Month: March 2017

What I’ve Learned from One Year of Blogging

/ Tricia Barker, Author of Angels in the OR / 20 Comments

laptop

Update:  My memoir Angels in the OR: What Dying Taught Me About Healing, Survival, and Transformation can be pre-ordered now.  It is a #1 new release in several categories.

If You are Prolific, Be Specific. 

After National Geographic interviewed me about my near-death experience, I started this blog. Seventy-nine posts and over 100,000 words later, I’ve learned a few things about blogging.

Being extremely intentional with your posts could help you create a novel.  The manuscript I’ve completed, Angels in the OR, was revised from 96,000 words to the final product of a little over 60,000 words.  If you write that much in a year, you might have the beginnings of a book.

If I would have realized I would write that much on my blog in a year, I might have been more focused with my posts.  I don’t regret the journey because learning is always exciting.  I’ve enjoyed writing book reviews as much as writing about after-death communications, writing about messages from my NDE as much as reflections about teaching.  This journey has taken me through a wild and beautiful landscape.

Consider Cultural Happenings and the News

Although we do not know which posts will get the most traffic, current events grab the attention of people, especially if you are writing about something that occurred in your area.  Also, being intentional about the world around you and anchoring love in the middle of chaos is a good practice.  The news can focus on the negative, but you can add your light, depth, and insights to certain situations.

Write Something Timely That Helps Others

One of my most popular posts is the post about completing the Medical Medium’s 28-day cleanse.  I wrote this because I hoped that my healing journey might encourage others with similar issues with chronic pain and autoimmune disorders to try the cleanse.  I was one of the first bloggers to document my experience with the 28-day cleanse, and I received a lot of support from Facebook communities devoted to the advice of The Medical Medium.  Facebook groups and Twitter groups can be a way to extend your blog’s reach.

Pay Attention to Those Who Reach Out to You and Pass on the Love

Shareen Mansfield who created OTV Magazine was one of the first bloggers to reach out to me.  I fell in love with many of her posts and the posts of those she publishes on OTV Magazine.  I even felt inspired to write an article for OTV.

Not only did I find supportive Facebook communities dedicated to topics of interest, but I found several wonderful writer’s blogs.  I witnessed several success stories and watched people like Raymond Baxtor take off with The Relationship Blogger this year.

Become a fan of blogs that move you.  Don’t just like posts, take the time to post thoughtful comments.  Create your own community and make it supportive and uplifting.  Consider showcasing the work of other bloggers and writers on your blog.

To My Friends!

Blogging, like social media, can lead to real connections and friendships.  This year, I’ve met angel communicators, NDErs, alien communicators, political activists, protesters, life coaches, health coaches, artists, poets, writers, ministers, college students, hospice workers, hospice volunteers, yoga teachers, meditation teachers, healers using a variety of modalities, mediums, naturopaths, shamans, and lots of people who read blogs.

Thank you readers, and thank you everyone for your emails.  I loved hearing from you whether you have shared your most profound loss, your greatest joy, deepest longing, or your earnest curiosity.  You are the you I was hoping to connect with in blogosphere.  I have a much larger tribe across the planet than I realized.

musicsunset

What’s in a name?  Sometimes you are your own brand.  When you think Lorna Byrne http://lornabyrne.com/  you most likely think of her communication with angels.

When you think Gabby Bernstein, you most likely think turning fear into faith and living with divine guidance.  https://gabbybernstein.com/

When you think Tony Robbins, you think high intensity motivation.  https://www.tonyrobbins.com/

I simply guessed that after the National Geographic article, which featured a short blurb about my NDE, people would Google “Tricia Barker NDE” or “Tricia Barker Near-Death Experience.”   And they did.  To my surprise, tens of thousands of people used that specific search term.

In retrospect, this might not be the catchiest name for my blog, but it worked to a degree.  Will I change it in time?  Probably.

What should you name your blog?  Something you are happy with long-term.  Your name is not a bad idea if you are working to become a brand.

I hope that when my memoir, Angels in the OR, that readers might think, “If Tricia can experience that kind of divine sense of purpose and healing, then I can certainly live a greater life of divine purpose.”

