The Healing Power of Experience

It’s been an interesting day, starting early with a routine that included checking headlines to see if the Martians had landed.

Tongue-in-cheek – goes back to my high school “I have to read Ray Bradbury” days.

A London Times article – Social media is dead — none of my friends are posting any more caught my attention.

With a line putting me in the mind of an app that helps people spend less time on devices.

But Wait There’s More!

Ginsu knife anyone?

This isn’t a promo ad.

Double-Edge Sword

Long before the cell phone came along technology was changing society.  It takes time to see patterns and it takes hindsight to see the extent of the change.  And then comes judgment.

The technology that saves lives can disrupt lives.  It’s something we have to navigate.

So Navigate

I published my first book in 2011.  

I always thought my first book would be a novel; didn’t pan out.

A holistic healer, I intended my work help others.  

People who, like me, were suffering from EMF Sensitivity.

Life Happens

My dance with EMF Sensitivity sent me in a different direction though I didn’t give up on my dream.

I spent ensuing years alternating fiction and nonfiction projects.

That’s Nasty

Soon after I published I encountered my first Internet troll.  

It devastated me. 

 It took 7 years to recover from one person’s comment.

8 billion humans on this planet and I get a comment that destroys my soul and lands me in the sewer for 7 years..

One human being on planet earth shredded me for 7 years.

What helped me get past deep wounds left by someone I’d never met was listening to the sage advice of people who had more experience than me.

People who’d been there, who understood.

My angels of the heart happened to be teenage kids. Though expressed differently – as per their vernacular – each said “Oh, goes with the territory of putting yourself out there.”

Which they’d been doing for years in an environment that is – in some respects – harsher than what I was dealing with in my isolated corner of the web.

Pay It Forward.

Recent events have – at times – shaken those same angels.  I’ve been able to help by drawing from life experience.

  • Vietnam

I was a child but my parents’ friends …

I recount specifics in my podcasts

  • We Will Bury You

I was a child but conversations with my maternal grandmother helped me put bomb shelters in the back yard in perspective

  • Recession After Recession 

By the time I was 40 I’d gone through 4

Detroit experiences one about every 10 years.  

I gave words of comfort without being condescending.  

I didn’t pretend to understand.

Some experiences are universal and history may repeat itself but teens today are growing up in a world I never knew. Cell phones? iPads? The microwave was new technology when I was growing up.

So was Atari and Apple IIe.

I had a rotary dial wall phone in my house!

I believe I was able to convey that as a society we’ve been in tough spots before – that I feel people want to work together for the common good.  

The issue is there are different definitions of the common good.

General and Specific

Later today.

I was about to get back to my first fiction project since post-Covid burnout when I got another opportunity to pay it forward.

With a stranger.

Fulfilling a Dream

Right up my manifesting alley.

A young woman creating a film was seeking help with filming locations.  Rather than suggesting locations to scout I gave words of encouragement and praised the beautiful amazing experience of seeing a vision – what started as a thought or a whisper in the soul – come to life.  

It was – from what I could tell – appreciated.

Be well

Hauntings and EMF Sensitivity

Just in time for Halloween

I love when science validates my work after-the-fact.  From an article on possible explanations for supposed hauntings:

Of course, there are some cases of ‘hauntings’ for which there is evidence of some physical phenomena: magnetic, pressure or temperature variations…

Right up my EMF Sensitivity Alley!

I cover this along with information on dealing with real hauntings in-depth in my app Destination Unknown: Explorations of the Paranormal.

I include locations throughout the world where I’ve experienced true hauntings.

The Whaley House in Old Town San Diego is haunted as validated by the US Government.  

Having had my own experiences there, I agree.

My app and accompanying workbook are filled with examples of logical scientific explanations of paranormal phenomenon, including the fact spirits themselves are an EMF and thus subject to the laws of physics.

Lots of tools and strategies to deal with this sometimes bothersome frequency are included along with stories of how and why I used them. 

Before I close out I want to leave you with a bit of irony.  

This meme came across my path today.  It put me in the mind of the following experience I had over a decade ago while visiting Salem, MA with my family.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween.  

May it be filled with more treats than tricks.

From my book on the subject.

Not currently available.

