On The Nature of Coincidence and Destiny

We’ve all heard the phrase “There is no such thing as coincidence.”  And for many of us, we can think of many points in our lives where – in retrospect – we can see this truth play out.  I sat down a while back and contemplated this phrase on a pretty deep level.  It made me consider the nature of how we accept our choices, and consequently the resulting actions.  What came to my awareness was quite profound – the twists and turns which my contemplation led me in.  I would like to share it with you. 

There first thing that came to mind thinking about this was:

If there is no such thing as coincidence … then how could there be anything other than RIGHT ACTION? 

That is, if there is no such thing as coincidence and all Time is simultaneous, why do we second-guess ourselves and the choices we make?  With coincidence being hypothetically mythical, everything we say and do somehow is meant to have been said or done.   This means we are always engaged in RIGHT ACTION.  Though the results of such actions may not always be positive, when we realize the past does not equal the future (as Time is all wrapped up) and failure is simply an outcome at one single point in Time and Space (when we break it out in a linear fashion), we are shown that in both instances – simultaneous Time and linear Time – we are still given to RIGHT ACTION regardless of the consequences (as odd as that may sound).

We run ourselves on the hamster wheel of second-guessing because we want to make sure our choices have the best possible outcome through Time and Space – Is the choice fully life affirming?  Positive?  In second-guessing, we are – in a sense – not trusting all the aspects of what we are doing and what could happen; one is trying to anticipate potential failures based off the decision (and had it ingrained at some point in life that such failures could be horrendously disastrous – which is 99.9% pure myth). 

This constant necessity of second-guessing, of trying to anticipate potential failures, is a wrongful place to work from in the mind.  As this angle of perception becomes habit, it ingrains within one’s consciousness a very real construct of “my decisions could become major failures.”  Every choice then (or close to every choice) becomes like a man walking upon a tightrope – hoping his decisions will keep him balanced and not landing in the safety net before crashing to the floor. 

That’s the beauty of the safety net.  The tightrope walker can still get back up on the rope and try again.  It’s only in his own mind that he would perceive himself a failure if he were to fall.  We have this safety net, too, it is called TRYING AGAIN.  If you’re failure hasn’t killed you, then you’re safe to try again.  And if you have paid close enough attention, you learned something from the event which will guide you to correct yourself the next time – a piece of knowledge you needed to gain for which the falling down event was the only way to gain it … proving once again, there is no such thing as coincidence, and that falling down was actually the CORRECT RIGHT ANSWER to making it to the successful act of completion.

Trust that every action you make is the RIGHT ACTION for the RIGHT TIME and PLACE you are in.  If the result turns out to be less than satisfactory, then you were meant to learn the lesson inherent within the result, as a way of assisting you in realizing your goal when it does come to fruition.  When success does rain upon you, you will also see why it happened at that time and place, and why it was meant to happen at that time and not the former.  Remember, as the saying goes, there is no such thing as coincidence. 

Which means there is always RIGHT ACTION.

In understanding that you are always taking right action, this does not mean you still cannot pause to consider consequences.  What it means is that when you do make a decision and act, instead of worrying about how the action will unfold as you are doing it, put that aside and accept fully that the action – whether the result be good or bad – was the exact right and appropriate action for the time and place which you are doing it.  Trust it fully.  Re-evaluate later the outcomes, then go from there. 

Even if your action is a failure and has some consequences for others, one must trust that those consequences were the right and perfect consequences for the people experiencing them, to propel them on their journeys.  Again, if the outcome is positive – it was meant to be and its effects were meant to be for all who are experiencing them.  Likewise, if the effects were ultimately negative, then accept that the results were meant to be that way, and how others react to them was also a part of that equation.  Since there is no such thing as coincidence, we must accept that reality in regard to others and their reactions.  This is not always easy for us to comprehend or accept.  But as we are all connected – that is a scientific fact – we must realize that the outcomes we experience from other people we were meant to experience in our realities, on some level.  We may not understand it, but it is not by coincidence we are entered into and wrapped up with those experiences.

When you perform an action, instead of second-guessing, once you’ve made the decision to act, then ACT.  And as you are doing the action, tell yourself “I am doing the correct and right action for this Time and Place right now.  At this moment, my actions are the correct and right actions to be taking.”  For in truth, since there is no such thing as coincidence, your actions – whether positive or negative in ultimate outcome – were meant to be taken.  You are multidimensional.  Your actions are multidimensional.  Your thinking which led to the decision and the possibility chosen in which you act upon is a multidimensional process.