Be Careful with Your Tags in a Porn-Infested Internet Landscape

I wrote several posts about rape culture and my experience with rape in South Korea.  Unfortunately, some people search “Teacher Rape South Korea Porn” and are directed to my post about being an English teacher, living in South Korea, and experiencing rape.

Porn can be toxic to healthy relationships, and Dr. Robert Jensen spoke about pornography at one of the colleges where I taught English; his message transformed the lives of many young men and women.

The Relationship Blogger caught my attention with his post about porn.  Whatever your level of comfort is with writing about sex, trauma, pornography, or otherwise, realize that tags can filter the wrong crowd to your blog.

On the other hand, if you have a sense of humor, you might use lots of kinky tags for of non-related articles to boost your stats.  “Two Girls Making Out” might direct someone to “How to Complete Your Taxes in Under Two Hours.”  Together, we could start a blogging revolution.

Other Technical Stuff

I have a basic WordPress account, and largely the format has worked for me.  I like the set-up, and the layout.  It is easy to use, and graphics make the posts look nicer.  Would I like a snazzier looking blog?  Sure.  Do I have issues that I haven’t fixed?  Of course.  I don’t even know how to delete the extra category.  I have “book reviews” and “Book Reviews” as categories.  Lol.  Help me!  Somebody…help me.

Lordy, Lordy, Haters and Trolls

Haters and trolls are probably in deep pain and lost in drama.  Don’t be like them.  Don’t write about the confusing, dramatic parts of your life until much later when you have wisdom and serenity.  Write from places where you are solid and can give advice to help others, not when you are bleeding half-to-death because there isn’t much clarity in that state of mind.  Write about a well healed scar and show others how to get through painful situations.

Bless the crap out of people who hate you, and even if some people behave so badly that you think they should come back as a tarantula in their next life or believe they are currently living out a reality as a tarantula in a multi-universe and that is why they are having such a difficult time being human, bless them until they go away and have and awakening far, far away from you.

Remember you only see a small picture, and God sees the entire picture.  Learn to see a bigger picture, and write to win.  Write something so undeniably transcendent that even your haters will nod and turn in the other direction because they know you are helping others.

One of my surprisingly popular posts is one about narcissistic abuse.  I’m not a psychologist, but I’ve experienced enough narcissistic abuse in my life to see the last of my innocence float away and return with understanding and with healing.  If you write about pain, write in a way to bring clarity or healing to a subject.

And if those haters and trolls still come after you, remind them how years of Krav Maga and other techniques have made you not just a fireball, but an atomic force of nature.

atomic-blonde

Who Loves You, Baby?

Nobody and I mean nobody will love your baby blog more than you do.  Your pretend soulmate, your wannabe soulmate, your twin flame for a day, the friends who are a godsend for correcting your typos and grammatical errors, your life-long best friend, your new best friend, your favorite ex, your least favorite ex, and even your real, true honest to God in the flesh stand by your side partner for life will get busy and forget to read your blog.  You and God know your blog better than anyone else, so write to delight yourself.  Write to inform or help others who take the time to read your posts. Write something you would be proud of one year or even ten years from now.

Consider Your Top Ten Posts

After you have blogged for a while, take stock of your half-year or year.

Why were some posts more popular than others?  Do you want to make more posts in a similar vein to your most popular posts?

What surprised you about the journey?  What didn’t surprise you?

Take a Break

Why?  Because you can.  Because you might work on something other than a blog for a time.  Because it excites you to take a break.

However, if it feels more exciting to keep blogging, then keep on truckin.

I guess they can’t revoke your soul for tryin.—Grateful Dead

 skystars

Top Ten Posts

  1. Excerpt About the Angels
  2. Excerpt After the Angels
  3. Following the Advice of the Medical Medium’s Plan after the 28-Day Cleanse
  4. My Story as a Rape Victim and a Response to the Sentence for Brock Turner 
  5. Love Letter from God
  6. Messages from My NDE
  7. The Life and Eight Deaths of Ethan Michael Carter
  8. Lucky to Have Died, Lucky to Be Alive
  9. More About the Angels from My NDE
  10. Community College Instructor’s Response to Dallas Shooting

 

Recent Interview on Wisdom from North and A Few Thoughts about Prayer

/ Tricia Barker, Author of Angels in the OR / 2 Comments

Update on 1/19/19:  My memoir, Angels in the OR: What Dying Taught Me About Healing, Survival, and Transformation, can be pre-ordered now. It is a #1 new release in several categories.  I would love it if you helped me make near-death experiences more mainstream.