The House of the Seven Gables

I thoroughly enjoyed touring the historic home.  

I love Colonial architecture – especially brick structures.

The Revolutionary War period is one of my favorites.

Of US history.

 Toward the end of the tour, we went into the beautiful master bedroom.  The guide stood near the fireplace and talked about the furniture, the family, and the town’s history.  Not long into the discussion, the ghost of John Turner III appeared.  

Arms crossed in front of his chest, with ankles also crossed, he was floating on the other side of the fireplace. 

 He was leaning back, even as he floated, listening as the guide talked about former owners, including him.

He seemed amused and nodded several times during the guide’s speech.

When the guide began talking about how John Turner III lost the house and the family fortune, another ghost appeared.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” the second ghost snapped, “he was a fool.”

At this point, John Turner III unfolded his arms, stood up and faced the other ghost.

His father, John Turner II.

“I was not a fool,” he replied calmly, “I was being cautious.  There was no way to know the colonists would win.”

While the guide explained that John Turner the III was suspected of being a Loyalist, the two ghosts continued to argue.

“The correct word is Royalist,” the son said with an impatient air.

This is the same term the spirit near the Customs House used: Royalist.

His father replied, “Which you were, and a fool besides.”

“How could I have known?” the son asked.

“You should have known,” the father growled back.  “You would have, if you’d thought about it from a business perspective.”

At this point the son rolled his eyes. 

Obviously, this was an old argument.  

As I listened to father and son go at it, I dug my nails into my palms to keep from laughing.  

The guide was doing a great job and I didn’t want to appear rude.

What I learned from listening to the ghosts was that John Turner III had assumed the British Crown would put down the Colonist rebellion.  He’d planned to benefit from that outcome.

He was in shipping and had been making deals with the Crown.  

Obviously, he’d thrown his lot in with the wrong side and centuries later, his father was still berating him for his stupidity.

“The boy was a fool,” he growled.

Father and son spirits were still arguing when we left.  As we proceeded down to the next room on the tour, I told Aaron what I’d seen and heard. 

“It was all I could do to keep from laughing.”

I decided not to tell the guide what I’d experienced.  

Something told me he wouldn’t take it well.

From There to Here: The Journey

The journey to pursue my dream of being a writer is nothing like I envisioned when I left corporate in 2003.

3 months after being awarded a doctorate in holistic health.

I certainly never thought I’d come face to face with EMF Sensitivity which sent my vision on a serious detour.

From fiction writing.

While I’m the proud author of a number of fiction works nonfiction continues to take a significant place in my work and my life.

I have a passion for drawing on knowledge and experience to help others.

And then there’s the apps. 

Though I spent decades in tech with programming experience in multiple languages it had been years since I’d done any programming.  

Aaron to the Rescue!

My husband who supported my dreams from when I shared them on our first date and who’s been my partner in the madness of leaving safety to follow a dream offered to write the code if I gave him the content and the intent.

I’m proud of my work as all of it has been created with a passion for helping others.

Fiction is a wonderful way to explore a world you never knew existed and to take your mind off your troubles.

I can add that I’m hard at work on Podcast 4: Dealing with stressful and toxic environments holistically.

Dreams Take Decades

Just released an upcoming app to a beta tester** – listening to tunes to chill.

Separate Ways by Journey.

Glanced over to see the cover of a Metatron’s Army series notebook.

I was 16 when this series born of interesting creative life circumstances appeared in my mind’s eye.

The visual download was overwhelming.

The universe.  I drew it in pencil on typing paper I stuck to my bedroom wall.

Using toothpaste because we were renting and tape would pull paint off.  We’d be ding’d by the landlord.

Fast forward decades to publishing a story that lived in my soul for over 3 decades.  I decided having a visual cue would help so turned to a member of my team.

Um.

He proceded to tell me everything wrong with my drawing.

The “star” was too close to certain planets and the aspect ratio of the system was way off.

We had a discussion during which I listened and respected his expertise even as my heart pounded off my chest.  

I was in the process of releasing a story to the world no words could do justice to.

The Expert.

It was evident he wanted a happy customer.

I had to accept he had a handle on this I didn’t.

I told him to do as he saw fit.

That Notebook?

When I first saw it?  I got tears in my eyes. My chest felt tight.  

