Have We Lived Before? My Thoughts on This Subject.

One of my favorite classes at Unity Village when I was studying to become a Licensed Unity Teacher was one taught by the Unity Poet Laureate, James Dillet Freeman.  It was a class based on his book Reincarnation.  This was an elective class and Unity is quick to say that a lot of Unity people believe it is true but not particularly a tenet of Unity.    James was very much a believer in the ages old belief of reincarnation.

I thought about all of this again today as I saw 2 references to reincarnation on Facebook.  One was about a boy who remembered a past life on Mars and another was from a mother whose child was remembering another life.

When I first began hearing about reincarnation I was not a believer in it.  Later I began to see how it would explain some of the "injustices" we see as karma plays out.  One of my first Unity teachers (Catherine Ponder) told me she thought I had quickly reincarnated from World War II.

Everything I have read suggests paying close attention to what children say when they are very young as they are fresh from the world of Spirit.  When my youngest daughter was about 3 years old, she told me that I was not her mother.  I asked why she thought that.  She said her mother was brown and that she had several brothers and sisters.  She was very attached to her first pair of shoes and when she went to bed at night, she would want her shoes in bed with her and she hugged them tightly.   I really believe that she had previously been in a poor family and shoes were a luxury in that family.

I was very interested in the subject but have since decided that although I believe that reincarnation does happen that it is what we do with this life that matters.  Learning to meditate, pray for others and give of our talents and abilities is what matters in the end.

I Thought My Goals were My Own Until I Saw My Dad's Goals

My dad and I were close but I was surprised to find a list of goals he had that closely match mine.  I did not see these until after his death in 1983.  My mother found them when she was going through his writings.

2-11-1969

1.  Experiment and investigate the laws of the mind to

• Heal people's minds and bodies
• Be close to God
• Communicate by telepathy---space communication
• Know the secrets of the universe
• Motivate people to their highest potential
• Assist students and others in finding their place in life---life works
• Help make religion really live for people
• Know the origin of thought
• Control environment and nature
• Eliminate poverty---there is plenty for all
• Discover all methods and uses for ESP
• Be influential i politics for the good of all
• Increase the use of preognition
• Discover and use the methods for inventing

2.  Methods of accomplishing my goals

• Prayer and meditation
• Operate a motivation business, like SMI
• Write books and articles on the above goals
• Make and sell recordings of these subjects
• Study and apply psychology and parapsychology
• Study and apply hypnosis
• Contribute to church and study religion and philosophy

"Summer Time and the Living is Easy"

The weather has been a big topic today in my family.  My youngest daughter Susan is at a conference in Denver and was surprised to find the mile high city experiencing a heat wave.  My oldest daughter and her family just went through a terrible thunderstorm with tornado warnings. And all of us here in Denton are into triple digit heat hoping for a break or rain.

To make matters worse, the weathermen lately have had a hard time predicting the weather.  The actual weather seems to not fit into their forecasts.  One year I had baseball size hail and it was never predicted.

In spite of the heat I love the summers.  I think it is a holdover from looking forward to it when I was in school.  There is nothing like a summer vacation and foods such as watermelon.

I always like to count my blessings and appreciate air conditioning and running water.  There is beauty in nature with flowers and trees. There are lots of people walking with pets and young children.  The whole world seems alive with energy.

We can take in part of the energy of the season as we meditate each day.  We too can thrive and renew our spirits no matter what is happening in our lives.

I Wanted a Pony

When I was about 4 years old my family lived in San Antonio, Texas on a small plot of land.  I remember my dad had chickens and for a short time was doing bee keeping on the side.  I remember him dressed like an astronaut as he went about his beekeeping chores.  His main job was as an Air Traffic Controller at the San Antonio Airport. 

About that time we bought a TV which was rare in that time (about 1953).  I remember watching TV and seeing a horse rare up and down. I felt deeply that I wanted and would have a horse.

Not long afterward my mother woke me up and said I had to get dressed because I had won a pony.  She was very excited.  We went to the Handy Andy Grocery store and I found out that my name had been drawn in a drawing which took place in the back of a pick up.  The pony came complete with a saddle.  I remember thinking that this whole event should not be surprising because I had felt like I was going to have a pony.

Later in life I saw how that scenario fit into the visualizing that is done in athletics and other places.  You visualize intently that you are going to have something in life and then let go and it materializes. 

Below is a photo of me with Jumbo. 

Overcoming the Fence Challenge----Creativity

Yesterday I posted in my blog that someone is trying to enter my backyard through my fence.  I have found tools, bent lock, flashlights, etc.  It is obvious.  Finding a way to secure the fence was difficult.

Here is the problem:

• If you put a lock on the outside with screws then all it takes is a screwdriver to enter the gate.
• The inside of the fence has a post that rounds out so it makes it difficult to put the right and left sides of the fence together with a lock.

Yesterday Lowell and I went to Home Depot.  After a lot of looking Lowell came up with a great plan.  We would anchor a thick heavy metal chain to 2 locks that would be impossible to reach from the outside.  To further make it difficult we would hook one side with a combination lock.

This solution which seemed very daunting at first made me think of 2 things:

• Necessity is the mother of invention
• Nothing is impossible

Changing a Bad Day to a Good Day

We can all have very frustrating days.  I had one of those today.  I found out that it looks like someone is trying to open my fence which would lead me to think that someone wants to get into my house.  I shared earlier on this blog that I actually experienced a home invasion in which various small items were taken which could easily be resold. 

Then I was hacked on my email account.  I still wonder if I have done all I can do on my computer to bring it back to safety.

Lowell worked on my fence and found an ingenious way to keep it locked.  I simultaneously worked on correcting my hacking.  Basically I spent my day off in securing my home and internet.

As I reflected on this with Lowell he said I should be grateful for the good that happened today in securing the fence and the computer. 