I loved talking with Jannecke Øinæs in a recent interview, and she challenged me to think about concepts in new ways.  In other posts, I’ve briefly mentioned the prayers I felt during my near-death experience, but I wanted to write more about prayer.

Prayer:  One of the saddest questions I’ve been asked by a reader of my blog is from someone wondering why prayer does not work in some cases. Prayer isn’t a way to manipulate reality; instead, it is more like a gentle, healing wind.  When my spirit was out of form, I felt the prayers of people I knew, and the prayers that moved me the most were the ones that were full of love.

Maybe the best that we can do when we pray is to pray with deep, unconditional love and to pray for the highest good in any situation. Even if our vision of world peace and a deeper connection to nature is at odds with the world around us, even if we don’t have the power to immediately shift the world to a better place, we can embody the type of love we want to see and send this love to the world with our prayers.

This isn’t easy after tragedy, but the best stories are the ones that make us cry with a rare form of joy and awe.  We are amazed by people who overcome incredible odds.  We are amazed when love wins in the darkest of situations.  I was surprised recently to see Tony Robbins talking more openly about the abuse he survived growing up, and how this abuse motivated him later to help others.  In an article in Men’s Journal, he reveals,

“I really stopped feeling sorry for myself. I stopped blaming my mother for everything that was wrong in my life. She was addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs. She also was abusive and would smash my head into a wall or fill my mouth with liquid soap until I threw up because she thought I was acting out of line. I never talked about her while she was alive, and I still love her to this day. The fact is if my mother had been the mother I hoped for, I wouldn’t be the man I am proud to be today. All of this is inside me somewhere, driving me to visit 14 countries in a year and work 50 hours on a weekend. I suffered so much, I didn’t want anyone else to suffer and I was obsessed with finding answers. Now I am obsessed with having the answers and sharing those answers.”

Robbins also talks about the books that influenced his thinking, as well as his newest book.

How does prayer help others?  It can give a lonely wanderer strength to make it to an oasis.  Prayer can be the wind that carries the drunk safely home.  Prayer can be a message to someone departing the planet like a secret note.  It can be a nod of farewell or greeting, a bow of respect, or a heart shaped text from one mind to another.

I never liked listening to pompous, showy prayers spoken out loud in the churches I grew up attending. Even as a child, it was obvious to me that the majority of those prayers were about the ego of the one speaking.  The one praying wanted others to see how much of the Bible he knew by heart.  If the child wasn’t impressed, then there probably wasn’t much unconditional love attached to the prayer.

As a child and as an adult, I was moved not only by authentic prayers, but authentic deeds. I was always motivated and moved by those who transformed pain into a mission to help others.  Robbins is a good example of that kind of mission.

Can we pray for angels to assist in certain situations?  I know we can and should pray for their assistance.  At different times in my life, I’ve been gifted the sight to see how many angels are around us all, and there are so many of them.  To not call on angels is to miss out on a great resource.  My angels were assistants in my surgery, and angels are available to us in dramatic situations and ordinary situations where we sometimes struggle.  The medical medium suggests calling on specific angels for specific needs.

Why are some prayers answered and not others? Everyone struggles with this question, and the angels say to simply not struggle.  When you are in a state of love, you are doing great things for your own physiology and psychology.  The outcome is not as important as the act of being in a state of love and connection like a flower blooming.  Reach for the sun, reach for your own nourishment, and shine. Be aware of the process of life, and send great love into the world.

Certainly, studies have proven that meditation and prayer can reduce crime when enough people are consistently anchoring that kind of peace in the world.  You may not immediately see your prayer’s effects, but some tragedies might be avoided because of the authentic, loving prayers you pray.  Light may dawn in the lives of those who would not have otherwise awakened.