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What is Heaven Like?...A conversation with my dad from heaven

3/31/2015

Have you ever had just a super amazing, incredible day where you are just in awe of how awesome it was? I'm sure you have. Those days are treasures and we hold on to them and bask in their glow for as long as we can. For me, one of those days came exactly 3 months (to the day) of my dad's passing from this earth. On that day, my dad came to visit and shared with us for the first time what his life has been like after death. I felt like I needed to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming it up. It was an exhilarating, mind-blowing, blessed day!

I want to share with you some of what he communicated to us. Some of it is kind of random, we didn't expect to have the opportunity to visit with him on that day, let alone to be able to interview him about heaven. I'll do my best to share with you the key pieces of our conversation for you to absorb, ponder, consider and contemplate.

His first and main message was that life goes on, that his life has continued on, just in a different dimension. That he is with us still, watching over us and that he loves us. These are the 3 key messages that those who have passed always communicate...my life carries on, I am still with you and I love you.

He told us that he was happy and that heaven is amazing. Everyone gets along in heaven, everyone is your friend. There is no fighting, it's all about love.

My dad shared with us that when you die, you are usually assigned 5 angels who show you around and teach you about heaven. These angels create a home for you based on your requests and needs. If you desire to live by the water in a small white beach house, they will create that for you. If you desire to live in a townhouse in a bustling city, they will create that for you.

In the afterlife, whatever you desire is how it will be. Your intention creates your reality. For instance, if you desire a wall in your house to be orange, for you it'll be orange. If someone else desires that same wall to be blue, then for that person it'll be blue. If you want it to be summer out, for you it'll be summer out, but the person next to you may desire it to be winter and will be walking around with a winter coat on with it snowing on them. Your intention manifests your reality. Basically if you desire something, it will be. If you desire to be someplace you will just be there, if you desire to do something, it'll happen.

You don't have to take care of yourself in the same way in heaven as you do on earth. You can eat, but you don't need to or get hungry. You can sleep, but you wake up rested no matter how much sleep you get.

There are sports in heaven, but they don't really compete, it's all just for fun. There are no referees, because everyone plays fair and they are not necessary.

There are no cell phones in heaven. You don't need to talk verbally, they use telepathy. If someone speaks a different language, you will still hear them speaking to you in whatever language you speak in your mind.

There are TV's, but the shows are different than on earth. There is music, even rap music, but there are no bad words or negative messages.

The word hospital is basically banned in heaven, because it is felt that it makes people feel scared or sad, so they refer to it as the hopeful hotel. In heaven everyone is healthy.

He told us that spirits age in heaven, but that if you want to be young, or present yourself to someone as a certain age, you can change yourself to that age. He then showed my family member how this works by morphing from his age at his death to being into his 20s and then back again.

He told us that there are 8 senses in heaven. Our earthly 5 senses, plus the addition of telepathy, psychic abilities and a mystery sense that is unknown until it is received. From what we've been told psychic abilities and this unknown/mystery sense are fairly uncommon. Not everyone has them, they are learned and/or acquired. It is rumored that the mystery sense is the sense of emotion, the ability to instantly know what someone's emotion is.

The angels help to teach you how to lower your frequency so that you can visit earth and communicate to humans. We are all made up of energy and vibration. Spirits vibrate much higher than we do here on earth, so they have to lower/change their vibration, and ideally we have to raise our vibration in order to see or communicate with them.

He mentioned to us that everyone sins and that the only important thing is that you figure out how to fix it.

My dad shared that there is no religion in heaven and there are no churches. There are no catholics, lutherans, baptists, etc.. He told us that there is one large gathering place like a church where you can go if you want.

He tells us that he's visited each of us many times and that he's working on how to drop thoughts into our heads, so if we have a thought come to us that doesn't seem like our own then we should know that it's from him. He also mentions that he comes to us in our dreams as a way to communicate with us.

We ask him to explain some of the all white spirits that have come. They look like glass figurines with a white light inside it, they don't have any distinct facial features. He tells us that if the spirit has wings then it's an angel, if it has a halo then it's an arch angel, if it has a halo and wings then it's a guardian angel, if it has nothing then it's a spirit guide. I'll share more on angels and spirit guides in a later post.