Ironically one of the lessons from my Wednesday class I am leading based on the book "Law of Attraction, 30 Practical Exercises" by Louise Stapely is to focus on the good in our lives.  What a challenge when things are going wrong.  I reversed my thinking and noticed an immediate positive feeling which I am so grateful for.  When things are going wrong for you, take a moment and refocus on the good.  You will feel so much better.

A Car Accident Led to a Decision in My Life

Have you ever had trouble making a decision and asked for guidance and direction?  This happened to me in 1998.

I was the spiritual leader of Unity of Ft. Smith and my late husband was the manager of an electrical and plumbing supply company.  Dean found out that the FBI was investigating one of his employees for theft and at the same time he was hospitalized for strep pneumonia.  I intuitively felt like we needed to change direction in our lives but did not know what direction to go.

On Father's Day we were returning from a visit with his oldest daughter who lived in Rockport, Texas where he also had spoken at Unity by the Sea in Corpus Christi.  We had had a very pleasant weekend which was a mini vacation for us.   

We left Corpus Christi at 1:00 PM and decided to come all the way back to Ft. Smith.  About midnight I drove across the bridge entering Ft. Smith and stopped at the 1st signal.  Then out of the blue I felt a tremendous surge and heard breaking glass.  The car was pushed forward.  I was lying flat back on my car seat and everything went dark.

I turned to Dean and he yelled that we had been hit.  I looked at Dean and he had blood running down his face.  People were rushing to help us.  I felt like I had been in a surprise attack.  I heard talk of spilled gas.  Dean was saying that we had to get out because the car might explode and to make matters worse he was hooked to an oxygen tank which could explode.  Shocked I could not get my door open.  All of a sudden people were at my door, pulling and struggling to open it.  

Finally they pulled and it opened.  A woman came over to me when she saw I was shaking and reassured me over and over that I was ok.  People were working on Dean's door which was more difficult to open.  He was pulled out and the lady went over to him and pulled out a handkerchief to staunch his bleeding.  911 was called for the unconscious driver of the car that had rear ended us.  Sirens came from every direction.

I looked out at the scene of ambulances, fire engines and people videoing the scene.  Street sweepers were cleaning the glass and a tow truck was on hand.  I felt like I must be dreaming.  I heard that the incident was on the news and that the estimated speed of impact was 103 mph.  The driver was cited for reckless driving, DWI, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and no insurance plus he was driving a borrowed car.  He was 30 years old. I still have the police report of the accident.

I never will forget when Dean turned to me and said that this was a sign that we needed to leave Ft. Smith.  In classic dream interpretation a car represents the direction in which your life is going.  If you  have an accident in your dream then it is a warning to change your direction in life.

But the question remained:  Where would we go?  Within a year I began receiving answers.  I was supposed to be at Unity of Denton.  Here in a nutshell is what happened:

1. After Dean's earlier aneurysm surgery in 1994 he had a near death experience in which he said I was supposed to be at Unity of Denton.
2. Unity of Denton called without my solicitation and asked me to apply.
3. The minister of Unity of Denton called me and said she had had a vision of me being the person who was supposed to be the minister of the church
4. A psychic told the congregation that they could recognize the person who was best for Unity of Denton because this person would wear purple during the try out.  

After all of the above happenings I took it as a sign that I was to try out. I wore purple without knowing anything about the psychic's prediction to the congregation and I was asked to be the spiritual leader of the church.  I have been here ever since and really feel like it is my place and mission to be here.

We all have access to answers if we stay open and avoid discouragement.  

A Knock at My Door Followed by the Sound of My Garage Door Going Up

I live in a quiet neighborhood on a corner lot.  I don't have a lot of valuables so I never thought I would ever be experiencing a home invasion. 

About 3 months ago I heard a knock at my door.  I looked at my front door from another window and saw a young man with a clip board.  When I did not come to the door, I saw him walk to a dark color car with the clipboard and sit in the passenger seat.  He was looking at the house and writing on the clipboard.

The car drove away and I went back to what I was doing.  My blood froze when I heard the sound of my garage door going up.  I went out the front door and peaked to the side of the house where my garage faced.  There was the same car parked in front of my garage.

I quickly went back into the house and called the police.  I took refuge in a bedroom and the dispatcher stayed with me on the line.  After about 10 minutes my home was surrounded by about 6 police cars.  I know my neighbors must have thought that there was a murder by the massive response.    By the time the police arrived the perpetrators had left.  The police pointed out that my car's door was left ajar said that there had been a number of home invasions in the area and they were disappointed not to find anyone.

Later that night I went out and when I came home I was shocked to find my home had been broken into and they had stolen my iPad, a watch, a broken Ipod and small items.  They had written on the detective's card which I had put in front of my computer.  They wrote on the back of the card that the suspect was a black male.

I began double securing my house.  I have found that they have tried to get through my fence so Lowell has rigged up a way for them not to get into my back yard.

I refuse to live my life in fear so I am careful that the doors are locked and then I trust in the safety of God. We always have the option of "fear or faith".  I am choosing faith.

Mystery of Chaco Canyon

Thursday was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, when the transition was made from spring into summer.

When I think of solstices I think of the trip I made to Chaco Canyon in 1982 when I camped out with my 2 daughters.  My husband wanted to go to India and I said I did not want to go.  We agreed that he would go to India and I would take our daughters camping.  I wanted to see the Native American spiritual centers in the Southwest.

I hitched a tent camper to my car and off we went for about 6 weeks.  Chaco Canyon was high on my list to visit.  I had read about how mysterious Chaco Canyon is.  About 850 AD a very sophisticated set of buildings, roadways and settlements were made and then suddenly abandoned.  In the early 1980's most people did not know about Chaco Canyon and the roads leading to the Canyon were sandy and difficult to manage towing a tent camper.  At one point my car stalled and from out of nowhere a group of native Americans pushed the car and trailer up the mountain.