All of it was meant to occur, in the manner at which it occurred. 

There is no such thing as coincidence. 

To second-guess one’s self once a choice has been made does not change the unfolding of reality as it was meant to be, based off the choice taken and the corresponding actions given. 

This realization is a part of accepting your god-hood.

This does not mean you do not have free will.  It means that once an action is taken, that action is the CHOICE made by multidimensional consciousness for the unfolding of certain events in an exact and specific order with non-coincidental outcomes – events which the conscious analytical left-brain may not have all the answers to.  And that’s fine.  A follow-up action can also be made as a course correction to the original decision, creating a new set of no-coincidence unfoldment.

  

How to Minimize Negative Outcomes

This is really simple:  Base your actions from a standpoint of love and compassion.  If you are making your decisions through the lens of compassion and love, that energy gets entangled with the choice; it carries out in your actions.  If the final outcome is not the complete realization of the goal, the energy of love and compassion mixed in with the original action will lessen the impact.  And you can always move forward knowing that the action you are taking, because you are coming from a loving and compassionate approach, is indeed “the right action for this moment, in this Time and this Place.”  Especially in those moments where you feel you might be lacking certain information which could help make a more informed choice.

The additional benefit of this is when you look back on what you have done.  We all love to do that – to look back and be critical.  If you base your actions on love and compassion, you cannot be too hard on yourself; the decision was made based on what was known at the time, directed by love and compassion.  In this way, you can be more forgiving of yourself, versus condemning.  “Yes, things did not turn out right, but at least I approached it with love and compassion.”

By “love and compassion” I mean the love and compassion for all, not just one’s self.  When making a decision, yes, we must surely consider ourselves and the impact upon our personal lives, but many decisions we struggle with often involve other people.  When we approach from love and compassion for all – self and others – this is the crème de la crème.  In some cases, we must choose ourselves over others, but this is usually an exception and not the rule, as one comes to realize the interconnections and inter-related dimensions we all share throughout our experiences. 

Summer Fun!

The summer is here!  Spring has come and gone, and the blog has been pretty silent.  It’s been quite an active time for me – 1-on-1 readings, some private home groups, a lot of personal development (falling down and getting back up) but most of all – training from halfway around the world! 

Arthur Findlay College

I spent two weeks in June at the fabulous Arthur Findlay College of mediumship and psychic studies in Stansted, England.  When I first signed up, I was told by other mediums who had previously attended the college that two weeks was too much; that the tutors were going to put me through boot camp (to the point I would question whether or not I had any mediumistic ability or wonder why I got into mediumship in the first place).  After having gone through the experience, the rumors – for me – were only half-true.  Indeed -- two weeks was too much.  By the second week, my cup had overflowed from the first week – I had still yet to process all of it!  Nevertheless, I pushed through week two and came out at the end fulfilled, happy, and with a real sense of accomplishment – not only for myself, but also for my classmates.  Yes, the tutors do work you hard, but that’s the point of being there; to learn and stretch yourself.  I walked away having a much clearer sense of my abilities, my strengths and weaknesses, and a whole wonderful group of new amazing and fantastic mediumistic friends from around the world.  (Thanks to my Japanese friends, I am starting to take Japanese language courses, with the intent to travel to Tokyo in the next few years and hopefully be able to do some readings there).

New Friends from Around the World

The other half of this amazing trip was touring London.  My wife joined me after my time at the college and we spent nearly two weeks visiting castles, monuments, and museums.  I swear, the entire history of the world is right there in London, when you factor in all the sensational museums!  (The real Rosetta Stone is at the British Museum – how cool is that?). 

Hampton Court

A few of the highlights were visiting Hampton Court (home of King Henry VIII -- and so much other incredible history, including the commencement of the King James Bible) and the Tower of London.  Why the tower?  If you check out my blog entries from August/September 2010 (you can find those on the right-side bar), you’ll read about my experiment to link with the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, second wife to Henry VIII.  The trip to the tower brought additional confirmation from that reading, demonstrating the validity of the link. (In that reading, Anne had shown me the face of the church where they had interred her body.  I was stunned when I suddenly realized I was looking right at, with a plaque commemorating her burial.  Additionally, I purchased a fantastic book ‘The Lady in the Tower’ which chronicled her time at the tower and her execution, which brought further validations from that reading). 

