In honor of the Halloween season, here's the second spooky story from shaman and author Kelley Harrell about one of her psychic experiences.
Whether you're a believer or not, I think you'll agree that what she did in this moment required enormous courage.
(I'll be at the beach Monday and therefore silent on the blog front. Back on Tuesday.)
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14 comments:
First off, I do hope that you are having a wonderful time at the beach! I hope that you are able to relax, kick off those red shoes, and just breath for a bit!
I just finished reading Kelly Harrell's story and I loved it. I have never encountered any ghostly entities, but I think that if I did, my first reaction would be to RUN. Actually, now that I am thinking about it, the story that I shared in Rancho La Puerta about the "dancing mice", and the hand with the long red fingernails might qualify, but that happened when I was a toddler. Anyway, I do agree that what Kelly did in the moment was enormously courageous, and also, quite bold.
Maybe one of the keys to living more boldly is also to remember to remain calm. Being grounded or calm in the moment, allows us to make much more level-headed decisions. Boldness is something that occurs when we are feeling safe and secure enough to go outside of the "normal" boundaries, knowing that whatever happens on the other side of those boundaries will be okay.
I think you're absolutely right about calm being a prerequisite for acting with the best kind of boldness and with courage. And I'd never articulated that in my own thinking before. Thanks.
I just got back from the beach--Bald Head Island, only reachable by ferry. It was quiet and lovely--and I finished reading two good novels I'd been in the midst of, in addition to walking on the beach. Thanks for your good wishes.
Also, about the ghostly encounter--it still counts even if you were young. Some of Kelley's amazing experiences were from pretty early too.
Peggy, Bald Head Island sounds lovely. What novels did you read, if you don't mind my asking? I am ALWAYS looking for something interesting to read. I just started Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and I am having a hard time progressing with it. Maybe it isn't what I "need" at this particular moment, I don't know. Have you read it?
Kind of gave me chills when you said that "it still counts" even if a ghostly encounter occurred when you were young. I had a couple of other ones when I was a child, and I think that my reaction to them, at the time, could have been enough to scare the ghosts away! I guess that things happen when we are more open to them, and I surely slammed that door as hard as possible, bolted it shut, and then slid a room full of furniture in front of it just to be sure. I do still have a lot of "psychic" encounters, but nothing that I am not open to, or comfortable with.
Have a Happy Halloween!
The two books were A Start In Life, which is Anita Brookner's first novel, and A Perfectly Good Family, one of Lionel Shriver's early ones. I enjoyed both, but like Shriver's later work a lot better. And I always like Brookner.
Kids do seem to be more open to Halloween-for-real events. I wonder if I've slammed the door at some point without knowing it. I don't want to do that; and I do. Quite ambivalent.
I'd like to know HOW the door opening and closing works. Think I'll post a question about that.
Have you read The Post Birthday World by Lionel Shriver? It's a very long one, but I loved it! I will have to check out her older work. I started to read, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and I somehow left it down in Rancho La Puerta, so I will have to pick up a new copy.
Did you have more psychic events when you were a child? I can consciously recall slamming the door on my experiences as I got older. As I was commenting on your more recent post, I didn't feel safe or protected as a child, and so I think that since my concrete world did not feel safe, there was absolutely no way that I was going to be able to put up with contacts from places that I didn't understand. Now that I have created a safe environment for myself, I have a lot more positive events that do not frighten me. Looking back to the events that I encountered as a child, I sometimes think that I was being "toyed" with by mischievous "ghosts", so maybe that had something to do with my fear.
I think it's so good that you could get the knack for those experiences back when you were ready.
I had a few glimmers as a kid, a few as an adult. Would like--and fear--more.
And, yes, I read Post-Birthday. I liked it a lot. Shriver really digs into the creepy corners of consciousness.
Maybe it's the "fear" that keeps us from really being able to connect with stronger experiences? I know that had something to do with my closing the door.
I wonder if we can just open ourselves up to positive experiences without allowing in the types that we don't want. I find myself praying for experiences that I will be able to metabolize. I also honor every glimmer of an experience, however small it seems at the time.
Those are three good methods you present:
1. "... open ourselves up to positive experiences without allowing in the types that we don't want."
2. "...praying for experiences that I will be able to metabolize."
3. "I also honor every glimmer of an experience, however small it seems at the time."
Thanks. Art, especially, seems to have its beginnings in those glimmers.
Thanks for breaking that down, Peggy! Interesting how art can also start out like a "psychic experience". I never thought about it that way, but after looking at it after you broke it down, it really makes sense.
Did your stories begin with the glimmer of an idea? What made you decide to write about the things that you chose? Does the "glimmer" of an idea that eventually comes to fruition, feel different than one that just passes, barely noticed?
I am becoming curious about the idea that artistic/creative people are more intuitive and open to psychic experiences than others. What do you think about that?
I think everybody is an artist and a psychic, and that we choose one day at the time whether or not to develop those abilities.
I don't know how to distinguish between the glimmers that develop and the ones that don't.
I do know that some reappear... over and over. Once I found the same idea for a novel that I'd dropped into an idea file three different times. Each time I'd thought it was a new idea. And I couldn't tell you now what that idea was.
These questions could fill a book or ten.
Hi Peggy,
You are right that those questions could fill a few books! Thanks for your patience with my curiosity. I find your ability to take the glimmer of an idea, all the way through to a complete novel, fascinating.
Have a great weekend.
I so admire your curiousity. A friend of mine was once advised by his therapist to build his life on his curiosity, on answering his questions. I thought that was wonderful.
Peggy, I love that! To live a life that is built on answering ones own questions, is to live a life that is infinitely rewarding. I view life as a huge classroom in which our souls are sent to learn and evolve.
I found my first pet cat when I was eleven years old, and I named her Curiosity. I had never been allowed to keep a pet before her, and so watching how she checked everything out, regardless of whether it was a noise or a smell, etc. fascinated me. She taught me not to be self-conscious about being curious.
I really love what your friend's therapist advised him to build his life on. Great wisdom!
Delightful that you named your cat Curiousity.
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