We explored the entire area and were intrigued by the ruins.  One of the ruins was found to be important in determining when the solstices would take place.  I found the following on the internet.

High atop the imposing butte at the entrance of the canyon is the most famous of Chaco’s sites. There, a set of spiral petroglyphs pecked into a cliff face behind three giant slabs of rock functions as a solar marker. At summer solstice a vertical shaft of light pierces the main spiral exactly at its center. On the winter solstice, two shafts of light perfectly bracket the same spiral. Light shafts strike the center of a smaller spiral nearby on the spring and fall equinoxes.

This site, now known as the Sun Dagger, was discovered by Anna Sofaer in 1977. After extensive investigation, Sofaer and her colleagues published data that showed that the spirals may also track the 18.6-year lunar cycle.

Alas, it’s no longer possible to see the Sun Dagger in action. In 1989, the rock slabs shifted—possibly from increased erosion due to too many visitors—and the effect was spoiled. Today, the site is closed to visitors.

The world is full of mysteries from our past and I personally believe that the peoples of the past had far more knowledge, engineering, and life than we realize.  Just look at the engineering feat of pyramids around the world.  

Below is a photo of the sun dagger.

A Miracle in 2005

Whenever I think of times when the finances seem down, I think about a miracle that happened at church in 2005.  Unity of Denton had grown and could not afford to rent expanded space anywhere in Denton.  We located a church building in Krugerville outside of Denton for a bargain due to a split in the congregation.

When we moved to this location, it proved to be too far for some of our regular members.  Others moved away and our financial situation became worse.  I was in the ordination process which required the church to pay me a certain salary.  We sent financials quarterly to the field licensing committee for review.  All I knew to do was turn it over to prayer.  My late husband, Dean, had died the previous year and never even saw the new building we had moved to.

One day I was opening up the mail and nearly threw away a financial envelop as we were always getting ads for opening up new bank accounts, credit cards, etc.  To my shock I was holding in my hands a $30,000 check.  It was from the estate of a woman who had died a year and a half earlier.  The letter explained that the financial establishment had had trouble locating us because we had moved and changed names.  The letter went on to say that more money would be coming as this lady had had no relatives and wanted the church to have the money.  Altogether there was an incredible $330,000!  It was a miracle.  We used the money to add an addition onto the building and make improvements.

This story illustrates to me that we never know what is in store for us in the universe if we don't think about the lack and just focus on prosperity and never give in to negative thinking.

And the Rains Came

Every day this week I have been hoping that the rain would come.  A tropical disturbance was supposed to give us a good shot at rain this week and I waited to water my plants and lawn thinking that surely the rains would come.

Today was the best chance in the morning and early afternoon but the time passed by and no rain.  Then about 6:00 I noticed that the skies were dark in the north.  I looked at the weather app on my phone and the rain was moving down from the north.  There was hope!!  And the rains arrived in just the amount I needed without violent wind or lightning. 

The weathermen are having a difficult time making forecasts.  It is as if the weather has a mind of its own.  About 3 years ago the weathermen said there was no hope of rain for Denton even though other parts of the area were getting rain.  I was shocked to start hearing hail and this was not ordinary hail.  This hail was the size of baseballs and one broke through the window in my dining room.  This was followed by warnings of tornadoes but fortunately the rain wrapped huge tornado lifted off the freeway close to my house and moved east.

Sometimes our lives are like that.  We hope and hope for something to happen and give up.  It is at that exact moment that something we hope for happens.  I really believe in the adage of  "Let go and let God" which gives life a chance to work.  I think sometimes we hold on to hope in a fearful way but when we give up, life produces what we wanted for us.

Diane's Life is Changed by Visioning

In the Law of Attraction class the very first #1 suggestion out of 30 practical applications is to make a mind movie.  We always either write down our goals or make a vision board which are effective but now in this time of computer technology it is not that difficult to make our own personal mind movie of our goals complete with music and affirmations.  I will be going over this technique in the Law of Attraction class held at 12:15 at Unity Spiritual Center..

When I think of visioning whether by vision board or mind movie, I think of Dean's oldest child, Diane, who credits visioning for changing her life.  After her divorce Diane moved to Rockport, Texas where my late husband, Dean, lived with his first wife who later died.  Diane had been attending Unity and heard about the vision board.

Diane assembled a vision board which included a happy marriage with a wonderful income.   She began teaching aerobics and rented out a place in a strip mall.  The owner of the mall was a good looking builder named Al.  There was instant chemistry.  After dating and getting to know each other, she knew that this man was the one she wanted to marry and they were married.

Al is not only loving and caring but he is a well known builder in Rockport and became a multimillionaire.  They own 900 acres by the ocean which includes Crane House.  The whooping cranes migrate to their land and they rent out Crane House for overnight or weekly stays.  It is usually booked out for most of the season.  Al built a hurricane proof home on their property which withstood the powerful hurricane Harvey of last summer that decimated most of Rockport.  Photo of Crane House below.

Diane is interested in the Unity movement and has always been interested in spiritual pursuits.  In addition she is an artist in her own right.  She creates beautiful jewelry and has this to say about her artistic skills:

         I always wanted to be an artist, all my friends were! I couldn’t even draw a straight line, I would always say. But come to find out, you don’t necessarily want to draw straight lines in jewelry! I took local jewelry classes for several years and then decided to take it up a “notch.” Six years ago, I met a Pawnee Indian lady in Santa Fe, Kim Knifechief. She is a silversmith whom I convinced to give me lessons. I loved it- couldn’t get enough. Now I go to Santa Fe several times a year and spend the entire month of August making silver and turquoise jewelry with Kim. When asked what style my jewelry is, I say it has a Native American flavor which is Kim’s influence, but also a more modern look because I use pearls and stones which are not turquoise. I don’t put a piece for sale unless I absolutely love it and wouldn’t love wearing it myself!

