Coronavirus has changed the way many of us live our lives. In quarantine time, many people may be spending more time confronting their thinking. This is a GREAT time to think happier thoughts for yourself, to connect to the timelessness inside of you, and to grant yourself greater love and more peace. Much inner work and healing can be done now.
There is plenty of time for reading, meditation, and prayer. There are no more excuses (unless perhaps you work for an essential business).
Try not to overthink or worry about worst case scenarios. But, if you do take this time to confront your mortality, know that the the process of dying is sacred. While you live, remember to live with love and kindness.
These are the Truths I Learned from Dying
1. Love is all that matters and all that we take with us.
2. Nature can heal us.
3. We are all connected energetically.
4. Joy brings us back to our true self.
5. At the soul level, we care about goodness, honor, nobility, love, and altruistic acts of kindness.
6. At the soul level, we are more godlike than we care to acknowledge. Our light is eternal.
7. Our ancestors, guides, and angels are there for us whether we feel their presence or not.
8. What makes sense in heaven isn’t always translatable on earth, but know that beauty, love, truth, and goodness last forever in heaven.
9. God/Universal Consciousness loves us all deeply.
10. You are personally loved more deeply than you can fathom.
May you be blessed! The audio book of Angels in the ORis on sale right now if you are interested. Pretty good price!
If love is all that matters, then some lives need to be re-tuned and readjusted in heaven. I’m not saying that as a judgment, more a commentary on modern life and relationships.
Truths are often simple. Love is of God. All of our actions that flow from a place of love, flow from God.
Imagine heaven as a reprocessing center. The life review is a way for each soul to clearly see what was of God and what was not of God. In heaven, a particular relationship might be sent through the reprocessing center and only a few moments might remain—a conversation about God, a moment in church, and holding hands while walking through a beautiful open field.
All the awful screaming of obscenities gets reprocessed into a calm conversation about life, details, and compromises in the physical realm, as if those moments never existed. Those moments disappear into the darkness. Abusive moments are not of God. Abuse (psychological, spiritual, and physical torture) could never be of the light.
Maybe anyone who has suffered abuse would prefer to see karmic retribution—one’s guardian angels holding the abuser’s head under water until the ego of that person relents and knows God. But, God does not work that way. God heals through unconditional love, of course, even in the most extreme cases of cruelty.
What if you could turn your eyes to God, and simply shut the door to all negative energy that isn’t of God. Leave it behind. Banish it in another realm. Imagine a huge door made of iron and shove all the negativity far away behind that door.
Human beings can often create a hell of heaven, and if that is the realm that some people want to play in—leave them to it (behind an iron door). Keep that door shut, and live in a realm of lighter things—butterflies, green grass, and happy thoughts. What if you could love yourself the way you wished you had been loved as a child, the way you wished others had loved you? What if you and God could do that together?
Abraham Hicks says that there is no happy ending to an unhappy journey which means you must find a way to focus on happiness and satisfaction, not on what you are missing in your life. Additionally, it might mean that you can’t force others to change. However, you can change your outlook and choices. You can change your story completely. You can turn away from all that harms you and walk into the light of God. You can create a new story in the light. At first this might only start as a meditation, but the light will filter into the reality of your life.
Angels in the ORis as much about transforming the suffering of this planet as it is about a near-death experience. My near-death experience was a profoundly beautiful moment, but so much of what I have survived and witnessed in my physical world is in need of transformation by that light of God. One of the main questions I receive from readers is how to transform this world with the knowledge of heaven. I think change begins with letting God’s love heal all the painful memories we hold inside of ourselves and shift these thoughts to thoughts of truth, beauty and goodness.
Many thanks to the Tattered Cover Book Store in LoDo and For Heaven’s Sake Book Store in Lakewood. I had a fabulous week in Colorado connecting with readers of Angels in the OR
I wish I had more time with each group to walk in the mountains, meditate, and have long conversations about spirituality. If one of the messages from the afterlife is to “remind them to go to nature,” then I long to have some events in nature in the future. The events were blessed, and it was wonderful to meet people I know from social media who are working to bring more light to this world. Frequency Riser is a great website and blog which reviews many spiritually themed books, so you might want to check out the link.