Memorial showing Anne's execution at the Tower, May 1536

While at the site, I opened up and asked Anne to come forward, which she did, giving me a few more bits of data which I’ve been able to confirm, thanks to the Lady in the Tower book.  (I will be returning again next year, and will be doing some specific work connecting with Anne and these locations.  I can’t wait to see wait unfolds). 

Outside the Chapel where Anne is Interred

London is an amazing city; a definite hub for cultures from around the world.  8 million people crowd the metropolis.  Thankfully, their transit system is top notch!  The underground tube stations are incredibly easy to understand, making travel to various destinations pretty much hassle-free, in terms of logistics, so you can avoid on-street traffic (which is a nightmare).  

High Rise Apartments 

With history going back to Roman times, the architecture of ancient buildings smack down in the middle of modern city blocks makes walking the town a real treasure for the senses.  For this Pacific Northwest native, everywhere I looked, I just wanted to gasp “Wow ...”  I love history, and in some way, the city’s past was evident on nearly every street.

Old Church Among Modernity

Now that I’m home, I’m following through with what all my assessment tutors from the college (and several mediumistic students) had told me I need to do, as given to them in their readings of spirit for me.  That is, to finish writing Volume II of the Afterlife Interviews; I’m almost done typing the first draft now.  (Actually, they didn’t say Afterlife Interviews specifically – though a few them were spot on as to the book’s nature and content design.  In addition, it was said that there will be a few more books relating to spirit which I will write, and that the information will go much deeper than what is typically presented in the mainstream).  The other thing that consistently came up from spirit – and I found this absolutely fascinating – was to “write that screenplay.”  No one knew I had a background in screenwriting (that was my first love of writing, and I’ve actually had the privilege to pitch to Hollywood producers in the past).  I’ve had an idea for a script the last six months, and it came up consistently from spirit in many of the readings to “get to work on it.”  So I’m currently in “research mode” to gather the data for the storyline.  Right now, the working title is “Chasing Echoes.”  And, yes, it deals with mediumship and working with spirit (that’s all I’m going to say about it for now J).  Naturally, I am also continuing to hone and develop my mediumship skills, taking all that I have learned from the college and stretching myself with it.  That, in combination with all the writing – I’m definitely working for spirit! 

As summer turns into Fall and Winter, don’t hesitate to contact me for your own personal reading, or to set up a private home group.  Spirit wants to communicate!  I am honored and blessed to help make that connection. 

Have a great summer everyone!

With much love,

Jeffrey

 

The Thermostat of Self

The long dark days of winter are at last receding as the sun climbs back toward the northern hemisphere.  Like most people, the march into autumn and the journey through winter is an opportunity to travel within and perhaps discover roads that you might otherwise miss were it not for the chance to hibernate with the season.  For me, I used it as an opportunity to learn more about myself, to understand better who I am and why I do what I do; a type of self-inventory.  It wasn’t my intention to cover more ideas or learn new ways of linking and connecting with spirit and my intuition – I wanted instead to address my “normal” everyday existence. 

 

However, what I discovered is that we cannot parcel ourselves out.  Let’s face it, we are holistic beings -- and everything we do is somehow interconnected with everything else about us.  As I worked to better understand myself, I ended up gaining a greater insight to that side of me which engages in spirit communication and the nature of myself as a multidimensional expression.  And as anybody who follows this blog knows, I am always looking to better understand that process.

When I set out to do this inner work, my goal was to understand my fears and limitations – why do I have them?  What are they?  What are the limiting beliefs behind them?  Though my work as a medium included some of the things I was examining, it wasn’t the full breadth or reason behind my inquiry.  You see, I view each of us like an iceberg – what we are seeing is really only the tip; what is below (or inside) may be huge, massive, and incredible, but we cannot engage it without first understanding the part of us we are already familiar with, which holds the keys to unlock the doors of the inner sanctum. 

 

The discovery I made was that the doors we keep locked to this greater self … are doors we built up throughout our lives.  In fact, I am starting to believe that when we were birthed into the world, there were very few (if any) doors we had to deal with.  But as we grew up – through indoctrinated training in childhood, to peer pressures and societal culturalism in adolescence and adulthood – we created our own closed doors and a hallway from which we remain pacing back-and-forth through most of our existence.  We see the closed doors we’ve built up and ASSUME they were put before us by someone else and we are powerless to open them, or lack the key to unlock what may be hiding behind them.  This corridor, this architecture, we allow to define our strengths and weaknesses, our joys and sorrows. 

 

It takes time and a willingness to face the Gatekeeper. 