One of Diane's creations

Diane's vision board all came to pass and is a reminder to me of how absolutely powerful and life changing it is.

Movies and Slides: Serendipity at Work

I am always amazed at the serendipity in my life.  Just this week I had a situation resolved that I have been trying to address for years.

As most of you know by now, I am working on photo albums and scrapbooks as I have tons of photos and memorabilia from relatives.  I think it is important to pass them on in as interesting way as possible to my relatives.

The biggest problem I had was what to do with the 8 millimeter home movie film.  I wanted to have these films transferred to a DVD but the price is significant when you send them off to a company to have them done.  I also have some VHS home movies plus tons of slides. 

I decided that I would have to find a way to somehow transfer these images but while I waited I would tackle the photos and memorabilia I have for the time being. 

Pam Livingston told me about a free program at the Denton library where they would demonstrate the various equipment they have to preserve family memories.  I was surprised at the size of the class with people all about my age who are facing the same situations I am facing with so much stuff stored on movies and slides.

It turns out the Denton library has a legacy section where you can reserve 3 hours to use equipment that will transfer the movies and slides to a DVD.  It was an answer to prayer.  I am looking forward to many many hours in the legacy section of the library.

I think it pays to wait if possible when a situation comes up that you cannot see the resolution.  There have been so many times that a solution was just about to happen but if I had addressed it, then I would not see the miraculous outcome.

Irritants in Our Lives

When my youngest daughter, Susan, was attending Missouri State University in order to become a Nurse Practitioner, she had personality problems with one of the instructors.  I remember talking to Susan on the phone and listening to a wide array of problems and conflict.  Susan tried to stay out of this instructor's way but interaction had to take place in order to graduate.

Susan graduated and was very surprised to be offered a position as Director of the Nurse Practitioners program at Missouri State University.  Normally a requirement for the new position required a PHD which she later obtained but at the time did not have.  Incredibly they told her if she began her PHD training while in the position that she could still have the position and the University would pay for her doctorate.  Everything worked together to make this new position work out.

A few days after accepting the position Susan called me with the astounding news that the professor that she had had the personality problems with was the one who recommended her for the position.

How many times have we had a personality problem with someone and then found that they were in our life for a reason or even more incredibly that we we grew to appreciate them? Sometimes they are like an irritant that produces the pearls in our lives.  All people in our lives are there for a purpose or a reason----there are no coincidences.  It may take time to discover the gift of their presence but there is always a gift.

Overcoming Adversity---Story of My Dad

It is Father's Day and I am sure there are countless stories and photos about dads who are either still living or have passed on.  

I was lucky to have a dad with whom I had a really good relationship.  He was born in 1920 and  grew up under very unfavorable circumstances.  His maternal grandmother died 3 days before he was born.  He was born with a club foot and spent many days at the Scottish Rite Hospital where they broke and reset bones.  He always had a limp and special shoes.

While he was still a child, his parents divorced which was highly unusual in those days.  His mother struggled to provide for 2 boys but his mother also suffered bouts of depression and could not find a job.  Then the Great Depression came which forced my dad to quit school and do anything to bring in money.  He sold newspapers and picked cotton.  They did not have a place to live and were forced to live under their pickup truck.  In later years neither he nor my uncle would talk about those days.  They literally lived on apples.  

World War II came on the scene and my father wanted to sign up.  Because of his club foot he could not fight overseas but they did accept him as an air traffic controller. 

He met my mother at a church function in Okla. City and was determined that he would make something of himself.  He did not want my sister and I to go through everything he had been through. 

He was very spiritual and began to look into various forms of spiritual organizations.  Eventually he found Unity.

He never complained.  I loved going to his house and drinking coffee with him while we talked about coffee and religion.  My heart was broken when he died in 1983 of leukemia.

My Oldest Daughter and Her Bedroom

When my oldest daughter, Sharon, was in her teens she spotted a bedroom suite that was advertised in the Reader's Digest Magazine.  The ad showed a canopy bed complete with dresser.   She really wanted that furniture set but we did not want to spend the money on new furniture.  I put it out of my mind.

But imagine my surprise when I went to a garage sale a few weeks later and there was the entire furniture set complete with the bedding pictured in the ad.  It was very inexpensive too which was a miracle.

I think we all have incidences like these.  We see something we want and desire but it is not a necessity so we put it out of mind.  Then unexpectedly "it appears" in our lives.  Without probably consciously realizing it, we have put a spiritual law to work.

What is this spiritual law?  We imprint our mind with what we desire and then let go.  The the universe/Spirit/God has a chance to make it a reality and it appears in our lives.

When we want something and try to figure out how we can bring it into our lives, then we get in the way of the perfect manifestation.  Our part is to ask, let go and receive.

Helping Others Through Dreams

Last night Lowell and I went to see his 7 year old granddaughter who was in the play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  We loved the music and the talent of all the people in the play. 

As I watched the play unfold, I realized how important dream interpretation was for Joseph and the nations of Israel and the Egyptians.  Because Joseph was able to interpret the Pharoah's dream, he was made 2nd in command in Egypt and was able not only to help Egypt but his own brothers who had tried to get rid of him.  I firmly believe we all have this potential of looking into our dreams and using them to improve our lives and in the process help others too.

I remember one time in the 1970's I dreamed about a woman who was attending a Unity church and who worked with me in the Sunday School when I was in charge of the Sunday School program.  In the dream she was talking to me about her marriage situation.  She had about 5 children and in the dream she was telling me that her husband was abusing her and she was crying for help.  When I woke up I was surprised at the dream because it was so real.  I did not know what to do. 