I am also grateful to those of you who attended The Second Annual Online Near-Death Experience Summit. I loved those three hours with your questions and the answers from the researchers and near-death experiencers. You can still purchase the 13 hours of interviews, and the replay link of the live stream (which was three hours).
This week I have been resting and contemplating my next project which is a book to help college students succeed and heal from issues that holding them back from being all that they want to be in life. My next book will be more research based and focused on a generation which is completely immersed in social media. If you want to check out an hour long podcast by Richard Grannon on the dangers of social media for this generation, you can click here.
In late August, I will be facilitating a writing workshop at IANDS and partnering with a publisher who will be at the conference to bring you the most up-to-date information about writing and publishing your future books. I’ll also be leading a panel presentation and giving a speech. I look forward to seeing you in Valley Forge.
As an English professor, I know that reading teaches others greater empathy. I read voraciously as a child and teenager and this helped me see from the perspectives of people around the world and those living in different time periods. As George R.R. Martin said, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies….The man who never reads lives only one.”
Or, as said another way, “When we pray we speak to God. When we read God speaks to us.” —St. Jerome.
I enjoyed talking on podcasts recently about grief and dying. Part of the beauty of having a near-death experience is being able to support others who have lost someone or are facing death themselves. The Death Dialogues Project is a great podcast. You can check out my interview or one of the other powerful interviews on this podcast. I also enjoyed talking with Nina Impala about grief on her supportive podcast titled Tutoring for the Spirit.
I look forward to seeing you in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Georgia. I’ll announce more dates soon! Much love and many blessings, everyone!
I’ve had a fun week of interviews with three amazing radio show hosts. I am grateful for the interview with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM earlier this week, and I wanted to say a few things to the callers who had questions for me.
First of all, thank you for sharing your experiences. I was moved by your stories. I would love to answer more of your questions and connect you with other experiencers and researchers at The Second Annual Online Near-Death Experience Summit. Please check out this online event if you are interested in near-death experiences and near-death experience research.
Secondly, there was a woman who called in who was searching for her purpose and had been through many hardships. I didn’t have much time to meditate on her situation, but I saw that on an energetic level that she is giving away too much of her personal energy. Matt Kahn’s latest video titled “You Are The Way” might help her and other empaths find a better balance between taking care of their own needs and caring for this world.
Also, a man called in who recently lost his brother. I didn’t have time for a full reading, but I hope he might consider reading Annie Kagan’s book The Afterlife of Billy Fingers. From what I hear from my father and others in the afterlife, there is much learning that can still be done after death. There is much light, love and understanding that can occur in the afterlife. Healing between family members can occur even after a death, so do not give up on the light of understanding, forgiveness, and release.
If you aren’t familiar with Sunny in Seattle, you can listen to my episode with her and some of her other interviews. She asked great questions about my book that I haven’t been asked before, and she asked me about my work with Lisa Smartt and Raymond Moody on The Second Annual Online Near-death Experience Summit. Here are two video clips from Lisa Smartt and Raymond Moody’s talks.
Thanks for the calls from across the country. I especially loved hearing about your own out-of-body experiences and spiritually transformative moments. Many blessings to you all!
I am a fan of Audible books, especially on long road trips, and I’m happy to hear that people are enjoying Angels in the ORas an Audible. Years ago as an English major in college, I dreamed of writing a book. I didn’t imagine that a car wreck at the end of my senior year in college would be the starting point of my future book. As an agnostic, I never imagined angels would feature in my story either, but I am grateful that they showed up in that operating room and changed everything about my life.
People often ask me if I am still in touch with the angels. I didn’t talk frequently about this connection until many years after my near-death experience, but they are in my life and the energy they send is healing, encouraging, and loving. Picking up on their energy is often the link to knowing their presence. I notice, sometimes after the fact, how they connect me to certain people who help me accomplish a particular goal, usually one that focuses on education, healing, and unconditional love.