 

When I encountered my own “closed door” I asked myself “Why can I not open this?”  The answer startled me.  It wasn’t that a voice came back and said “You can’t.”  Instead, that voice came back and said “You aren’t worth it.”  In fact, at each closed door I placed myself in front of, I heard the same rhetoric -- even to the point of this negative voice saying “Even if you were to open it, someday you will be gone and forgotten.  It won’t have made a difference or even mattered.”  To reflect back on this inner voice is indeed saddening, but it has been – in the end – a gift.  Because I knew on some level I created it; I instilled the demon; and if I created him, I could also excommunicate him and replace him. 

 

As anyone who has seen a hypnotist or studied hypnotherapy knows, the mind is malleable and thoughts – if given enough permission by an individual – can be altered and changed very very quickly, which inevitably creates new ways of thinking and being.  This has been my journey these last several months.  Though I have not seen a hypnotist, I have been working with similar tools – relaxation to calm the monkey mind, visualizations, affirmations, in combination with constant reminders of my own past successes.  Psychologists know that changing a habit takes anywhere from 21 to 30 days of repeating the newfound behavior, as it will also create new neural pathways. 

 

So where am I going with all of this? 

 

Well, if we are constantly telling ourselves such negative thoughts about who we are – why we cannot open closed doors – then we must admit that this same voice is going to sabotage us when it comes to our ultimate success.  This negative voice we have allowed to DEFINE our SELF-IMAGE.  And one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in my journey is that the self-image acts like a thermostat – if things go too well and you have a negative voice like mine used to be, sabotage is certain to return things to status-quo normal.  In all areas.

 

Including one’s innate psychic or mediumship abilities. 

 

Think about it.  If you are always second-guessing yourself or knocking yourself down in other areas of your life, why would it be any different in something you are trying to excel at?  It wouldn’t.  The beliefs heralded by the Self-Image would not allow it, for it would force the Self-Image to be something it really can’t perceive itself as being … In other words – you cannot become what deep down you do not believe you can be, because you lack the Self-Image capable of making it happen. 

 

It is vitally important to examine your inner demons, face them, and understand where you are limiting yourself.  Then understand you are dealing with habits of thought … and begin to change them.  Start visualizing, affirming, and believing you can be the person you wish to be.  Try it for at least 21 to 30 days, taking only 5 to 10 minutes a day to do the visualizations and affirmations (try it as an experiment).  And really put your heart into it.  This isn’t about getting material stuff – like using the law of attraction in order to buy a new car – this is much greater: it’s about breaking an erroneous Self-Image which will only allow you to go so far in life, no matter what you do. 

 

Our negative messages we instilled in this exact way: one day, we started to tell ourselves something bad … then we repeated it … added some visualization to back it up … and then let it grow naturally into the door we keep locked before us. 

 

The same thing can happen in reverse.     

 

Now, you might be asking: how does this apply to intuition, psychic functioning, or mediumship?

 

Simply put, it’s one thing to believe the ability exists, it’s another to believe whether it exists or will work FOR YOU, based on your Self-Image.  And then you have to ask if you believe it can work PROPERLY and CLEARLY for you, as dictated by that same perception of Self.  Do you feel on some level you are CAPABLE?  WORTHY?  DESERVING?  Until this last winter, I believed in the ability and that I had it to a certain degree and could help others with it.  However, my Self-Image kept me from accepting that I was worthy or deserving of it fully.  Despite thousands of readings demonstrating a clarity to link with spirits, it has always been an inner battle if I could do it each and every time I sat with a client or stood in front of an audience.  Why this inner struggle with myself? 

 

Because a deep inner voice – without my real inspection – was getting away with the message “You can’t do it.  You’re not worthy.”

 

Since discovering and since ALTERING that, not only has my Self-Image changed, virtually everything else has, too.  My days are bright, I accept “fun” into my existence (I didn’t even give myself permission to have FUN), and my mediumship … I now trust.

 

And that’s what it’s all about.  Trust.  The Self-Image determines your magnitude of Trust.  When it comes to working with Spirit, the axiom is to Trust Spirit.  However, the foundation also has to be “Trust Thyself.”  If you cannot trust yourself, you will have an even harder time trusting spirit … And your development – as well as other parts of your life – will suffer for it. 

