Post date: Aug 03, 2010 4:18:16 PM
Can anyone connect up? I’ve always wondered. Many mediums will tell you that they possessed the gift of inner sight from the time they were small children. However, I’m beginning to believe that we can all connect up and that we often do, without even realizing it.
Ever since Dan passed on July 1, 2008, in moments of deep sadness, I hear (in my own voice), what I have come to believe are thoughts that Dan is sending me. These thoughts would usually begin by referring to me as mom or Sheri, (Dan was fond of calling me by my first name), and they would sound like this: “Mom, I’m okay and I’m right here with you.” I’d think, “Oh, that’s just my imagination” and initially I dismissed all these thoughts as imagination. But the thoughts kept occurring. Whenever I felt the most bereft, I would be flooded by these loving and comforting thoughts which would lift my heart momentarily, until I dismissed them all as imagination. Then one day I was dismissing some thoughts when I heard, “Well Sheri, what do you think imagination is? Where do the imagined thoughts come from, did you ever think of that?” No, I guess I hadn’t, but I knew I would now.
I now believe that thoughts can enter your consciousness that have been directed to you from spirit, but it is hard to recognize them or to distinguish them from your own wishful thinking. That is why it is so easy to dismiss them as imagination, assuming that spirit messages would be heard loudly and clearly resonating with a sense of other-worldliness. Never do we assume that spirit messages could be heard in our own voices, as if we were talking to ourselves, which is something we all do and is rather commonplace. But, in my experience, that is how it the thoughts come through, in my own voice, as if I am talking to myself.
I started paying closer attention to these thoughts and at times I had to laugh out loud, for in his inimitable way, Danny was teasing me. “Mom, you are so dramatic” he would say when I was beginning to get emotional or “Sheri, you’re a gossip!” when I was telling a good story. It seemed to me like he was making me look at myself through his eyes, however I didn’t trust that it was really coming from him.
Sometimes the ideas came so quickly and emotionally that I would grab my computer and start writing. The first time that I did this I was both moved and amazed by what I had written however, I found it hard to believe that this information came from Dan and not my wishful thinking mind. I might have gone on mistrusting everything that came through to me for the rest of my life, however sessions with Glenn Dove and other fine mediums confirmed practically everything that I had been hearing directly! It was only then that I realized this was actually possible for me. The fact that I was capable of doing this on my own was a revelation to me for I now understood that ordinary people could connect up, and that it has a lot to do with trusting what you hear.
GETTING STARTED
THE GROUND RULE: KEEP AN OPEN MIND
The first most important component needed to connect up is an open mind. That does not mean that you need to have certainty about it. Keep in mind that faith does not imply certainty. On the contrary faith involves a leap of trust into that which you cannot see or readily verify, for it what we were talking about were seeable and self-evident, there would be no need for faith.
THE PRACTICE: PUT ASIDE TIME
Everyday or a few times a week, Pick a quiet place where you can relax and use Focused Breathing, (outlined below) to quiet your mind and bring your focus into the present moment.
I always start a connect-up exercise with a meditation to quiet my mind. I want to clearly state that although I have been doing this or another form of meditation for 40 years I still find it hard to get my mind to really quiet down. I still spend the bulk of the time bringing myself back to the breath and starting “in cool---out warm” all over again, however every time I have the presence of mind to return to my breath, I am able to step back from dwelling in the middle of my thoughts to seeing and observing them from a distance. This is very important because so many thoughts come and go in our minds that it is easy to get swept away with a train of thought and miss everything else.
A. FOCUSED BREATHING
1. Start by finding a quiet place where you can sit or lie comfortably. If possible, turn off everything that might distract you. Ideally you want to have a quiet space, but you actually can do this exercise anywhere from the doctor’s office to sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic in a taxi. I don’t recommend doing this while driving a car.
2. Begin by inhaling and exhaling through your nose. (If you have a cold you can use your mouth). Now focus all your awareness on the tip of your nose and imagine that you are the gatekeeper at the gates of a big city and that it is your very important job to watch the coming and going of your breath.
3. Focus solely on your breath and feel it as it passes in and out of your nostrils. As you breath in think, “I am breathing in cool” and as your breath out think, “I am breathing out warm.” Feel the cool air as it enters your nostrils and the warm air as it leaves you. “Breathing in cool, breathing out warm. Breathing in cool, breathing out warm. In cool, out warm. In cool, out warm. “ Try to maintain your focus on the breath.
4. Inevitably your mind will wander. This is normal and common. Most people find that their minds wander off constantly. Like a monkey swinging from branch to branch, your mind may swing from one thought into another. Here is an example of how the mind can wander: "What did she say? I can't remember. It had something to do with the dog. Did I remember to give the dog water? Damn, this isn't working! I'm supposed to be breathing. I can never do anything right. Did I remember to give the dog water?" On and on your mind will wander off. As soon as you realize that you have lost the awareness of your breath, as if you were training a puppy, gently lead your mind back to your breathing. Again and again your mind will wander off. Again and Again you will return yourself to the breath.
5. “Breathing in cool, breathing out warm. Breathing in cool, breathing out warm. In cool, out warm. In cool, out warm.” You will find that eventually, from this process of catching yourself lost in thought and continually returning to your breath, that you will begin to see your thoughts from a different perspective. You will be able to step back from your usual stance in the middle of "monkey mind". All of a sudden you will realize that you are not your thoughts at all, but the awareness in which all those thoughts take place! I ask you now, who is this you that breathes and thinks and comes back to breath? Your consciousness is indefinable and it is not limited to your thinking mind.
