spiritual experiences
The Miraculous Roll Of Film
I have experienced many miracles and magical events in my life. As you read the following incredible story, you will see why I have chosen this particular one to best illustrate my experiences.
When I was 18 years old, I was working at a pre-school in my home town. One of the pupils was a three-year-old girl with whom I felt a real connection. She was an old soul; a bright and talented young artist.
But she usually came to school with unwashed, unbrushed hair and dirty clothes. She would never bring a packed lunch. When her parents came to collect her from school, they were often late and, unlike the other children, she did not run into their arms. There was clearly a disconnect between parent and child.
Eventually I moved several hours away and stopped working at the school. But I still thought of her often and prayed that she was well. A few years after I left, I made some enquiries, but no one knew what had happened to her. I hope she survived her difficult childhood and continued to create art, which I believed may have been her saving grace.
Two decades later, I was visiting the area around my hometown to go hiking with friends in a nearby national park. One day, one of my friends climbed a big rock and I followed him. Then he jumped down and I noticed what looked like something he had accidentally left behind.
“Hey, you dropped your roll of film up here,” I shouted, holding up the roll I’d found on the rock. But it turned out not to be his film and that someone else must have left it there. Maybe that person had the same idea of climbing the rock to take some pictures of the magnificent view.
The Angel That Saved Me
I love to go hiking, often alone. Over the years I have had a few scary moments. One time, it was an encounter with a rattlesnake, another when lighting struck a mountain ridge very close to me. Fortunately, I have not had any incidents with bears or mountain lions!
However, I did have one very frightening experience involving another person. I was walking back down in a quiet, wooded area, about one hour away from the trail’s end, when a man came walking up towards me. We exchanged brief greetings, as he passed by me, and I continued down the path.
But then he stopped, turned around, and followed me.
“I think I’ll hike back down with you,” he said, once he caught up with me. The tone of his voice sent a shiver down my spine.
“Thank you, but I am actually needing a little alone time today,” I replied politely and just kept walking. But he ignored what I said and kept walking next to me, speaking in a manic way.
My intuition prompted me to keep walking and just let him talk. My gut instinct was telling me that if we were to stop, the situation might escalate! Meanwhile, I could feel my energy shifting to my lower chakras (fear, fight, flight) and had to work very hard to stay centered in my upper chakras (intuition).
The stranger became increasingly excited with our ‘conversation’ and it was apparent that he was mentally unstable. He began talking about “loving first times,” while I sensed the danger increasing. My intuition was now in high gear and I started praying silently in my mind. “Please help, please. If ever I needed a guardian angel, then it is right now.”
Miracles Happen Every Day
I’ve been very blessed in my work to hear so many people’s stories. Often in my yoga class, we take time for people to share their personal miracles and spiritual experiences. I’ve also had people tell me about miracles that have happened to them throughout their life, privately and in psychic readings.
One of my clients told me about the day she was sitting in her parked car with the window down. A young man suddenly came up to her and put a gun to her head. He demanded she give him her wallet. Then the gun accidentally went off, she believes, while it was pressed right up against her temple.
She instinctively closed her eyes when she heard the click of the trigger and the blast of gunfire. But then she opened her eyes and was still very much alive! The gun was still pressed up against her temple. She turned and looked at the young man, who had a terrified look of shock on his face. He immediately ran away.
Something had prevented that bullet from hitting her. When she called the police, she actually started wondering whether she might have imagined the gun going off at all? When we have time to think about something we tend to rationalize, and we may begin to think that perhaps we are delusional or making something up. However, the police did find a bullet hole in the side of her passenger door!
A student once told me that she had lost the diamond in her wedding ring. She was devastated and looked all over the house, at work, and even in her car…everywhere she could think of. She spent over a month looking for it, intentionally not vacuuming her car or house.
Gratitude Is The Essential Spiritual Practice
In a fast-paced world with many distractions and challenges, it is easy to overlook gratitude’s transformative power. Cultivating a mindset of appreciation by acknowledging all the good in our life greatly enhances our well-being and quality of life.
Gratitude is advocated in many cultures, religious teachings, and spiritual traditions. It is generally considered the mother of all virtues and the essential spiritual practice. In Judaism, for example, gratitude is considered an essential part of worship. Islam encourages believers to be grateful and express thanks to Allah in all circumstances. Christians are encouraged to praise and give gratitude to God not just in thought and feeling, but also in deeds and action.