Since I started blogging and making YouTube videos in 2016, I have talked with many people who have been inspired to ask the angels to help them during surgeries. At book signings, I am meeting medical professionals who are open to assistance from the other side and this is encouraging too. There are many amazing people walking this earth doing wonderful work in a variety of situations. One of the messages from the other side is that we need to make a conscious choice to acknowledge the goodness that surrounds us. Too much of a focus on tragedy and negativity weighs down our spirits.
I hoped to spread healing and strengthen other’s faith with Angels in the OR. While writing, I imagined that a soul who was deeply hurting might open up to a light from the heavens that would change his or her life. I understand deep grief. Before and after my near-death experience, I have experienced situations that challenged me deeply; however, difficult situations can teach us how to use our compasses differently. When you point your compass in the direction of God, challenges become much easier. And, when your focus is on adding God’s love to the world, your own healing deepens and expands.
This week, I have begun to change some of my YouTube interviews into podcasts. I hope you might check out some of these interviews. I have been blessed to connect with many amazing light-filled souls who shared their stories with me.
In fact, these interviews prompted me to create The First Annual Online Near-Death Experience Summit last year. This year, I have partnered with The University of Heaven in the creation of The Second Annual Online Near-Death Experience Summit. We have a great line-up of speakers who will certainly inspire and encourage you.
Thanks so much for making my launch day fun by letting me know that you stayed up late reading Angels in the OR or listening to the book on Audible.
I mean it when I say that my favorite part of this journey is connecting with you and hearing about your lives, your spiritual experiences, and your hopes for a more loving world. I’ve interviewed many near-death experiencers the past couple of years, and I keep thinking about how Howard Storm was told by Jesus that love could spread across this planet in small moments with each other. You simply love the person you are interacting with at any given moment. Love is the force that changes this world for the better.
I can’t wait to hear from more of you! Have a beautiful week, and if you happen to live in Sedona or near Sedona I would love to see you at my event on Saturday, April 20, 2019 at 4 p.m. the Unity of Sedona.
Thank you everyone for your support on my journey. I have several more interviews with near-death experiencers available on my YouTube Channel.
Also, Angels in the OR, which covers the story of my near-death experience and life after that moment, will launch on April 16, 2019— 25 years after that massive car accident I experienced in Austin, Texas during my senior year of college. The near-death experience during spinal surgery at Brackenridge Hospital altered my life forever, and I have never lost the memory of the light or the vast, unconditional love from the other side. I have never forgotten the insights communicated to me.
The river that I saw during my near-death experience was strikingly similar to the river that flows outside of TCC’s beautiful Trinity River Campus, and I have spent the last ten years teaching English and Creative Writing here. I’ve loved this job and all the wonderful students, staff, and faculty members that I have met over the years. Many of our building’s beautiful classrooms and balconies overlook the Trinity River.
Last week, I shared some advance copies with people on our campus, and I can’t wait to hear your feedback on the book. It is almost every English major’s dream to have a published book in print. I have loved books since I learned to read the year before Kindergarten, and part of the reason I worked to accomplish this goal was to inspire my students to believe that they can achieve their dreams.
I hope you will pre-order Angels in the OR or purchase it on April 16th when it launches. I am enjoying the feedback I’ve already received and can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
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. My memoir does reflect on my suicide attempt and how the love of the afterlife later showed me how to bring more love and healing into my life. I want to share that healing with others.
A Spiritual Perspective on Depression and Suicidal Idealization
With the holidays coming up soon, I thought it might be important to talk about depression and suicide and offer my perspective. I know that many people who have survived abuse, neglect, or trauma in their families are often ostracized by these family members. Holidays become all the more of a painful reminder of how alone they might feel in the world. Those who are awakening and realizing spiritual truths that may transcend the perspectives of their family members might also feel some disconnection.
Whatever your situation might be during the holidays, I hope that you might treat yourself with great love and compassion during this time of year and through out the rest of the year.
I have a unique perspective on suicide because I viewed my suicide attempt while in the afterlife. At the end of college, I had a profound near-death experience after a car wreck and was clinically dead for over two minutes during emergency spinal surgery.