Hopefully, after working with the meditation for a while you will be able to observe your thoughts. This type of meditation has been referred to as “Cultivating the Witness” because it changes your perspective from one that is lost in thought to one that observes the thoughts.
B. CHARACTERIZED BREATHING---ADDING VISUALIZATION TO THE BREATH
I learned the technique of Charcterized Breathing from the late British spiritual healer Harry Edwards. Harry explained that by adding visualization to the breath you literally make it possible to draw energy into yourself from forces that are around you . We all know that there are radio waves and television waves in the atmosphere even though we cannot see them. Why is it so hard to imagine the presence of other invisible energies around us as well? It’s a question worth asking. Why must something be measurable in physical terms in order for it to be considered real?
1. FILLLING YOURSELF WITH ENERGY--Continue with your breathing and focusing on the feeling of the breath as it enters and leaves your nostrils. This time, as you inhale feeling the cool air, visualize streams of energy entering into you. You can see this as golden light as I do, or anything else that comes to mind, however, in your mind’s eye, imagine that you are drawing cool healing energy into you. As you exhale imagine this energy filling your body right out to your fingertips and the tips of your toes. Again, inhale drawing this energy into you and as you exhale imagine directing this energy into your entire body.
2. DIRECTING THE ENERGY INTO YOUR HANDS—(for hands-on healing) As you inhale, deeply and fully, imagine that you are drawing streams of healing energy into you. As you exhale, envision that energy entering into your hands; breathing in healing energy, mentally directing it into your hands as you exhale. Stay with the breath: In cool healing energy, out warm energy entering hands. Place your hands anywhere on your body where you desire to receive this healing. You can place a hand on your heart for emotional healing. As you inhale you think, “I am drawing healing energy into me.” As you exhale you think, “I am directing this energy into my hands and from my hands it enters into my body.
3. THE LOVE INFUSION, AN ENERGY EXCHANGE WITH SPIRIT—SENDING OUT AND DRAWING IN. Envision your loved one standing about 3 feet away from you. Continue to inhale deeply and fully, envisioning streams of healing energy entering into you. This time, as you exhale and feel the warm air passing out of the tip of your nostrils, imagine sending that energy out from you to your loved one. As you breathe in you think, “I am inhaling cool healing energy into me,” as you exhale you think, “ I am sending this healing energy and love outward to you.” And again, inhaling the energy into you, and exhaling the outward from you to your loved one.
4. ADDING DIALOGUE—Continue to draw energy into you as you inhale. On the exhale, as you envision sending this energy to your loved one you say, either mentally or out loud, “I love you, I love you I send you this love.” Say it over and over until you have emptied out all the air in your lungs. Now, use your imagination to help you envision your loved one speaking those same or similar words back to you as you inhale. Breathe in deeply and fully and as you do this, envision drawing this love and energy into you as you repeat the same words that you now envision coming from your loved one to you, “I love you, I love you, I send you this love“ Keep repeating the words until you have inhaled all the air possible into your lungs. Continue to repeat these words coordinating them with the in breath and the out breath. You will find that it is easy to do the exhale, because you are expressing the love that you feel. Initially, you may feel grave doubts about the inhale part, but stay with it because energy is exchanged. The fact is that your loved one is close but invisible to you. None-the-less, there can be a valid energy exchange from which you will emerge stronger. Even if it were merely a figment of your imagination it would be energizing, however, there is every reason to believe that a true energy exchange takes place.
C. ASKING A QUESTION—KEEPING A JOURNAL
Now you can relax your breathing. If necessary give yourself a moment to calm down; the energy exchanges can be emotional but they are positive in nature because they focus on sending and receiving love. If you feel nothing more definitive than you expressing your love to your child this is still positive. In time, you will feel positive energy coming back to you.
For this next part, I suggest having a journal. Now, simply ask your loved one a question, anything will do, for example: “How are you doing over there? Are you okay? Do you know how much I miss you?” Now here’s the tricky part….let whatever comes into your mind be a suitable answer and write it down, whatever it is, write it down. At first it may feel as if you are merely answering yourself, but go with it. At the very least, our thoughts are influenced. Sit for five to ten minutes and see what thoughts and emotions come up for you. Record everything in your journal. Perhaps you will feel that this is foolishness. If that’s the case, write it down. Then close your journal and go about the rest of your day.
D. ASKING FOR SIGNS—KEEPING YOUR EYES OPEN FOR THEM
Now that you’re accepting the premise that your child may be very close, another way to connect up is through signs. It’s a lot fun. My friend and a member of my Prayer Team has a wild time finding pennies and dimes from her son in a precise pattern. I must say that although you can write these signs off as coincidences, sometimes it is equally difficult to believe that they were random events. Besides the fact that receiving a sign can be greatly comforting, the act of asking for a sign and keeping your eyes open is intriguing and adds another dimension to explore. It’s as simple as saying, “Danny, give me a sign”.
For example, last week I had an appointment at the Apple Store to get some assistance with my computer. When I got there and checked in I was told to expect about a 30 minute wait. I was instructed to find a seat and look for my name which would be posted on the big screens that were up on the walls. So, I found a chair, sat myself down and thought, "Okay Dan. Could you give me a sign?" Right after I had that thought I looked over to the screens to see if my name had come up. I was registered as Sheri Migdol. When I looked up, I saw that I was number 7 in line, listed as sheri m. What really blew my mind was that number 6 in line was Daniel M. No kidding. Now this could be a coincidence. But, what really are the chances? I was so excited that I took a picture of the screen with sheri m and Daniel M. Please see attachment.