Laura is very present to me now as a powerful and comforting spiritual presence.  If you’ve been reading this blog you’ll know that since Laura passed I’ve been seeing firefly-like lights, hearing words of encouragement in my head and experiencing our computers and iPods suddenly play our favorite songs. And I am delighted to report that sometimes I get the sensation of a kiss, a loving embrace, or an encompassing feeling of great warmth and happiness.  These experiences are still happening and I’ve come to treasure them and draw great strength from them.

In Destiny of Souls, (Michael Newton’s second book in which people under hypnosis talk about their experiences of the afterlife),  it is commonplace for departed souls to reach back to earth to comfort their soul mates. The spirits in the book talk of encircling loved ones in ‘a blanket of mental warmth which is calming’, sending ‘word flashes’ or moving objets to communicate with loved ones. One spirit talked about making a music box play the couple’s favorite Glenn Miller song In the Mood.  Spirits also send energy to favorite spots on a partner’s body; ‘Alice used to love to have me kiss her ears’  said one. Another spirit tickled the back of a partner’s neck.  And some souls connect  via smell, which reminded me that in the first two days after Laura died I got strong whiffs of Laura’s scent near the window where she so often stood, and also once in the kitchen of her best friend Reg’s apartment.

I can’t tell you what a relief it is to read Newton’s books, so much of what he describes resonates with my own experience these past 9 months.  But if you had told me a year ago that I would be enjoying books about after-life regression, I would have said you were nuts. Just last fall, Laura’s doctor recommended Many Lives, Many Masters a book by Brian Weiss about how current afflictions can be linked to past life experiences. Laura and I both rolled our eyes and decided the doctor was grasping at straws. But with hindsight, I wonder if she had a point. A couple of times in my life I’ve laughed at something I thought was crazy only to find out later that there was something of value or beauty in it. It is so easy to dismiss what we don’t understand.