He somehow managed to design an image that filled a gaping hole in my soul.

Never stop believing in your dreams.

They never stop believing in you.

** App is for those dealing with Esoteric EMFs.

Metal in the Brain: EMF Life

It’s been a busy afternoon in EMF land.  I’m about to release an app and Handbook focused on Esoteric EMFs.

  

  • Ghosts
  • Psi
  • Hauntings
  • Sacred Spaces
  • Sensitivity to other People

And how these frequencies interact with and are impacted by

  • Geologic
  • Atmospheric
  • Technologic

EM frequencies.

Filled with tools and strategies that eliminate the negative impact of Esoteric frequencies the app and Handbook will appeal to novice and expert, to skeptic and believer alike.

As I was decompressing with music my mind drifted to one of my favorite human beings in the world.  My high school physics teacher Mr. Robert Parys.  I will never forget the day he learned I had a metal clip in my brain.

Titanium it was put in to stop bleeding from a subdural hematoma the result of falling off a diving board and hitting my chin on it on the way into the pool when I was 10 years of age.

He was – in a word – horrified.

“There’s metal in your brain?!”

As a 16-year-old I wasn’t particularly appreciative of the attention this got me.

I was the only female in the class of about 20.  Everyone turned to me expressions startled and horrified. You know – like I had a disease? 

Can we say “Yay?”

Note:  I had girlfriends who took physics.  They just had classes during a different time period.

To make matters worse – for me – he asked me to stay after class.

You can imagine what it was like to hear male feet shuffling by as they left. The sideways glances.

Oh just yay.

I tried pointing out I needed to get to my next class but he told me he’d write a note.

Joy.

The discussion led to more questions – his – than could be managed so he invited me to stay after school so he could learn more.  I had a job so this wasn’t easy but he was persuasive it would be worth my while.

I liked Mr. Parys.  He had a good sense of humor and related to students in a way that let them know he really cared about them, their dreams, goals, their success in life.

He spent time doing what he could to help students achieve their dreams.

Though I spent time answering his questions about life in the wake of an NDE with a metal clip in my head he is the one who gave the gift. Sharing his insight and access to materials meant I was able to conduct scientific research that helped me feel okay at a time when I didn’t…

I was still limping heavily after being paralyzed and my hair was still growing out after being shaved for emergency brain surgery.  You could still see a pretty big scar on my skull. Not a fun thing for a self-conscious teenage girl.

The groundwork he helped lay has led to the release of this app and Handbook.

Work that will help the world the way he helped his students.

His legacy lives on.

Teachers are amazing people who are often under appreciated.

I’m ever so grateful this one crossed my path.

The world benefits because he was a part of it.

RIP Mr. Parys.

Ice Cream Man: We Need to Tell our Stories

I volunteer to help kids with literacy.  I showed up on a recent day and was asked if I’d be willing to work with a special needs child because the specialist had to call out.  Happy to do so I soon found myself in a secluded part of a hallway listening to a little boy read about a tour of an ice cream factory.

The nature of the program means the volunteers and students find places to sit together which may be in an overcrowded room with a cacophany of voices or in a hall where students changing classes walk by.

At one point he looked at me and asked “Why so many screams?”

This was after watching him struggle with the fact he was trying to form the thought.  Telling him to take his time seemed to help him relax and articulate what was on his mind.

Why So Many Screams?

I immediately picked up his concern over the word scream but also knew he lacked context.  I quickly explained it was a childhood rhyme.

I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream.

I suspected my explanation didn’t fly because he wasn’t familiar with the rhyme so I quickly explained it was something kids would call out when chasing the ice cream man.  This necessitated I explain what the ice cream man was.

And why kids would be chasing him.

I admit – I have not seen or heard an ice cream man in all the years I’ve lived in this region of the country but that didn’t stop me from telling this sweet boy

“I’m old.  When I was little in Michigan my friends and me would chase the ice cream man – you could hear him coming by the music in his truck – yelling “I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream.”

I watched him think over the honest explanation then slowly nod.  And then he smiled.

A beautiful smile that lit up his features.

He said “I can’t wait to tell my mom.”

