Chicken Soup for the Soul: Messages from Heaven!

Well, if you have come across this blog by happenstance or purposefully, you probably have an interest in after death communication and may have even experienced it yourself.  It was just brought to my attention that the Chicken Soup series has a call for essays about the topic:

Messages from Heaven
When our loved ones leave this world, our connection with them does not end. Death takes away their physical presence, but not their spirit, and we often sense them after they have gone. Sometimes we see or hear from them after they've passed, giving us signs and messages from beyond. We want to hear from you if you have experienced the other side or received a sign or signal from a loved one who has passed. The deadline date for story and poem submissions is October 3, 2011

I find this very exciting because it means that the topic of spirit communication is going more mainstream!  Another friend recently sent me some statistics about afterdeath communication which stated that 1/3 of the people surveyed had experienced some kind of communication in their lifetime.  I personally feel this number is low, as I know a few people who have admitted to me that they have experienced "something" but they still don't believe in the afterlife.  They are the type who might say "no" on a survey, just because they don't understand what happened. 

The orb in the corner

This past weekend I was visiting with my neighbors in their outdoor porch area.  My neighbor was telling me about the loss of her sister nearly twenty years ago.  She was describing to me how she could feel her sister's presence, but then she would end with, "Am I crazy?"  As she was talking, I noticed a big ball in the corner of the porch.  I was trying to pay attention to her but the ball kept growing and growing and it started to light up.  Although I see orbs frequently now, I am still not used to seeing them so I am always perplexed.  I felt bad because my neighbor was sitting in a position where I had to turn my head away from her to look in the corner but I was just so drawn to it.  Then as soon as I acknowledged it, it flared and disappeared.  It seems like every time I see an orb, it bounces around or does something to get my attention but once I acknowledge it, it is gone.  Anyone else experience this?  Why won't they stay when I admit that I see them?

Mirror Synchronicity: Immortality

Perhaps it was because I sat bedside this week with a dying patient who was 98 years old. It seemed that the concept of living to 100 and immortality kept throwing itself in front of me.

Firstly there was this article about an upcoming book about immortality:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/opinion/sunday/torchwood-gives-glimpse-of-eternal-life.html

Then, without looking for it, suddenly this WSJ article about living to 100 and beyond pops up in my newsfeed:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904875404576528841080315246.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Then yesterday I was at the movies and the trailer before Cowboys and Aliens was for a movie called In Time where the rich can buy more time. http://www.intimemovie.com/

I am hoping these are all just mirror synchronicities and not directional synchronicities telling me that I need to be saving more for retirement!

Mirror Synchronicity: Resurrection

So, I do not want to read too much into this, but I had to post that twice in 24 hours, I was spontaneously told a story about a person who was declared dead, and then not.

The first story came from a relative who told me that her mother in law had been on hospice and was declared dead by the hospice nurse. The family all was called, but then she started breathing again a short while later. She lived for another two hours and died again.

The second story came from a hospice nurse while I was sitting bedside for a different hospice patient. We were talking about shared death experiences and she told me about a previous patient who had died but then came back to life when the minister walked in the room and everyone in the room saw a golden light.

I do not claim that any of these synchronicities have meaning, and I certainly hope I am not the one who is going to have a near death experience, but I thought it was weird that two different people told me these stories within such a short time frame.

On TV: A Gifted Man

Occasionally, I will veer off from my synchronicity posts if something else catches my eye. Lately I have been seeing previews for a Fall CBS Show, A Gifted Man. I could not help but notice the previews when they used the phrase, "Follow the Signs." Of course, since my blog has the same name, it certainly caught my attention! The initial preview clip looks promising. I do love the idea that it is a skeptic who gets these abilities to communicate with the other side, although there is the expected stereotypical exploration of mental disorders, etc. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out. I needed something to fill the gap that Medium and Ghost Whisperer left behind. I will be watching! If you check out the clip, let me know what you think.

Here is the description of the show from the CBS website:

A GIFTED MAN is a drama about a brilliant, charismatic surgeon whose life changes forever when his deceased ex-wife begins teaching him the meaning of life from the "hereafter." Michael Holt (Patrick Wilson) is an exceptional doctor who lives a materialistic life of luxury thanks to his work-obsessed career and powerful and wealthy patients; however, Michael's ordered world is rocked when his ex-wife, Anna (Jennifer Ehle), an idealistic free-clinic doctor and the love of his life, mysteriously appears to him. Michael's off-beat sister, Christina (Julie Benz), a single mom to her teenaged son, Milo (Liam Aiken), is thrilled that Anna's back in her brother's life, even as an "illusion," because Michael was always a better person with her. Curious about Michael's sudden change in behavior is his efficient assistant, Rita (Margo Martindale). When Anna asks Michael to go to her clinic to help keep it running, he meets Autumn (Afton Williamson), a volunteer carrying on Anna's work with the underprivileged. Touched by those in need and accepting of Anna's compassionate "presence," Michael's attitude toward serving the rich and poor is turned upside down, and he begins to see that there's room in his life for everyone. Academy Award nominee Susannah Grant ("Erin Brockovich"), Academy Award winner Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs"), Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly and Neal Baer ("ER") are executive producers for CBS Television Studios.