We have been fortunate enough to have several additional conversations with my dad, with my grandma, with my uncle, other loved ones and with our spirit guides that have provided us with more fascinating information about heaven and our lives here on earth. I will devote future blog posts to some of these conversations.

What I have learned through these conversations has been priceless and has made a huge impact on my life. I don't look at life or death the same way any longer and I don't fear death. Some key things that I have learned include how powerful we are and how powerful our thoughts and intentions are. Just as in heaven we do have the power to use our thoughts and intentions in much the same way. I learned that it's all about love...love and gratitude. I've learned that we never truly die. I've learned that we are never really alone and that we are infinitely loved and supported. I've had it confirmed that there is a God and there is a Jesus and there are angels. There is still so much to learn and so many mysteries, but my faith has never been stronger.

I hope that by sharing this you will have learned some things that will positively impact and enhance your life as well. I would love to hear about any experiences or conversations that you've had with a deceased loved one. Please comment below or send me an email. Also, let me know if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

I just have to end by saying how much I love my dad and what an amazing man he was here on earth and still is in heaven. Although I miss him terribly, and on some days it seems surreal that he could even be gone, I am truly grateful from the bottom of my heart to know, without doubt, that he is still here with us and still part of our lives. It has eased the pain of his passing. Please know that your loved ones who have passed are with you too, their life has carried on, they are with you and they love you.

Good Morning Soul...Who Am I?

3/24/2015

I'm not much for rituals, especially when it comes to prayer. In fact, my entire life I have personally balked at ritualistic prayer. I found it to feel meaningless, like I was going through the motions without much intention, thought, or meaning behind it.

I balked at routine period, routines and rituals bored me. I found them mundane. Sure, some routines and rituals were necessary. Most days you have to get up at a certain time, you brush your teeth before bed, blah, blah, blah. I dreaded the "getting ready in the morning" routine, or the "getting ready for bed" routine. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yep, that's how I feel about it!

So, given that I do not appreciate routine and rituals, much to my amazement I have started some routines and rituals. And at first I didn't even realize it! The difference being that I am finding real meaning and value in some of the routines I have established. I've also realized that as I've found a deeper understanding of other rituals from my past, I have come to enjoy them as well. Imagine that!

One of my rituals is a prayer that I recite every morning. It starts like this.

Good morning Soul, who am I? Good morning God. What would you have me do? Where would you have me go? What would you have me say and to whom?

My morning prayer continues with expressions of gratitude and of a willingness to serve, and includes other personal items that I may have on my mind that day. I've mentioned in previous blog posts how very important I believe gratitude to be. I start and end my day with gratitude and spend time several moments throughout my day offering up expressions of gratitude.

This prayer ritual helps to center my day. It draws my attention not only to God, but to my higher self. Who am I? What do I want to accomplish today or in this lifetime? What do I need to learn? It seeks out guidance...what would you have me do? Where would you have me go? Guidance and service...What would you have me say and to whom? It brings to my attention to look for the messages and the lessons. To pay attention to my life and what I am doing, to be conscious and aware of my intentions. It opens up the lines of communication between me and Spirit. It brings my awareness to the fact that I'm a vessel, a conduit for Spirit to communicate through.

I learned the first part of this morning prayer in a spirituality class that I took. Pamela Ashlay-McPherson explains it this way, "Stay in touch with your 'inside self'; the true essence of who you are by addressing your soul each day and asking it to acknowledge its presence in your life. This exercise will instantly bring you back to the center of yourself and bring the recognition of your connection to your source into your consciousness." She goes on to say, "You are Spirit first encased in a body… - We must always keep in mind that our Spirit is our true self and we must allow that part of our self to lead the way in our life; our thoughts, emotions, and physical body are all a part of the earth and are programmed by the earth; only our Spirit belongs to life; is life; that is the part that should lead."

The second half of the prayer I learned from spiritual teacher, Gabrielle Bernstein. If you haven't checked out her work yet, I highly recommend her. Gabby states that, "The secret to prayer is to forget what you think you need, say show me the way. Don't pray for an outcome, pray for the highest good for all. I turn this over and pray for the highest and best good. I release this, I surrender this. This is setting your intentions. Bring your awareness to the situation and pray for surrender." I love how she says to pray for the highest and best good for everyone. I use that often now...for my highest and best good and for the highest and best good of all.