I had had that dream on Saturday night so the next day when I woke up was Sunday.  On Sunday morning after church I came up to her and said I had had a dream and I told her the dream.  To my surprise she broke down in tears and confirmed my dream and we were able to talk about her situation.

Another time I had a dream about a person who was in an iron lung.  They were dying and afraid to leave their body.  I was helping them in their dying process by telling them it was ok to leave their body.  When I woke up I again thought about the dream and realized it was so real.  I was shocked to hear on the news that on the night of my dream a person who had been in an iron lung the longest of anyone in the US had died.  I still have that article.  I felt like I had there helping in the process.

So much else goes in our dreams.  I firmly believe it is important to remember our dreams and act on them.  I will be talking about this in my upcoming seminar on Sunday, July 8th at Unity Spiritual Center of Denton.

A Leap in Time

I am focused now on the social auction event that I am sponsoring in which I show the movie Premonition.  This movie is provocative in bringing up the idea of going back and forth in time.  I have always been interested in this subject and think it is possible to do.

Way back when my first born child, Sharon, was 3 months old my husband and I were living in Ft. Hancock, Texas about 50 miles from El Paso.  I was vacuuming and I clearly heard Sharon say "Mom".  I turned around and I saw Sharon as she later looked when she was 16 years old.  She had long brown hair and looked just as she did when she actually became 16.  When I saw her I was not particularly surprised at the experience when it happened until full reality hit a few minutes after I had the vision.

Since then I have wondered if the noise of the vacuum cleaner affected reality for a minute.  I have heard that thunderstorms have the same effect and affect reality.

I am looking forward to hearing stories from others at this event.  I have one more story to share which did not happen to me personally but did happen to my professor at Texas Tech.  I will share this story next week.

My Mother and Her Influence on My Life

My mother is 98 as most of you know.  She was born on October 1st, 1919.  She will be 99 on this coming October 1st.  Today she came home from the hospital where she was being treated for a cold and heart fibrillations.  The staff could not believe that she is 98 which I hear a lot.

She and my dad found Unity in Austin, Texas where they were living in 1968.  I was so fortunate that they were searching for a spiritual way of living that made sense at the same time that I was.  I was making important decisions for my life at Texas Tech and they sent me a plane ticket to come to Austin.

I met with Catherine Ponder, their Unity minister, for an hour long session.  It was a session that changed my life.  Catherine was the author of several books and surprisingly to me she was very intuitive.  She seemed to intuit things about me that made sense and ended the counseling session abruptly by saying that I had an important phone call to answer and if I left I would receive it.  It was a phone call from Richard who was my fiance.  My mother was on the front porch waving me in as Richard was on the phone at the exact moment that I arrived.

My parents had also met a lady at the Unity church who could read palms.  They made an appointment for me to meet the lady and she immediately said that I was engaged but had no ring.  She was right.  I had been engaged for maybe 13 days and we had not picked out a ring.  Most surprising of all she said he was born on December 29th which was correct and that we would have 2 girls which proved to be true.

My parents stayed in Unity and I began reading Unity books and discovered a freedom from the bondage of my thoughts.  I no longer indulged in self pity and negative thinking.  I opened up to possibilities for my life.  Catherine Ponder was a pioneer in Unity in promoting the Vision Board and I began to create goals and visions for my life.

My mother transformed her life by reading the Daily Word and meditating.  She took care of herself.  I remember her early in life exercising to Jack LaLanne and ordering one of his rubber stretchy things that you attached to a chair or door to allow yourself to get into position for stretching exercises.  You would watch him on TV and follow what he demonstrated.

She also has always and to this day still follows every doctor's order and takes all medications and tests that are recommended.  She walks and still believes in the power of your thoughts for transformation.

Every time she goes to a doctor's visit, the staff are amazed that she is able to walk without a walker or cane, does not have hearing aids, and looks as well as she does.  She has perfect blood tests.

Most of you know that she was hospitalized yesterday with a cough and shortness of breath.  The hospital doctor asked about her heart doctor and I told her at first we had a doctor that been recommended to her by a friend of hers as "hot looking".  This female staff doctor had to know who this heart doctor was and we took time to look through our iphones and I finally remembered his name.  Sally Bigley was a witness to this.  We now have a doctor who is not as "hot" but is good with medicine. 

My mother has amazed me with her ability to dress beautifully and keep her living area decorated artistically and organized.  After my dad died, she moved into a retirement community when she was 70 years old and took dancing and art lessons.  I wish I had her beauty and organizing "gene".  I inherited heavily from my father which has its good points too but try as hard as I can, I cannot seem to have the artistic and organizational abilities that she has.  She had several boyfriends who one by one died. 

When she was 84 years old, she had a "private" dancing lesson with a man who began seriously dating her.  His name was Jeff and he was a Pearl Harbor survivor.  She said he owned a large red Cadillac and she visualized going out in this Cadillac and it turned out that Jeff was the owner of that car.  His birthday was 2 days before mine and we celebrated our birthdays together.  I really liked him.  He was very wealthy and he would take my sister, mother and I to nice places to eat.  He loved wine as much as me and we always had fun drinking our wine together.  I was sad when he died about 8 years later.  He always wanted to marry my mother but she turned him down

Right now she has short term memory problems which I think are due to her heart fibrillation and perhaps mini-strokes.  But she is extremely good at taking her meds. She lives in Lake Forest Good Sam's independent living apartment on the 4th floor overlooking a forest and a lake.  She likes being independent. 

I am fixing up a place for her in my home in case she needs to have more specialized care as she ages.  It will only be when she cannot manage as she has an independent spirit.

Below is a photo of her with my sister and I about 10 years ago.

A Scary Time for Me as a Freshman at College

Yesterday I wrote about my scariest sleep time experience which brought to mind my college roommate.  For my 2nd semester at Texas Tech I roomed with a very outgoing and vivacious person who was also from Waco, Texas.  She was one of those people who was the life of the party.

