Unity Center

A gentle tap at our door, and our twelve-year-old daughter joins us. Until age 3, she shared the family bed. Now, I sandwich in the middle as she joins us for a fifteen-minute snuggle before we rise to the occasions of the day. Usually she drifts back to sleep, and I watch her profile in awe of my blessings. Life can be no sweeter than capturing those moments where our hearts are overflowing with our love. My heart is sweet, indeed.

My life-goal is to maintain this awareness and appreciation in every moment of the day. Even one day - totally aware - would be a miracle. My life has been filled with joy and love; it's just tuning into it as it happens and remaining focused on it that is difficult. Anger, irritation and impatience also lay claim to my attention. In a recent class on leadership at work, I was surprised to hear two women say hate was one of their emotions. I realized I have never really hated anyone. I've held anger, resentment and bitterness toward a relative for as long as a year, but chose forgiveness.

Twenty years ago, while studying reincarnation, auras, and energy at a community college in San Diego, five of our class decided to be hypnotized to attempt past life recall. I was somewhat interested in reincarnation, but was much more intrigued about discovering my purpose in this life. I asked the hypnotist, John, to please ask this of me if I did submit.

He took two of us back, one at a time, through our childhood, birth and the darkness beyond. Through my closed eyelids, I noticed a small pinpoint of light. As I focused on it, it grew in brilliance until I reacted in wonder. John asked what I was seeing. The light became a white shirt on a young boy. He ran down a city hill street, playing with a hoop and a stick, other children fast at his heels. I told John this; he said, "What is your name?" At that point I realized I was inside this body as it ran down the street. "Michael," came my reply, "and we're the first to get an icebox." The scene changed instantly to a wooden icebox being delivered to a house with many steps, where neighbors helped my family carry up this novelty. John asked, "Who's President?" I answered without hesitation. John took me forward at ten-year intervals of Michael's life, each time asking the President's name. Michael's life was gentle, yet sad. He became a teacher, fell in love with another teacher, married, and lost her to an early death, all of which I experienced. In the last segment, I said I was in a park watching the clouds pass overhead. When asked who was President, I replied it didn't matter. Later, John explained I was probably in a graveyard, dead, not a park.

John regressed me farther back, and flowing through the darkness I again saw the small light that became a radiant beacon, pulling me into another vision. A woman stood in a long, white, full-skirted dress, with white hat, veil and gloves. I was a beekeeper in Victorian England. A spinster, but not lonely, as I had the company of my bees and animals, with whom I could communicate. My garden's beauty also gave me great pleasure. Both of these qualities have carried over to my present life.

In the next life I reviewed, I was a black slave on a trade ship. Not a pleasant life, I was eaten by sharks. At the time, in my current existence, I lived on a 75' schooner and was very fearful of sharks. I would not swim in the harbor. When at the beach, I would wear my mask and watch my back underwater. After experiencing my death by sharks, this irrational fear was gone. I lived 14 years in the Virgin Islands afterward, and never feared going into the water.

When John finally asked why I was here (this life), the light appeared. It became glowing white robes swirling an old woman with shining white hair. Her eyes captured me with their intensity. From the deep blue wells, an energy charge radiated through my physical body. I could feel every atom of my own energy as it surged then fountained. John kept saying, "What are you seeing," but I could not talk. It was as if I was seeing God, but God was a woman! Heretical thought for a Catholic! She smiled and my heart filled with joy. Her arms raised in an encircling motion and she said, "Be light."

As John demanded I tell him what I was experiencing, I mutely watched her fade away. He immediately brought me back, barking his concern. He said when someone is deeply hypnotized as I was, they must answer when told to speak. He asked what I had seen in that vision. As I began to tell, I realized for the first time the woman was me. Different than the other visions where I had been inside the others once I'd seen them, in this experience I remained focused on her beautiful, somewhat wrinkled, old face the entire time. When I realized this was my spirit, I was completely overcome. John had asked about the Presidents each time to check their accuracy. All were correct in time sequence. Everyone wanted to know what I thought "Be light" meant. I said I didn't know, but I sure would find out.

It took ten years before I found the concept in print. To "Be Light" was to let your love, your connection to spirit, the light being that you are shine through to all of the world. I had innately known, and tried to do so, all of my life. But with time, study and knowledge came understanding. Now I know the spirit I am, now I know the love I have to give, and now I try to shine it every day. When I left my employment as a social worker last year, everyone gave me angels as a going-away gift, saying I was an angel in their lives.

I take my moment with my family in the morning to give thanks and focus on the love I have for them. I fill my sweet heart with this awareness and then I try to remain conscious throughout the day, to shine this same love light on all of the people I meet, to keep the connection flowing and to realize everyone is a part of my family, a part of my spirit, and a part of my love. When I do so, it creates miracles. And, I have the rest of my life to practice.