Do you address your soul each day? What is your soul telling you? Do you know who you are, who you really are? These are questions that I ponder a lot lately. I believe that I have a higher self, a soul, a spirit. I believe that my soul came into this lifetime with a purpose. I aspire to know that purpose and to live it out as best as I can. Good morning Soul, who am I?

I will share more about prayer in a future blog post, as well as my thoughts on life purpose. Do you have a morning prayer ritual? If you do, I would love to hear about it in the comments below or in an email.

Happiness Hygiene

3/17/2015

When people are asked what they want out of life, a majority of individuals will say that they want to be happy. One of the top 5 greatest regrets of people who are dying is that they wished they would have let themselves be happier. Would you say that you are currently happy, or that you are as happy as often as you would like to be? If not, how can we be more happy? Is it something that we have control over? Can we train ourselves to be more happy?

Studies show that we are each born with a baseline of happiness which is dictated by our DNA. We've all witnessed this, there are just some people who are naturally more happy than others. Some of us are just born with a higher baseline for happiness, while others of us have to consciously work on being happy. Research shows that we can fairly easily change our baseline for happiness. By implementing some basic techniques our baseline can change pretty fast, regardless of your age. Happiness is a skill that we can learn.

Research also shows that only 10% of our long-term happiness is based on external factors, the remaining 90% of our long-term happiness is based on how our brain processes things. Neurons that fire together wire together. What we think about actually changes the neuro structure. The mind can change the brain forever. We can be in charge of changing our own brain.

Dr. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist, is well known for his work on happiness. He says that we are programmed for negativity bias. He calls this the "caveman brain". It's part of what helped our ancestors survive in more primitive times. He states that positive thoughts need to remain in our short-term memory for several seconds, several times, in order to move into our long-term memory, whereas negative thoughts go straight to long-term memory. He gives this analogy, "The brain is like velcro for negative experiences and like teflon for positive ones". He suggests that we savor the good facts and experiences for 10 seconds or more and to make it as intense as possible. Let a good fact become a good experience. This exercise will cause our brains to take that positive thought and store it in our long-term memory.

Shawn Acher, a professor of positive psychology at Harvard and author of The Happiness Advantage, recommends spending 2 minutes each day on what he calls happiness hygiene. He feels that it's no different than other hygiene habits, such as brushing our teeth or washing your face, and should be incorporated as part of our daily routine. His research has found that by spending 2 minutes each day on happiness hygiene you can quickly increase your baseline for happiness. Here are his 5 happiness hygiene habits. He recommends that each day you pick one of these areas and work on it for at least 2 minutes.

1) Say three new things your are grateful for each day in detail. A gratitude journal is a useful tool to accomplish this, but it can be done without a journal.

2) Identify one meaningful experience you’ve had in the past 24 hours and write it down in as great of detail as you can (this ties into the savor suggestion above).

3) Send a thank you to someone. An email, phone call, in-person, text or message to praise or say thank you. Be thankful and appreciative for the good experienced in others.

4) Exercise - 15 minutes of cardio trains the brain to believe that your behavior matters (this one requires more than the 2 minutes).

5) Meditation - even 2 minutes of watching your breath is beneficial.

Dr. Richard Davidson is a professor of psychology and psychiatry and founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. Dr. Davidson's research has identified the following 4 elements to be critical to well-being and happiness.

1) Savoring positive experiences. Let the sun shine bright for the good stuff as long as you possibly can.

2) Your resilience. How rapidly do you recover from adversity? It's appropriate to express strong emotion when you feel badly, but avoid letting it persist. Bounce back into the life you choose.

3) Being generous. He states that the most effective way to increase happiness is through generosity. Altruism is a sure path to increasing well being. Become less self-absorbed and more focused on others. Being of service to and helping others.

4) Paying attention. Mindfulness is happiness. When we aren't attentive to what we are currently doing, we are often times drudging up negative things from the past.

Another key element mentioned in research on happiness is forgiveness. Forgiveness makes us happier. Research suggests not only that happy people are more likely to forgive, but that forgiving others can make people happy. Forgiving people tend to be happier people. Forgiveness leads to lasting happiness.

