Pain and Hilarity

SONY DSCMy angels told me in July that August would be a “writing month”, a month for writing, a month to do nothing but write.

They would really prefer that I take the entire month of August off (and *I* would really prefer to GO somplace COOL for the month)–alas, that is not practical. After all, I have to be here to help YOU!

AND I have a book-signing and another Expo in Houston this month.

Still, I am writing quite a bit more than usual, trying to live up to the cosmic demand of my writing gift. I have already put in time on one of the two novels I have been writing for some time (the sci-fi one); a children’s book that is all in rhyming verse, which I started when my now-24-year-old was a baby; and my collection of personal essays about my childhood, Growing Up Pleasant: Memoirs of a Freakishly Happy Childhood.

I also started a “journal” of sorts, about painful interactions I have had with people over the years. Ever had a major fight with your mom? An incident with your spouse, in which that spouse hurt your feelings pretty badly? Consistent barbs delivered by someone who supposedly loves you? This is the type of thing I am writing about, and I think/hope it is really just for me. I wouldn’t want to share these stories.

All I know is that, during meditation one day, the only thing that happened was one of these stories writing itself in my head. And that means that I have to write it down. Then other painful memories came along, so I decided on the title “Pain and Hilarity”. because, if you can’t laugh at your pain, you are doomed!

Would a “pain and hilarity” journal help you release old pain? I believe that is why my angels have guided me thusly. Consider doing it for yourself, and then let me know how it goes.

Denise’s Books: More Spooky Stuff from the FRF

In a recent Free Readings on Facebook, this happened:

Denise: Hi Susan! Does my Mom have anything to say?

Free Psychic Readings by Susan: Hi, Denise–May I have her first name, please?

Denise: Well, she never liked her first name. She went by her middle name, Joyce. Is that good enough?

Free Psychic Readings by Susan:  Yes, great! Thank you! Ah, the name thing, important in life because of the connection, but no longer meaningful. Still, Joyce is a lovely name! And she does not regret anything. (No one on the Other Side does.) She is saying to soothe your soul by soothing your soles. Pedicure? Foot massage? She’s also talking about the book you are reading–or the one that is by your bed but you are NOT reading. She is indicating that it’s really good for you to read it. Remember that any directives from RIPs are always YOUR choice whether or not to do it and YOUR benefit if you do. RIPs never haunt you or get mad at you just because you didn’t want to follow their suggestion. So the book, looks like it has a sunset on the cover? Brown/grey/pink. Paperback. Read it. Love & Kisses, Susan K

Denise: I am so glad she has no regrets. That is wonderful news! I would love to get a pedicure, will happily take her advice on that! Interesting, the book, I’m going to post a pic – I go EVERYWHERE with this one book, The Magic of Thinking Big, and it is a paperback. Even if I only read a couple of pages a day, I am reading it, albeit slowly. But then you said sunset on the cover, Brown/grey/pink – it isn’t a paperback, but I have been carrying that with me…The Power of Believing: How You Can Create the Life You Want, with intention to read it, but I haven’t been – that will change tonight! I know you are busy tonight. Please, if you can, tell her I love her (she probably knows that) and thank her for me! And thanks to you, Susan!

Denise's books

Free Psychic Readings by Susan: WOW! That’s the one I saw! I suppose the paperback thing means to keep reading the other one too. Fantastic! Thanks, Denise!

Denise: Powerful stuff, Susan, you are amazing! Thank you!

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Sometimes the Spirits Are Shy

Just for fun, I thought I’d share something about working with spirits, or people on the Other Side. As a psychic medium, I have worked with my share of such energies. It’s fascinating work for me and is always very satisfying for the client.

When I am doing a psychic medium reading, we’ll hear from one or more of the client’s late loved ones about 50-60% of the time. The rest of the time, there are several reasons for not hearing from someone:

1) The client is too young to have lost anyone close to them or has simply not had that experience at any age.

2) The client is not interested in hearing from those on the other side. The spirits will accommodate that sometimes–but not always! Sometimes, they come on through anyway, and I convey their messages.