During my life review, I saw my suicide attempt (which occurred a few months prior to my near-death experience) through the loving gaze of God. God had enormous love and compassion for me during this sad time in my life. I felt completely supported by this loving force of God, and I could hear some of God’s thoughts about that time in my life.
When God viewed my suicide attempt, I felt that God wanted me to love myself more and know that I am deeply loved and supported by the universe, even when it does not seem that way. God wanted me to place a high priority on my health and healing. There were a myriad of choices available to me besides making an attempt on my life. I saw all these choices spin out around me as various light-filled paths. I could have contacted friends, acquaintances, certain family members, called a hotline, looked for free or affordable resources through my university, searched for help at churches, or joined a recovery group. There were many options I had besides the one that I picked in that moment.
At twenty-one, I did not know how to walk through the painful parts of my life, but if I reached out to others, I might have made a choice other than swallowing a ridiculous amount of painkillers and washing these painkillers down with a decanter of whiskey. Amazingly, I woke up 36 hours later and realized that I had vomited, which probably saved my life.
At twenty-one, I didn’t realize that I could’ve tried new things I had never tried before. Help might not have come from the people I wanted it to come from, but help and healing was available to me, and it is available to you too. If you are suffering from a deep depression, keep walking through the pain and know that you are not alone on this journey, no matter how alone you might feel at the moment. Find connection somewhere.
Through my life review, I saw that God also wanted me to be kind to others and ask them more questions about their lives. An obsessive focus on myself led to greater depression and sadness. Getting out of myself and listening to others would have brought more joy to their lives and to mine.
Suicidal plans and thoughts should be taken seriously. If you are very close to taking your life, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. If you are not in the U.S., please look up a local or national hotline and talk with someone immediately. Utilize all resources available to you, and reach out to someone you know who is a safe, caring person in your life. If you are not suffering from depression but know someone who is, encourage this person to take healing, self-care, and therapy seriously.
If you suffer from depression but have energy to focus on your health and want to apply the deeply loving force of God to your own situation, I can offer you some ideas. Every journey is an individual one, so please keep searching for what works for you. These are only suggestions.
Self-Love: Read everything you can get your hands on about self-love. Louise Hay is a great resource with many mantras that might begin to change some of your negative thought patterns. Ingest a daily diet of uplifting material—posts, podcasts, videos, and books. I can personally recommend the book How to Love Yourself (And Sometimes Other People) by Lodro Rinzler and Meggan Watterson, especially if you struggle with romantic relationship difficulties. Here is a blog post I have written about self-love. Self-love is essential and necessary. Too often we are much hard on ourselves when we could offer ourselves great compassion instead.
Start a Healing Journey: Every healing journey is individual, but consider researching diets and supplements that can help your mood. Reference books like Prescriptions for Natural Healing might be a place to begin. Focus on simple healthy pleasures each day. Exercise and get vitamin D. Try new things. Depending on your financial situation, invest in a therapist and try out various healing modalities. Everything from eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) which might help with PTSD to energetic healing modalities might offer you relief. Addressing subconscious blocks through modalities like Psych K can be beneficial. Even if you do not have the funds for some of these modalities, you might be able to trade with certain practitioners if you have skills in a certain area. You can learn specific yoga moves or Tai Chi exercises online that can improve your mood. You might also be able to learn more about healing modalities and practices, and find comfort in the talks and free information from healers. Start with therapy and work outward in the directions that you are led.
Commit to a Spiritual Practice: Commit to a support group, recovery group, spiritual practice, church, or gathering that makes you feel connected to love. Do not go somewhere or stay somewhere where you feel judged and bogged down by the negativity of others. During my near-death experience, I clearly saw that love is all that matters. Go somewhere where you feel love, optimism, joy, and release from your struggles. I highly recommend a meditation practice, but like a healing journey, a spiritual journey is an individual one. I can only emphasize the importance of commitment and practice. A spiritual practice is beneficial when you commit to it over the long haul and through the many ups and downs of life.