Gratitude is also a virtue that Hindus believe should be cultivated in order to live a fulfilling life of inner peace and contentment. Many Buddhist monks begin each day with a chant of gratitude for the blessings in their life. In fact, in Shin Buddhism, gratitude is seen as a primary practice that has priority over meditation and study.
In modern times, scientific research has shed further light on the profound benefits of having an ‘attitude of gratitude.’
While traditionally confined to the realm of philosophy, gratitude has garnered much attention in the field of positive psychology in recent years. Neuroscientists have also begun exploring gratitude from a scientific perspective, seeking to unravel the intricate workings of the brain when we practice and experience gratitude.
A Near-Death Experience Transformed My Life
Life has a way of revealing profound truths to us through unexpected circumstances.
When I was 20 years old, a life-altering event occurred that forever changed the course of my existence. I was severely injured in a traffic accident which led to a near-death experience (NDE).
It was a profound experience that transcended the ordinary and opened my eyes to the interconnectedness of all things. It ignited a profound spiritual awakening within me.
Expanding Consciousness
In the wake of the accident, a remarkable phenomenon occurred. I found myself stepping out of my physical body, witnessing the unfolding events from a vantage point of expanded consciousness. It was as if a veil had been lifted, allowing me to perceive not only my immediate surroundings, but also the entire location and surrounding city.
My heightened awareness continued to expand, to ultimately the entire planet, until I transcended even that, merging with the boundless expanse of the Universe.
Becoming One
During this extraordinary journey into higher realms, the boundaries of my individual self increasingly dissolved, and I experienced an indescribable sense of unity with the Universe. My consciousness soared past planets to embrace galaxies and ultimately behold the vastness of the entire cosmos.
Saved By A Mysterious Angel
Many people have in-person encounters with angels without ever knowing it. This is because angels do not appear to us in physical form with stereotypical accoutrements like ‘wings, harps, and halos.’ Fortunately, some people do realize when they come into contact with an angel…and live to tell the tale.
The most commonly reported modern instances are typically of strangers mysteriously showing up to save or protect drivers, passengers or pedestrians traffic incidents.
For example, early in 2021, Tracey and Dann Stadler were trapped in their burning car after they had been hit by a drunk driver. While desperately praying to God to not let them burn to death, they were miraculously lifted from the inferno by a mysterious man they both described afterwards as “a Heaven-sent person in angelic form.”
Later the same year, in December 2021, Candace Pimentel and her children were driving home from church, when her nine-year-old son Raylen started to choke on a piece of candy stuck in his throat. She immediately pulled off the road and tried to help her son, but was unsuccessful.
Then a mysterious man showed up at the scene in a pickup truck. He calmly stepped in and performed the Heimlich maneuver on the boy, effectively dislodging the piece of candy, enabling Raylen to breathe again.
The mysterious man then told the boy and his mother that he loved them, gave them a hug, got back in his truck, and drove off. Nobody knows who he was. Candice later said she felt that the “Heavenly Father sent an angel to help me.”
True Spirituality Is About Everyday Existence
It is often assumed that to lead a truly spiritually aware life we must increasingly distance ourselves from the material world and be more fully immersed in the spiritual world. We must reduce our involvement with all things physical, and instead focus exclusively on the non-physical or metaphysical.
This is, however, not what being truly ‘spiritual’ is about. True spirituality is in fact quite the opposite. It is about living this physical life to the fullest. It is about being present in every moment and living with joy, appreciation, and gratitude.
Spiritual living is about honoring and expressing the love, grace and compassion of God, Source, Spirit, the Divine in our everyday existence. It is about relishing in the divine beauty and abundance of creation, and embracing the unconditional love and light of divinity in our lives every day.
As spiritual beings in physical form we do need material things in order survive in this physical reality, and ensure a more fluid, comfortable existence. And while we are busy focusing our time and energy on acquiring those material things that we need, it does not mean we are no longer being spiritual, or not being ‘spiritual enough.’
For instance, most of us need to work to earn a living, to put food on the table and a roof over our head. Going to work every day and being of service is just as much a spiritual act as spending time in transcendental meditation, for example, or participating in a prayer circle.