Her name was Penny and I enjoyed her company.  As the semester progressed, I began to notice some strange things about her.  One night I woke up to find a clothes line strung from one end of the room to the other.  To my great surprise I found women's underwear hanging on the line.  I questioned her about it and she said she had gone into other dorm rooms and raided the women's drawers for underwear.  This was definitely a red flag.

Then one night I woke to a loud noise and the overhead light fixture in our room had broken and fallen.  I found Penny over me threatening to kill me with one of the larger pieces of the light fixture.  We talked and she backed off.  I notified the dorm office and they had Penny meet with a psychologist.  She came back into the dorm room and said she had been diagnosed as schizophrenic.

Penny was banned from campus and told not to come back.  I was in complete shock.  The girls on my wing of the dorm were afraid of her as they knew that she had threatened to kill me and everyone made plans to leave the campus. My sister and best friend from Waco decided to come stay with me so I would not be alone in my room.

I received a phone call from my sister on the day they were coming up to see me.  The car driven by my best friend had skidded and rolled over into a field.  They were in the hospital with injuries that were minor but they were not able to come to see me.

I was devastated by the news that they were in the hospital and also afraid that Penny would come back to take revenge on me for turning her into the university.  I was alone and decided to pray.  I felt a clear response which had something to do with the fact that I had known Penny before and that the lesson was to love her unconditionally.  I remember thinking how in the world could I have known her before???  I decided though that I could make the decision to love her unconditionally.

During the night Penny showed up in my room.  I asked her how she got there and she said that she knew that there were tunnels running underground at the university and she had used them to enter the campus and come to the dorm.  She said it looked like everyone had left the wing of the dorm and that people must be scared of her.  Then she said she wanted me to know that she loved me and I felt her appreciation for the fact that I had not left the dorm.

She left and I felt a sense of completion within me that our relationship had ended on a peaceful loving note.

I still look back at that time period as one of the most memorable lessons I have had about the importance of love and letting go of fear.

Scary Experience I Had During Sleep in 1965

I will always remember a very scary and strange experience I had when I fell asleep in my dorm room in 1965.  I had just fallen asleep when I awoke to hear the door to my room open followed by the most malevolent laugh.  I could hear footsteps coming to my side with the laughter that sounded awful.  I felt hands around my throat and I thought I am going to be strangled.  To my amazement I could not move.  I wanted to scream but I could not scream.  I could not move a muscle.  I just knew that I was dying.  After a bit the "creature" withdrew their hands and walked out of the room.  It was then that I could move.

To my surprise I found out by reading an article a few years later that others have this exact same experience.  It is called the "old hag syndrome".

Thought.co.com on the internet describes it this way:

"The name of the phenomenon comes from the superstitious belief that a witch - or an old hag - sits or "rides" the chest of the victims, rendering them immobile. Although that explanation isn't taken very seriously nowadays, the perplexing and often very frightening nature of the phenomenon leads many people to believe that there are supernatural forces at work - ghosts or demons.

The experience is so frightening because the victims, although paralyzed, seem to have full use of their senses.

In fact, it is often accompanied by strange smells, the sound of approaching footsteps, apparitions of weird shadows or glowing eyes, and the oppressive weight on the chest, making breathing difficult if not impossible. All of the body's senses are telling the victims that something real and unusual is happening to them.

The phenomenon occurs to both men and women of various ages and seems to happen to about 15 percent of the population at least once in a lifetime. It can occur while the victim is sleeping during the day or night, and it is a worldwide phenomenon that has been documented since ancient times."

I have never had that experience since.  The article explains that this phenomena happens in the time between waking and sleeping.  In meditation we know that there is what we call the "gap" between breaths where insight can come.  I am wondering now if the gap between waking and sleeping is an entrance into another dimension.  My late husband used to go into what he called "another world" which was as real to him as this world if not more so.  I will write about this experience in another blog.

Sleep time is a fascinating experience in which we can learn about ourselves.  I will be talking about this in my talk at Unity Spiritual Center of Denton on July 8th followed by a seminar at 1:00 PM.

My Thoughts on Healing

Today at Unity Spiritual Center of Denton, five people who have been trained by Rev. Scott Sherman in what is called the Sacred Healing Meditation Circle are demonstrating their healing techniques during the Sunday service.  Basically, the person who needs healing lies on a massage table while a guided CD is playing.  The healing facilitator places hands on various key points on the body and allows the healing energies to flow through to the person on the table.

Because the church is focused today on healing, my thoughts have gone back in time to when I was about 13 years old living in Oklahoma City.  My mother was born in Oklahoma City and had about 8 siblings.  Even though I was born in Texas my dad who was in the FAA transferred to Oklahoma City to teach people how to become air traffic controllers.  We attended the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City and one of my favorite aunts attended there also.

One day my mother told me that this Aunt had cancer and was dying in a hospital.  My uncle had told the family that he thought it was best to not tell my Aunt that she was dying.  When we visited her, she was wanting to know what was happening to her.  It was awkward to say we did not know.  She died a few weeks later.  I remember thinking to myself that she could have been healed if a group of people would shut their eyes and visualize a tunnel to my Aunt.  I strongly felt that if everyone focused healing energies through this tunnel, she could be healed.  I also had an odd thought that people in this time period were far behind in knowing how to heal.  These thoughts just came to me out of the blue but I still feel that they are true to this day. 

Unity was a fit for me in so many ways and one way was in the way Myrtle Fillmore, the cofounder of Unity, was healed.  The following is what Unity has on their website about Myrtle:

"Myrtle was afflicted with tuberculosis at a young age and spent many years believing she was incurably weak and sickly. While attending a lecture by metaphysician Dr. E.B. Weeks in 1886, Myrtle learned of her innate potential for divine healing through the use of affirmative prayer. She began regularly affirming, “I am a child of God, and therefore I do not inherit sickness.” Over time, she was healed of the tuberculosis that had threatened her life.
 