 

It’s only habits of thought … Give it 21 to 30 days, and habits can change.  Along with your life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resurrecting Leonora Piper - A Book Review

I have never done a book review before, but just had to do it for a tome I finished two weeks ago.  As many of my friends know, one of my hobbies is studying the history of parapsychology – in particular, Victorian-era psychical research and the mediums that were investigated.  My favorite medium from the period is Leonora Piper (1857-1950).  She came to prominence in the 1880’s – a demure Boston housewife who unwittingly became a trance medium quite accidentally after visiting a medium herself.  While in the presence of the medium, she lost complete consciousness, only to find out later she had been taken over by spirit.  Her mediumship was something which baffled her and she relented to tests most people would run away from in order to understand it and further the cause of psychical research.  Some of the things she had to deal with from researchers ranged from being followed by private investigators to see if she was gathering information about potential sitters fraudulently; she was denied sitter’s real names and instead introduced by pseudonyms; she was even harassed by some investigators who – while in trance – pricked her skin and scorched her tongue with acid.

The book “Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife” by Mark Tymn took on Piper’s mediumship from the standpoint of a lawyer arguing a case in court.  Now, I’ve read quite a bit on Piper’s work, but what made this book really stand out was that Tymn no doubt did his research.  He quoted the actual transcripts from various cases, as if we were right there in the room during the communication.  He then followed up with how the sitters responded and cross-examined the data points allegedly brought through by the spirits.  Through this lens, the author effectively argued against the typical accusations charged against Piper’s authenticity.  By careful consideration, Tymn was able to show that the supernormal information she received was not a form of ESP with her client, or SuperPsi (information from a cosmic mind) or anything representing fraud.  He followed her career from when she first began, utilizing a spirit control named Phinuit, then through the years of the Imperator regime, moving between trance mediumship and automatism -- allowing the reader to be a part of Piper’s evolution as a medium.  Other authors have outlined this same evolution, however it has usually been a dry and academic description, whereas Tymn brings a sense of humanity; a person who developed as a result of her condition and the demands of spirit.   

The other thing which really made this book stand out was that the author went into far more detail about cases already known about Piper’s mediumship, such as George Pellew and the Cross Correspondences, yet he didn’t stop there (as most pro-mediumship authors do).  He found several other noteworthy cases in the transcripts and cited them to again demonstrate the likelihood of spirit interaction as being the best evidence for the information she had received. 

But like any good lawyer, he was aware that not every sitting Piper conducted was a success.  As a practicing medium myself, the gem of the book came when the transcripts revealed the spirits explaining why communication wasn’t always easy – and why it sometimes out-and-out failed.  First, the information was introduced through George Pellew, a man that as a reader, we only knew was an acquaintance of Richard Hodgson, Piper’s investigator who researched her for 18 years.   Yet when Hodgson unexpectedly died and starting coming through Leonora a week after his passing, we began to see what the stumbling blocks for spirit communication were and still are today – plus, we are emotionally tied to Hodgson, having direct knowledge of his work with Piper.  As Hodgson’s spirit gained more ability and thus more confidence in communication, he was able to explain the difficulty from the spirit’s point-of-view.  This has helped me in understanding the two-way street that we as mediums drive on when linking with spirits.

The finale for spirit survival was when Tymn talked about (if only briefly) the Cross Correspondences.  This has got to be the most ignored or covered up piece of psychical research in history that – for most of the scientists who studied it – was scientific proof for life after death, based on the evidence.  Here, we have several cases where three (or more) mediums located thousands of miles apart from around the world (separated by oceans) received cryptic messages from the same spirit (or spirits, depending on the case) that only made sense once all the fragments were combined.  It is considered highly suggestive, if not definitive proof of intelligence surviving death.  In one case, the investigator requested the spirit of psychical researcher FWH Myers to draw a particular symbol when coming through the other mediums involved in the correspondence – which the spirit of Myers did accomplish.  

After reading this book, I am so amazed that the information is not more widely known.  The mediumship of Mrs. Piper turned many a skeptical inquirer -- physicists, psychologists, and lay-persons alike -- into believers.  William James, arguably considered one of the pioneers of modern psychology, considered her his “White Crow,” meaning that it only takes one white crow to prove not all crows are black – demonstrating that psychic and mediumship abilities can exist within the human condition.  Tymn convincingly demonstrates that there was no other explanation for the details and personalities that came through Piper other than spirit communication.  For me, Piper demonstrated details to a much greater extent than some of today’s most accurate and notable mediums and it baffles me that we still wrestle with the question of “Is it real”? 

Resurrecting Leonora Piper, if presented in a court of law, clearly answers that question in the affirmative.   

232 Pages

White Crow Publishing

Available at Amazon.com