A sense of community and true, deep social connections are other triggers for happiness. Joy comes from connection to others.

The experts on happiness all speak to similar common core elements to achieving happiness. These elements are not external to our environment, they are internal and something that we very much have the ability to influence.

Studies show that happy people experience a 23% reduction in stress, a 39% increase in health, a 31% increase in productivity and have 34% more positive social interaction. It pays huge dividends to be happy!

Being happy and practicing happiness hygiene will cause a ripple effect to those around you. People desire to be around others who exude happiness. The vibration, the energy of a happy person is contagious, and it raises up the vibration and energy of everyone around. Let's all practice happiness hygiene and savor the positive experiences in our lives. Our world needs more happiness, more light to shine around. Take charge of your own happiness and see and feel the changes in your life. With happiness the more you have the more everyone has.

I would love to hear your feedback. Was this post helpful to you? Do you have a happiness hygiene practice already? Does it include something that isn't discussed that you can share with us? Let me know in the comments section or send me an email!

The day Spirit sent a white dove

3/10/2015

One day this past summer, I was sitting out on my patio overlooking the lake and drinking my coffee. It was a weekday, so the lake was quiet. It was a beautiful summer morning, the sky was blue, the air was warm, there was a gentle breeze. My husband was gone to work and the kids were still sleeping. It was a quiet, peaceful morning to myself.

I had recently started a daily practice of gratitude, so as I was sitting there I started to express gratitude in detail for all of the beauty of nature that was surrounding me. The sky, the lake, the warm sunshine, the trees, the flowers and in particular, that morning, the birds. The birds seemed to be bountiful and they really seemed to be having a fun morning. They were singing and fluttering from tree to tree. It was a beautiful sight. I was marveling at all of the beauty around me and swelling up with gratitude for this moment in time and how magnificent it was to witness and enjoy.

Just then out of the corner of my right eye I saw something white, I looked over to see this beautiful pure white magnificent bird with its wings fully spread fly up and land on the grass. This stunning bird walked over and stopped right in front of my patio. I can't tell you how absolutely amazed I was at the sight of this pure white, beautiful creature. I had my cell phone sitting on the table next to me. I was afraid to scare off the bird, so I slowly picked it up and shot several photos before it flew off into the blue sky. The picture above is one that I took that day. As I tried to zoom in on the photo to show a more up close look, it has lost some of its clarity. The first picture is the one that I took, the second picture is exactly what it looked like flying up to me.

This bird, to the best of my knowledge, is a white dove. I have been spending the past 17 summers on this same lake and never once have I seen a white dove. And trust me, this was no sea gull, we do see those frequently! Where did this bird come from? My gut knew the answer to that question right away. I did however (because I am silly), research the existence of white doves in the area and ultimately had my family member ask my spirit guide about the white dove. I was told that it was sent to me as a gift for expressing so much gratitude :) I am forever grateful for my beautiful white dove. I will never forget the moment it flew toward me and its magnificent beauty and presence. It was a special moment in my life.

Doves are now a special sign of spirituality for me. I love that they represent peace, love, tranquility and the Holy Spirit. I like to include images of them whenever possible!

Gratitude is such an important element of a spiritual practice. I highly recommend that, at a minimum, everyone start off their day and end their day with gratitude. Expressing gratitude is the quickest and easiest way to up your vibration and change the frequency that you are on and to be connected with Spirit.

Using a gratitude journal is another awesome way to express gratitude. I recommend writing down 1-3 different things that you are grateful for each day. Then give 5 specific details about each item sharing why, in detail, you are grateful for those things/people. Be specific the dividends are in the details.

My hope is that this story helps to demonstrate the magic that can happen as we open up spiritually, connect more with Spirit and the universe, and express our gratitude for all that exists. I would love to hear about your personal spiritual experiences in the comments section or in an email.

One Love, One Heart

3/3/2015

My husband and I took a trip to Jamaica last week to get away from the frigid cold and soak up some warm sunshine. It was my first time visiting Jamaica. I have some observations that I want to share with you...lessons that I was reminded of while being there.