Myrtle was so excited about her healing discovery that she began working with others in need of healing. Eventually she and her husband Charles pioneered a spiritual healing support system that grew into the Silent Unity 24/7 prayer ministry still operating today (1-800-NOW-PRAY). "

Since the time I was 12 years old I have seen various modalities of healing that work.  I believe there are many ways of healing but the most effective are when the person who needs healing contacts the healing energy within.  Others can assist in this through prayer and sending positive healing energies.

I also believe that doctors are part of the healing process too.  More and more doctors are learning about the power of belief, prayer and meditation.  Experiments are being done in operating rooms with various kinds of music.  People are learning about various herbs that have healed indigenous people throughout the centuries.  I also believe that a positive expectancy is important as well as "letting go and letting God".  

At some point we will exit our body so when someone dies I think it is important not to judge their death as a failure on their part to be "spiritual".  It is very judgmental to think that they drew this event to themselves.  It simply may be that their lessons have been learned here on this planet and it is time to move on.  

You Are Loved

I was going to write this column earlier and now Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have committed suicide.  They are well known and unfortunately are just 2 of a long chain of celebrity suicides that take place every year.  Their success, fame and finances do not spare them from heartache and depression.

Dean, my late husband, came home from work in the early 1980's in Cheyenne, Wyoming to find his wife dead by hanging in the basement.  She left a note that said "sorry".  She hated Wyoming and they were moving the next day to Rockport, Texas.  Their 2 daughters were getting married and everything seemed fine so no one really could understand the "why" of the death.  Dean and his children dealt with this suicide for years and I am sure his children are still affected by it.

I hired a young high school boy to work in my bookstore in Bedford, Texas.  One day he did not show up and when I inquired, I was shocked to find he had committed suicide.  He seemed happy go lucky and I never knew what happened to his state of mind.

I talked one time 21 years ago to a fire fighter who was mad at his family which included his mother, children and siblings.  He told me that he planned to kill himself and leave all his money to the Salvation Army.  The next week he followed through.  I could not fathom how someone would kill himself so that his family would not receive his inheritance.

One night I woke straight out of bed thinking of a personal male friend whom I knew was suicidal.  I screamed his name out loud and said "no".  The next day I texted him and told him what happened.  He said that was odd because he had just about gone through with a suicide attempt at the exact time that I had screamed no.  I told him that I think that all of us should live through the natural cycle of our life without ending it through suicide.  He later died of cancer.

We all have times when things are totally overwhelming and nothing seems worthwhile.  I have been through those times too and dying seems like an easy way out.  I remember one time in college I was contemplating taking a whole bottle of aspirins when out of the blue I heard an inner thought that was not me say "What makes you think you will feel differently on the other side?"  I knew that I was supposed to keep on living and that my life had importance in the scheme of things. 

Elizabeth Kubler Ross who worked with dying people and established hospice was opposed to people committing suicide as they were dying.  She herself had a series of strokes that made her dependent on people and wrote a book about her struggle.   "Even with all my suffering I am still opposed to Kevorkian, who takes people's lives prematurely simply because they are in pain or are uncomfortable.  He does not understand that he deprives people of whatever last lessons they have to learn before they can graduate." (She thought of life as a school where we learn universal lessons especially in the area of love)

If you have depressing thoughts, realize that these thoughts are temporary.  You are important and are here for a reason.  Think about doing something for someone else.  You will be surprised at how this breaks the chain of thoughts that are all about you.  Most importantly if your depression is deep and hard to deal with go see a psychologist.  Don't hesitate to get some help.

At the end of Wheel of Life by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross she shares some beautiful thoughts:

• You should live until you die
• No one dies alone
• Everyone is loved beyond comprehension
• Everyone is blessed and guided
• The ultimate lesson is learning how to love and be loved
• It is very important that you do only what you love to do.

Time Travel in New Mexico

My thoughts are now turning to preparation for the Unity of Denton's social auction event that I am sponsoring on June 22nd.  I am showing the movie Premonition starring Sandra Bullock and it stirs up a lot of questions about our perception of time.

I have been very interested in this subject as I felt like I experienced going forward in time on a trip I made on the way to the Grand Canyon in the early 80's.  I was pulling a tent camper and traveling with my 2 young daughters.  We were going through New Mexico on the way to Arizona.  I was having a high fever due to boils and needed to find a pay phone to make sure my camping spot at the Grand Canyon was confirmed.  I stopped at one place in New Mexico and put in quarters only to find that it was disconnected and I had lost my quarters.

Finally at an intersection coming out of New Mexico I spotted the welcome site of a McDonald's.  Best of all there was a payphone outside the McDonald's.  My daughters, Sharon and Susan, were happy to have an ice cream cone.  I was able to confirm my camping spot and we were on our way.

The next year my husband was able to come with us on the exact same trip.  We were eager to show him the McDonald's where we had found the payphone and had ice cream.  We came to the intersection and there was no McDonald's.  My daughters were very mystified as they remembered very well the intersection.  We were shocked.

As we drove away we began talking about the McDonald's from the last year.  Payphones were not at McDonald's at that time period.  Sharon and Susan said that the help were dressed in purple and the help at other McDonald's were dressed in brown.  A couple of years later McDonalds did have payphones and the help quit wearing brown and began wearing purple.  We came to the conclusion that the McDonald's showed up at the right time to give us the help we needed.  Sharon even wrote a paper about the experience for one of her homework assignments. 

My Mother and Clouds

If a day is dark and cloudy I know that when I talk with my mother she will be depressed and sad.  She will mention that it is a dark gloomy day.  I was surprised one day to read an article describing this condition as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  There are whole groups of people that get depressed when the weather is dark and overcast.