Volunteer: There is usually someone who is less fortunate than you. Even if you are in a dire position in life, you can volunteer at an organization that already helps you. While volunteering, you might meet others and listen to them with love and with hope. The point of volunteering is to do something to make the lives of others easier or better in some way. As you give what you can give, your troubles lessen and you feel connected to a greater whole. Like exercise or any other activity that we know is good for us but we resist, volunteering can have a profound effect on our consciousness. When we feel useful or helpful, our self-esteem and self-concept changes for the better. Mostly, we simply find joy in being connected to others versus suffering in isolation. We are communal and need one another. Find safe people and form bonds. If you are too anxiety ridden to volunteer somewhere, then find a way to connect with others and do not suffer alone.
Feel the Love of God: Take time in your day to imagine the force of God that near-death experiencers talk about with longing and love. Try to imagine the most loving force on earth. What would that feel like to you? Write down what you would like God to be like for you and what you would like to feel from God right now. Take those positive feelings and multiply them by 70 million. Believe in this love as a reality and not a concept. Close your eyes and imagine what this love would feel like. Bring this love into every single one of your cells. Fill your body with a glowing light that is the purest form of love imaginable. This is your birthright and your true essence. Know it. Share it. Believe it.
Gratitude can rewire your brain: Keep a gratitude journey and write down what you are grateful for each day. Watch this Ted Talk and try some of the other suggestions at the end for creating more happiness in your life. Hopefully, this speaker makes you chuckle a bit. Laughter is one of my favorite medicines.
Life-Review: One of the common experiences during a near-death experience is a brief or extended cinematic view of one’s life. Seeing our connection to others and seeing life through the vision of another person is a powerful lesson. During my life review, I saw into the hearts and minds of people I had not known very well. In life, I had judged them as not particularly interesting for a variety of superficial reasons. During my life review, I clearly witnessed that a good heart and spiritual connection made these people very beautiful and precious to God.
I learned from that one scene in my life review to connect more frequently with people around me and to see people’s hearts, not their outward appearances, their accomplishments, their money, their charisma, etc. For instance, wealth can be a tool to bring more goodness and prosperity to many people, or it can be used to use and manipulate others. There is nothing negative about accomplishments, money, or power, but the heart matters more. Just like the line in the song “Desperado,” it is important to remember that “The Queen of Hearts is always your best bet.” The same applies for the King of Hearts.
My life review was quick and zeroed in only on what I should learn and what I could do better in life. I judged myself and my actions mainly because I could see into the hearts and minds of others and observed my limited thinking. God seemed to be guiding this life review and let me feel what I needed to feel from these scenes. I understood that people I had written off had love and concern for my well-being, and I wished that I had been more open and kinder to them both in my thoughts and in my actions. I saw that God sees our hearts much more than anything else.
According to the website www.nderf.com, there are four categories of life review descriptions. “NDErs categorized them based on 1) how the life review physically happened; 2) content; 3) aftereffects; and 4) other. Many described the life review like a re-run of a play, a film, or watching it on-screen. Others commented on the content of the life review. NDErs generally noted that they were the ones who judged themselves. During the process, they saw the good, the bad, and cause and effect of their choices. Many reported that they had a review of feelings, rather than a review of events. Some say that their review consisted of feeling others reactions to their earthly actions. The other large category were the aftereffects. Not only did participants state that it was important to love and help others, but they also indicated that their relationship with God/Jesus was more important to them. NDErs appreciated life more, and stated that it was important to have a sense of purpose. The smallest category was ‘other’ in which NDErs reported not learning anything or they had a life review but couldn’t remember it.” (Quote taken from www.nderf.com)
Throughout my life since the NDE, I have tried to be more open and supportive of others. I don’t judge people in the same, superficial ways that I once did. We all are works in progress, but I know that lesson was catered especially for me at that time in my life. Young people can be overly concerned with fads, fashions, musical tastes, literature, and sub-cultures in a way that doesn’t matter as much as we get older.
The heart, however, is the gem, the treasure, the best bet.
When Carl Jung asked Chief Mountain Lake why he thought all white people are mad, Mountain Lake replied, ‘They say they think with their heads.’ “’Why of course, says Jung, ‘What do you think with?’ “’We think here,’ says Chief Mountain Lake, indicating his heart.
Tricia Barker 