3) The client is already in touch with his or her late loved ones, being naturally in-tune with that, or having had such a close relationship that it continues beyond death.

4) Rarely, I’m not the right medium for that or those spirits. Sure, it can happen!

When I did group readings specifically to communicate with those on the Other Side, as John Edward does on television, there were always plenty of spirits to choose from. Some were more insistent than others, while some waited patiently and hoped to have a turn.

I can’t speak for John, but usually when I am through working, either by the clock or my own fatigue, the spirits will leave me alone until I give them another opportunity.

Oh, and sometimes I have a spirit come through who is really for the next person’s reading!

Shy Spirits

Just for fun, I thought I’d share something about working with spirits, or people on the Other Side. As a psychic medium, I have worked with my share of such energies. It’s fascinating work for me and is almost always very satisfying for the client.

When I am doing a psychic medium reading, we’ll hear from one or more of the client’s late loved ones about 50% of the time. The rest of the time, there are several reasons for not hearing from someone from the Other Side:

1) The client is too young to have lost anyone close to them or has simply not had that experience at any age.

2) The client is not interested in hearing from those on the Other Side. The spirits will accommodate that sometimes–but not always! Sometimes, they come on through anyway, and I convey their messages.

3) The client is already in touch with his or her late loved ones, being naturally in-tune with that, or having had such a close relationship that it continues beyond death.

4) Rarely, I’m not the right medium for that or those spirits. Sure, it can happen!

When I did group readings specifically to communicate with those on the Other Side, as John Edward does on television, there were always plenty of spirits to choose from. Some are more insistent than others, while some wait patiently and hope to have a turn.

I can’t speak for John, but usually when I am through working, either by the clock or my own fatigue, the spirits will leave me alone until I give them another opportunity.

Flying without a Plane – or a Body

[originally published July 29, 2008]

flyingI have read only a couple of things about astral projection, also known as astral travel, out-of-body experiences, and transcendental meditation. What I have read did not satisfy me with regard to my personal experiences. Thus, I want to share with you those experiences, in the hopes that you will find it helpful.

Some people believe that everyone’s soul travels out of his/her body during sleep. I disagree, mostly because I know the difference between astral travel and dreaming. Someone once told me that if you dream you are flying, your soul has left your body. That may actually be possible, but again, it is not my experience with being out of my physical body.

When I was in my early teens, I experienced my first out-of-body travel. I was lying on the couch, resting with my eyes closed but not asleep. Suddenly, I was also across the room, next to the fireplace. I was aware of both my physical body and my consciousness, even though they were separate. Then my soul went back to my body and was lying back down. In the process, as my soul-head was still above my physical head, I opened my physical eyes. And I could see from both perspectives! It was a very odd sensation and I admit I was not altogether happy about it.

I knew this was not something to discuss with others. How? Well, maybe you’ve read some of my stuff about how I finally gave in to a disbelief in magic. I was trying to be a “mere mortal” at that point, so I didn’t accept magical things anymore. Or I tried not to. This one was pretty overwhelming. I had no idea until I was about 40 that these spontaneous out-of-body experiences might have indicated that I was psychically and spiritually gifted.

They continued to happen periodically throughout my teens. The second experience happened while I was sleeping at night. I left my body and shot down through the floor into the living room below. Another odd feeling that left me wondering what was going on. I didn’t encounter anyone else in the non-physical and didn’t want to ask anyone about it in the physical.

Eventually, I learned to have a little bit of control over this process. I couldn’t make it happen, but I could sometimes guide it if it did. Once, I went to see the boy I liked in high school. I simply concentrated on his name-like, “I want to go see X”-and there I was in his bedroom. He was asleep and I could see exactly where the furniture was and the position he slept in. The next day, I asked him how he slept. He showed me and it matched what I had seen with my soul-eyes.