Right away while maneuvering our way through the airport I noticed a huge mural on the wall that said simply One Love. It drew my attention, I paused for a moment thinking about what it meant...One Love. We left the airport and loaded onto a bus for transport to our resort. The bus driver was super friendly and during our ride mentioned how we are all one, specifically mentioning one love and one family. Yeah man one family man. Everywhere in Jamaica the t-shirts, etc. had on them Jamaica, One Love. I was already starting to love Jamaica, what a powerful message! How super cool would it be to have your country's theme be one love?!

You see I believe that we are all one. Yes, we are each unique individuals, but we are also all one. I also believe in love and that love creates everything. Love is the underlying fabric upon which we are made, upon which the universe is made. To experience love in ourselves and others is the meaning of life. One love, one heart, one family...we are one. The book, A Return to Love, states it this way, "God is the love within us. God is love. We were created in His image, or mind, which means that we are extensions of His love." We are one, one love. Powerful message Jamaica, love it!!!

The bus driver also began honking/tooting his horn every block or so. Now back home if someone is honking at you, it's not generally a good thing. It typically means someone is frustrated or annoyed at something you are doing. In Jamaica is was a friendly gesture, a hello, that was used frequently on the bus ride to say "hey, I'm happy to see you today" to fellow drivers. What is usually something I would cringe at quickly became something that was cheerful. Funny how things can change in a different culture, from something negative to something that is positive.

As we exited the bus, we gave the driver a tip and he "bumped" our hands and said "respect man". It's a phrase we heard often during our trip...respect man. How often do we actually say those words here at home? Sure it's often implied, but it seems to me that there is value and meaning to actually verbalizing and acknowledging things, in particular something like respect. Love it, respect man.

Usually when we take a vacation we are attempting to get away from the daily grind of our lives. We desire to relax and reenergize and maybe have an experience. So, when you go to a resort on vacation the vast majority of vacationing people are carefree, happy, loose, that's understandable. What amazed me is that the employees of the resort were also carefree, happy and loose. Yeah I get it, it's their job to be of service and to make sure we have a nice vacation, but it was more than that. They were not uptight and giving us a fake or forced smile, they were genuinely light, they laughed easily and were playful, looking to have a good time and to enjoy our presence. They consistently felt lighter than what people back home feel. No worries man.

While traveling the countryside of Jamaica it's clear that there is a lot of poverty and a big difference in housing, transportation, electricity, and other typical luxuries that are fairly commonplace in the U.S.. This didn't seem to impact the happiness of the individuals we interacted with. I love how Marianne Williamson writes about this in A Return to Love, she says, "Meaning doesn't lie in things. Meaning lies in us. When we attach value to things that aren't love-the money, the car, the house, the prestige-we are loving things that can't love us back. We are searching for meaning in the meaningless. Money, of itself, means nothing. Material things, of themselves, mean nothing. It's not that they're bad. It's that they're nothing." The Jamaican people seemed to be happy even with their modest means.

While sitting on our tour bus waiting for everyone to load up, I observed an accident scene. The accident had taken place a few minutes prior and for the next 30 minutes I watched the participants of each vehicle interact with each other. Our tour guide told us that in Jamaica they don't call the police or involve insurance companies when they have an accident. They settle it right away amongst themselves. It was interesting to witness the negotiations. Everyone seemed calm, like they were having an everyday conversation. They appeared to be working together to figure things out. Not gesturing and yelling and looking all heated and frustrated, just calm, cool and collected, respectful. I was trying to envision how this would play out back at home. Would we be calm and cooperative with one another after having an accident? Hmmm...

I was reminded of some important lessons while in Jamaica. We are one, one love, one heart, so let's get together and feel all right. Be light, enjoy the presence of others, laugh easily, be playful, verbalize your respect, don't be afraid to say "hey, I'm happy to see you". The daily grind doesn't have to be something we drudge through all uptight and stressed. The same amount of work can get done while being playful and light. Make the choice to feel good now and to be light with life. Remember that money and material things do not buy you happiness. Be calm, understanding, compassionate and cooperative with each other, recognize that we are all one and that we are each trying to do our very best.

Reflections of Jamaica...reflecting to gain insight...to see the lessons. Thank you Jamaica, I heard you, I get it.

What is Heaven Like?...A conversation with my dad from heaven

Good Morning Soul...Who Am I?

Happiness Hygiene

The day Spirit sent a white dove

One Love, One Heart

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