I don’t know if his mom is a translplant from another part of the country – maybe a place where she grew up hearing the telltale sound of an ice cream truck coming in her direction – but it reinforces my belief that we need to share stories with our kids

and grandkids …

I saw first hand how the lack of knowledge confused and alarmed.

We need to tell our stories

To share wisdom and give context.

And to reassure.

The Cosmic Justice of Adversity

I was opening a bottle of malbec and reflecting how it came to be I’m able to use a sommelier’s corkscrew to open a bottle of wine.

The man who first taught me to use a corkscrew told me since I wasn’t strong enough he’d show me a different way.

He taught my mom and I at the same time.

This man – a doctor – explained since women didn’t have the upper arm strength to use a sommelier’s corkscrew without risk of injury we should put the bottle between our ankles and use a specific type of corkscrew.

No no no

The man I married apparently had a different opinion as evidenced by his teaching me to use a Christmas gift he received when we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A sommelier’s set.

I remember him holding up a corkscrew I’d seen wait staff using.

Including women.

I’d always admired their quick dexterity, lamenting I didn’t have the strength to do so without injuring my … wrist?  Arm?  Rotator Cuff?

Or so I was told.

Aaron held up the other contraption while promising there was a better way.  When I explained the why of which I used the other he set a wine bottle on the counter and said “Watch.  I’ll let you do it but I’ll show you what you’re going to do.”

Under his patient guidance I succeeded the first time.

Years later I’m using that wonderful gift and feeling – not smug – just good.

As I was pouring it through an aerator I thought back to a similar situation.

Where adversity threw an opportunity in my direction.

As Fate Would Have It

It was a wild set of coincidences that led me to working at DEC.  A novice who needed to prove myself it came to be the senior TCs told me to clean out “the closet.”

In exchange for helping me become a Technical Consultant.

It was filled helter-skelter floor to ceiling with old VMS manuals

As well as bits and pieces of God only knew what in terms of computer parts.

I spent an entire weekend on a ladder organizing that room.

Method To The Madness

My tech mentor showed up “unexpectedly” to help me.

He spent four hours on a Saturday advising which manuals were worth keeping and which had truly outlived their usefulness.

He told me not to get rid of one piece of hardware.

I Might Use It Someday

Uh-huh where have I heard that before?

The other TC’s came in Monday beaming and suggesting I might be worth investing their mentoring in after all.

If…

Blackmail is Such an Ugly Word

They more or less collectively pointed to the pile of bits and pieces and told me if I could get the 8088 to load an OS they would agree to train me to be a consultant.

Unforseen Consequences

Not everyone was on board with promoting an administrative to the “elite.”

I was given a tiny cubicle so close to the back door it wouldn’t take much for me and my bits and pieces to go careening – helter-skelter – down the stairwell.

Less than three feet as it happens.

Who Was That Masked Man?

Aka Cosmic Justice

One Friday afternoon I was testing apps on this tiny little computer I put together.

I literally had to build the 8088 from parts and these were long past the days of an 11/780.

We’re talking MicroVAX era.

A gentleman popped his head over the cube wall and asked where everybody was.  I smiled and said “Oh it’s Friday.  They don’t come back from lunch unless there’s a proposal due Monday.  Then they work all weekend, often staying to 3 in the morning and coming back at 6 or 7 til it’s done.”

I told him I was always there helping out – which was 100% truth.

He pointed to the antiquated piece of equipment and asked, “What are you doing?”

I explained “Oh this is an 8088…”

He smiled and said “Yes, I know what it is.  It’s old.  Why is it on your desk? What are you doing?”

I explained the blackmail.

The “deal” negotiated by those making 2 – 3/x what I made.  

He smiled and we chatted for some time.  

I told him of the exciting OEM deals I was helping with and how I had just taken over managing the LAVC. 

Among other projects – having proven myself – I was working on.

I remember thinking he was a pleasant man but – being semi-customer facing and part of the region’s headquarter team – I was used to chatting with wonderful interesting people whose identity I didn’t know.

No Way!

The kind gentleman thanked me and went on his way.  A short time later a colleague I wasn’t aware was in his cube came rushing into my tiny piece of corporate real estate and gasped “Do you know who that was?!”

“Who?” I replied.

My apoplectic colleague hissed, “That was Uncle Ken!”

