime and review what they did well and what they could have done better.

Souls are on different levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced souls. Newton didn’t interview many advanced souls. He says, “The fact is, a person whose maturity is this high doesn’t seek out a regression therapist to resolve life-plan conflicts.” (p. 16)

An advance spirit shows more patience with society and has good coping skills.   They show kindness and understanding towards others.

The next area Newton covers is the selection of soul’s next life. After the wounds of a past life are healed, soul feels the pull to reincarnate again on earth, though soul can reincarnate on other worlds a well. With their guide, soul decides where they want to live, what lessons they want to learn, and what parents they want to be born to.

Newton gave an example of a soul who wanted to study music. The soul wanted to live in New York with parents who were supportive and well off enough to pay for music lessons. This soul said, “If I want to express the beauty of music and give pleasure to myself and others, I need proper training and supportive parents, otherwise I’ll get sidetracked.” (p. 21)

Each person comes into a new life with lessons they have chosen to learn. They pick a family, friends and a mate to help them learn these lessons. One particularly interesting part of this plan is that we have triggers to help us remember the important people we will encounter in our life such as who we are suppose to marry. A piece of jewelry, a laugh, the eyes, or a fragrance can trigger the memory.

We have amnesia about our soul identity when the soul and human brain merge. The merging takes place in the womb early or late in the pregnancy. This amnesia allows soul to have a fresh start. But there is often a bleed through in young children who remember their past lives or in all of us when we meet someone we have an instant recognition of.

Once soul enters the body of a baby, it comes and goes while the baby is in the womb. After birth, soul continues to come and go when the body is sleeping or in deep meditation.

In conclusion, Newton says, “If you carry away nothing except the idea you may have a permanent identity worth finding, I will have accomplished a great deal.” (p. 274)

We live in an imperfect world by design. “We bear responsibility in the evolution of a higher consciousness for ourselves and others in life.” (p. 276) We learn that we have a loving place waiting for us where we belong. One day we will go there to finish this long journey and reach a state of enlightenment.

I’ve just touched on the essence of this fascinating book. You may not agree with all of Newton’s findings, but does open doors to possibilities. I believe he has just scratched the surface of the inner worlds and there is much beyond what he describes.

Michael Newton has written other books and has some You Tubes videos online. Here’s one you might find interesting.

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