I have heard it said that in the Northwest where it is overcast and rainy for most of the year the suicide rate is high.  Fortunately I am not as affected by the weather even the hot humid weather of Texas but many people are.

I looked on google and the Mayo Clinic has diagnosed SAD as a medical problem with certain people.  They recommend counseling, a medical exam, special lights that are similar to sunlight, and then the following which is what I would recommend to anyone for anything that is wrong with them.

Mind-body connection

• Examples of mind-body techniques that some people may choose to try to help cope with SAD include:
  ·         Relaxation techniques such as yoga or tai chi
  ·         Meditation
  ·         Guided imagery
  ·         Music or art therapy
• 
  
  

Does DNA Predict Our Lives?

For a Christmas gift for Lowell I decided to trace his genealogy on Ancestry.com.  To my amazement I was able to find a lot of information which I put into a 3 ring binder.  In the process I met on Ancestry one of Lowell's "remote twice removed" cousins who not only was into genealogy but taught history at a college.  We met and I showed him my genealogy.  To my surprise he said to remove 1/3rd of it.  I asked him why and he said he had had a DNA test done with a person who was supposed to be related to him and it turned out that they had no DNA in common so he felt like that the whole line of ancestry with this "cousin" was erroneous.  I had never thought about DNA testing before as a confirmation of Ancestry information and wondered about all of it.

DNA on Ancestry is helping adopted people find their long lost relatives and adopted people are finding their birth families.  DNA is helping detectives solve cold cases and other crimes.

DNA is also predicting what challenges you might have with your health. Genetics plays a part in what diseases we inherit.  If we have relatives who have cancer, then we are on alert to watch for symptoms in ourselves.

In doing tests with Ancestry or other DNA sites you can see what countries your family is from.  My sister and I are from Europe and Great Britain.  We are working on getting my mother's DNA done but she has to spit into a tube which is really difficult for her and she has not succeeded to date.

Genetics is a huge topic nowadays.  Psychologists say that they can predict who is a psychopath on an infant by doing brain scans.  If this is true, then is it ethical to work to change that particular part of the brain in the infant so that we do not have killers, etc.?  On another subject twins who are separated at birth often act the same and have the same interests.

So an important question arises about our lives.  Are our lives programmed psychologically, healthwise, etc. by our DNA?

Myrtle Fillmore, cofounder of Unity, had tuberculosis which was said to be genetic.  She was healed by saying an affirmation "“I am a child of God, and therefore I do not inherit sickness.”

I feel that even if DNA plays a huge part in all we do, we still have a spiritual part of us that is not a part of our physical body that can change and heal our bodies, emotions and thinking.  For this reason I think it is vital that we attune to our spiritual self through meditation and prayer.

My Grandson and His Indiana Jones Hat

One of my favorite past times is to go to thrift stores and just see what kind of treasures I can find.  It is amazing to find just what you need at a fraction of the cost of the new items. 

When I lived in Branson, Missouri, I decided to open up 2 flea market booths.  I had all kinds of things I owned or found that I put into these places and it was fun.  My youngest daughter who had moved to Branson also added her items and it was a good side income for her. 

Later when I moved to Denton and I was caring for my late husband in hospice I would make daily trips to Goodwill which is about 6 blocks from where I live.  I would buy items to resell on Ebay and was able to have extra income that I needed in caring full time for him plus working full time as a minister at Unity of Denton.

It was interesting to see what I would find.  At one time I was finding at Goodwill signed limited edition art prints and paintings that sold really well.  I had fun researching the artist and adding this information to my listings.  I dug around in an electronics area and bought a credit card reader for about $5 and resold it for over $400.  I found 2 engines of a Christmas train that were new in a box for $1.50 and resold for $150 each.  I sold a jacket to someone in Paris, France.  There were thousands of items that I sold.

One time my oldest Grandson visited me and we went to a movie set tour in Irving, Texas and he volunteered to play the part of Indiana Jones in a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.  He loved doing this and immediately wanted an Indiana Jones hat.  I looked up the cost and found out how expensive they are even on Ebay.  I put the desire in my mind and let it go.  The weekend after he went home I went to Goodwill and to my shock and surprise I found an official Indiana Jones hat in his size. 

This life experience can be interesting when we pursue the interests that we have and know without a doubt that life will provide us with what we need when we need it.

Manifesting Rain

Here in Denton, Texas where I live the temps are reaching into the high 90's and low 100's.  It is sweltering and the chances of rain are slim to none.  It looks like a long hot summer is on the horizon.

When I think about the chances of rain, I think about a book entitled Rolling Thunder by Douglas Boyd.  Rolling Thunder was particularly known for his ability to manifest rain and was the subject of a study done at the Menninger Institute.  He would find a beetle, poke at it with a stick and immediately thunder would roll and the rain would come thereafter.  In looking up details for this blog I discovered that there is a more recent book put out by other well known authors who witnessed first hand all of his incredible gifts and abilities.

When I went to the Hopi mesas in 1985 with a group of 9 people, we were led by a shaman who unbeknownst to us were watching us to see how we interacted with the land and the weather.  On the first day we were let loose on top of a huge mesa top and given instructions to look for rabbit droppings.  We were all silent and reverent as we looked for the droppings and rain began to fall.  The shaman said we had passed our first test because the rain appeared.  The Hopis are known for producing rain to water their arid lands and they have magnificent corn.

I also think of the movie Emerald Forest which is a true story where the Amazonian Indians did not want to have a dam built so they called on the frogs to help them destroy the dam.  Amazingly the dam was crippled and abandoned.

These stories demonstrate to me the innate abilities we all have to heal and yes....even bring rain when it is needed.  Now if I can just find a beetle....