“Ken Olsen?” I replied my stomach dropping.

What had I said?

Though nothing was ever said directly the path to my aspirations was smoothed out.

The tiniest tiniest bit.

I will never forget that day.

The Take-Away?

You never know what Adversity is doing for you.

Even after a lifetime of it I don’t.

Walk the Talk

Manifesting 101: Wouldn’t it Be Cool?

Happy New Year readers and visitors!  I hope 2025 brings joy and wonder.  

And good health!

Given many of us are thinking of what we want – or don’t – for the coming year I thought I’d share a holiday manifesting story.

On Christmas Eve I received a gift that included a hand-written note providing special information about each piece that was part of the gift.  Unfortunately in my haste to clean up wrapping paper the note was lost.  When I couldn’t find it I assumed it was accidentally thrown away.

I felt very bad as the gift giver made a point to tell me the note provided unique details about each piece.

Over the next days as I took my morning walk I considered the lost paper with no small regret.

I felt guilty I hadn’t slowed down to look at the paper when the gift giver mentioned it.

I did something else.  I visualized the paper in my mind and thought how cool it would be if it somehow turned up somewhere.  

As in maybe it didn’t get thrown out with the trash!

When I returned from my walks I would check various places thinking it might have wound up under a piece of furniture or in some other out of the way place.

No luck.

I continued to visualize the paper while I walked and casually thought how cool it would be if it turned up.

Randomly.  

I’d like to point out I did not consider what I was doing a manifestation attempt.

It wasn’t done with intent.

A few days ago I decided instead of taking down the Christmas tree I would go to the garage and break down boxes.

Which Aaron and I would take to the recycle center later this week.  

Normally I do this type of activity with Aaron but he was on a work call so I waded into the cardboard on my own.

Along with bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts.

I was about 2/3 through sorting recycle from trash – organizing it for further disposal when I reached into a small box and pulled out the mesh bag that had held the gift.  Setting it aside – it too had gone missing – I thought “Wouldn’t it be cool if I found that paper in some box?”  

Drum Roll

I reached into the same box seconds later and withdrew the paper I thought lost!

What makes this pretty cool from the Manifesting 101 side

  • Though I was unhappy about losing the paper I didn’t do the visualization with the intent to find it.

It was one of a number of thoughts that went through my mind while walking on a chilly morning.

  • The Wouldn’t it be Cool? was not a heart-rending level of emotion tied to it all.

In spite of my disappointment at losing the paper.

  • Something told me to break down the cardboard boxes rather than take down the Christmas tree in spite of knowing I’d be doing it myself.

It’s an activity Aaron and I enjoy doing together.

  • If Aaron had been helping me chances are the paper would have been tossed into a recycle bag and lost for good.

I didn’t tell anyone I’d lost the paper so Aaron wouldn’t have known to keep an eye out for it.

Wouldn’t It Be Nice?

I want to circle back to what I feel is an important point when it comes to manifesting.

Pun intended.

The concept of releasing/letting go of attachment to an outcome is considered an important step in manifesting.  It’s also one of the steps I’ve had the biggest challenge with.

How the heck can you not feel emotion about something you want?

Some part of me must have been working in the background over the years to give me the key to this step because I’ve come to see that whenever I’ve manifested something it went with the following

Wouldn’t It Be Cool?

Or Wouldn’t It Be Nice?

I don’t know if this will work for others but for me when I feel that phrase?  The emotion attached is pretty low level.

Caveat

This isn’t to say it means I don’t care if I get it or not or that I’m not prepared to accept what goes along with having it.  It’s just that I recognize my life won’t be ruined if it doesn’t happen.

I had a plan B – to talk with the individual who designed the piece so I could get the information.

Knowing this, I can frame future efforts in such a way as to lower emotional noise that would interfere with its coming to be.

The Science in the Fiction

I’m thrilled to announce a project months in the making.

Visitors will note a new link on my front page.

Above Choose a Path.

This takes visitors to a page with a number of scientific principles found throughout my novels.  Clicking on each principle will take readers to the story behind how it wound up in my work.

This project – that I’m very proud of – gives readers a glimpse into me as the author.

An author who draws from imagination, education, and experience.

Enjoy!