Years later, I focused on someone in particular again. This was on a Sunday afternoon. I sensed vast amounts of water under me, for the brief moment I was “traveling”. Then I was in front of my friend. He was at a resort, a large hotel on a beach. The hotel was distinctive, with two separate buildings that curved toward the ocean. There were terraces from the hotel going down to the beach. I tried to talk to my friend, asking, “Can you see me? Can you hear me?” I thought my friend answered, “Almost.”

I’ll interject here that a disembodied soul in this physical dimension “feels” a little funny. There aren’t really eyes to see, ears to hear, skin to feel. But you “sense” things in a different way. So when I say that I saw or said something, think of it as being rather ghostly, non-physical, or angelic.

A few days later, I talked to the friend I had “visited” for the first time in a while. I asked what he had been up to and he said he just got back from Grand Cayman. I got excited about the prospect that I could prove I had been there in spirit! It just so happened that my next-door neighbor at the time had lived in Grand Cayman for a while. I described the hotel to her and asked her if she recognized it. She said, “Oh, yes, that’s the _____ Hotel in Grand Cayman. I am very familiar with it.”

Still, I didn’t tell anyone what had actually happened, but I had proved to myself that I really had done what I thought I had done!

Many years later, when I began teaching spirituality seminars, I began to talk openly about these experiences. At the first seminar, a woman in the audience raised her hand and said, “I do that too.” Then a young man in the back gingerly raised his hand. “I am so glad to know what that is,” he confessed with relief. “I didn’t know what was happening and I was scared.”

I explained to him three very important things: 1) It’s only your soul going around without your body, 2) nothing in the non-physical can hurt you in the physical, and 3) you have more control over it than you think you do.

I have finally learned about this control factor. If I start leaving my body, I can say, “I want to go to _____” and I will go to that place or that person, no matter where it or he or she is. I can also decide not to go at all. I have occasionally encountered other spirit-seeming entities who look like people but seem to be in the non-physical as I am. I cannot easily communicate with them, though, so I can’t say for sure. Thought is usually more effective than trying to speak words, but I still haven’t achieved communication with either physical or non-physical beings when I am astral traveling.

Sometimes, the experiences will meld with dream-like situations, which I can mostly control by choice, deciding what I want to have happen. If there is ever anything that seems frightening-and that doesn’t really happen to me anymore-I have learned that these things are manifestations of my own fear. This is key in your waking physical life, as well: If you sense something that frightens you, speak to it in love. Demons, gargoyles, and other scary things are only your fear appearing to you, reflecting back at you. Use words or thoughts of love, such as “I love you,” “I love,” “God loves you,” or “There is only love here.” And you will banish your demons.

The Oklahoma City Bombing

[originally published November 6, 2007]

It took me a long time to recognize my abilities as a psychic/mystic/etc., so I sometimes find myself waking up a long-dormant memory to add to my little book of stories. For example, it was only after I started recognizing visits from spirits during my readings that I remembered the feeling I had as a child, that someone—or several someones—were always present. My mother said, “You have such a vivid imagination! What a wonderful quality!” Bless her heart.

Here is the memory that arose today [11/6/2007] . We all remember the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. I didn’t have to look up the date, because it was precisely one week before my husband’s death, so I always remember that anniversary. And on that day, at that exact time, I was in the dentist’s chair, being prepped for a filling. Something was going wrong and my gums would not become numb. Carla, my beloved dentist-friend, waited patiently for the anesthetic to take effect.

Suddenly, I went into panic mode. Flat on my back, I swore to Carla that I was going to pass out. “No, that’s not possible,” Carla soothed. “You’re lying down. You can’t faint.” But something was terribly wrong. Tears filled my eyes as I grasped Carla’s hand. “Something’s wrong,” I whispered through still-sensitive lips.

In a few minutes, I was able to calm down and the anesthetic took effect. The filling was created without further incident. Carla promised never to work on me without nitrous again. I don’t know if that was for her sake or mine!

Shortly after I left the dentist’s office, I learned of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building that killed 168 and left hundreds injured. At some point in the intervening years, it did occur to me that I had some sort of Universal sensation as all those lives ended in terror.