The work was easy.  Load and unload trucks as fast as they entered and departed.  Nothing hard about that until I overheard one of the drivers bragging about transporting illegal substances, and how easy it was to get away with it.

I’ve come through today to tell you about this event because I want people to know that if they have information about a crime, they can’t just walk away from it and pretend like their hands are clean.  Either way, the law or the criminals will catch up with them.

Give up trying to be neutral.  You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.  Easy as that.  Without reporting what I heard, I became a sitting duck for the driver who later saw to it that I was silenced.  Too late for me but not for you.

Anton
08/29/10

Growing up in England was a delight.  Happily, I sketched and painted my way through decades of extensive travels and exciting times. How wonderful it was to see my heart express itself.  Perfume even now!

Before your life closes, paint or draw scenes that depict some of your favoirte memories.  Even if you’re in a city highrise, take up a pencil and sketch vistas from your childhood days when you were out in nature filled with curiosity and wonderment.

Feel those memories again.  Feel the joy!  Get going today.  I promise you’ll be surprised over and over again at what your heart wants to project!

Cedric
08/22/10

The truth is, the more you think about something the more complicated it gets.  So before you tackle something next time, relax, take a deep breath, and then hum a simple little tune.  Something like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star will do!

Once you begin following this easy advice, I guarantee you’ll struggle less with every choice and decision.  By relaxing your mind, your outlook rises to the best possible outcome and you’ll feel it like a magic carpet ride to clarity!

Monica
08/15/10

When people called my name I could hear them but couldn’t answer.  I was in a coma.  While I wanted to make a gesture to show I heard them, my body wouldn’t respond.

When you’re in a coma the majority of your mind has vacated.  It happens other times too, like when people go through trauma.  In almost all cases when the mind returns, sadly it’s altered.

If you know someone who has a distant look in their eyes, press the center of their palms.  It increases their mind’s interest in attending to them.  I know because when my mother massaged my palms I heard buzzing and saw lights.  Most definitely it increased my interest in coming back up to the surface…and so I did.  Gladly!

While this isn’t going to cure cancer, it will help reground anyone you care about.  Do it for yourself too if you’re a daydreamer and can’t seem to get going when it’s time to focus.  After a short while you’ll feel an abundance of energy and clarity!

Penelope
08/08/10

Giving contracts preferentially was a spot I got in because I had a lot of friends in government who had a lot of family and friends with important connections.

That’s reasonable, I assured myself as I awarded another large contract to a close connection.  Someday they will help us back.  I am, afterall, making important alliances. That’s how I whitewashed my conscience.  Trust me, it was wrong and I knew it.  So when heads had to roll guess whose name kept coming up? 

Look yourself in the eye everyday in the mirror and insist you not betray yourself by justifying things.  It’s ridiculous.  In the end you’ll come up short because you won’t be able to stand on principle.  And from where I am, your good name is really all you have…or not. 

Eldin
08/01/10

As a young negro boy growing up in the South I learned to wait and watch as others directed things.  In time, however, I directed my own path.  Eventually I turned into a first rate student and athlete; a true a class leader.

For the remainder of my life I approached things differently.  Quietly.  Fighting bigotry, I knew, would take generations.  So while life wasn’t easy, I gained plenty of personal insights and rewards. 

My advice: Don’t fight others to force them to see the light.  It never works.  Show them what it looks like: Dignity. 

Elroy
07/18/10

We’ve all heard it: take time to smell the roses. But do we?  I didn’t.  But then I never really appreciated how quickly life could end.

Do something that has a positive effect on your life’s outlook each and every day.  Example:  listen closely to the abundance of life-affirming sounds in the park…kids laughing, birds singing, families sharing, trees rustling.  What’s important is to find a positive focus and then soak it in as if your life depends upon it.

If you don’t accept the gifts life has to offer, your will to live will weaken.  It happens subtly, but it happens.  Reverse that!  With purpose find joy in something special every day!

- Howard

07/11/10

A few times over the course of my life I had the opportunity to be a judge in a local pageant or fair.  Of course it was fun at the time, but later I realized how differently I was judged - sometimes better, sometimes worse - depending on the outcome of the contest.

How awkward was that, I remember thinking to myself a number of times as someone I recognized refused to acknowledge me.  Too late now, I thought.  But it wasn’t.

Someone I confided in gave me great advice: Always be the first to say hello to people, no matter who they are, friend or otherwise.  It gives you the advantage every time.  Then it’s up to them to continue bridging things, and they almost always do.  Believe me, this works even with your harshest critics!

Terry

07/04/10

Choosing Paris as the place to get married seemed like a wonderful idea.  After all, April in Paris - what dreams are made of!  So my fiancé and I agreed to tie the knot in the City of Light. 

Candidly speaking though, what we didn’t realize was the difficult position we put our friends and family in, financially.  So instead of the majority being able to attend our nuptials, we had only a handful.

Some say it didn’t matter, but I can tell you now that while Paris was everything I had hoped for, our wedding wasn’t.  For years after I regretted that more family and friends weren’t able to be with us to share our most important day. 

Be open to traveling, of course.  But stay home when you want to have special memories that can be shared with those you love. 

Annabelle

06/27/10

I would like to pass along the best advice I ever got: Give your opinion only once. After that, let it go.  Believe me, if you heed this advice your opinion will carry much more weight than if you insist upon repeating it. 

I like being able to come through!  It’s been a long time since I’ve been heard on your side since most of my friends and family are here now with me.  For the record, I was a longshoreman in my younger years.  While betting was my vice, family get-togethers were my strength. 

I died shoveling snow.  It was over pretty quick.  No one I knew picked up a snow shovel after that, so I guess ‘pressing my messages through’ really did the trick!

Arnie

06/20/10

Become a great parent by becoming a great role model.  See yourself as your child’s exact blueprint of future behavior.

For instance, if you yell or argue to get your way, they will too.  If you turn on the charm to manipulate getting your way, they will too.  But if you show patience under pressure, they will too.  The outcome then becomes a tremendous shift into a relaxed relationship of cooperation.

Every instance where you demonstrate patience becomes a feeling etched on your child’s heart that life is worth living, because people are worth knowing…including themselves.

Such is life!

Doreen

06/13/10

When you’re young you believe in love, because you’re still undamaged by it for the most part.  But for those who had difficult home lives believing in love is a challenge, because trust is involved.  So it was in my life.

In my 20s I took a foreign language class.  Struggling one day to pronunciate words correctly, a fellow student kept smiling at me.  She sensed my awkward attempts and wanted me to feel at ease.  She wanted me to see that I could trust her; that she wouldn’t laugh at me.  Hard as it seemed to believe, it felt like I could trust her. Eventually we got together, and through our trust made a healthy, loving life together. 

Don’t give up on love.  Make trust the foundation of your friendships, and then watch what happens: love!

Patrick

06/06/10

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Time was never an issue for me because I lived on an island where we rarely looked at clocks.  Mostly we moved with the sun and the tides and let the day unfold for itself, which left each day wide open to wonderful surprises!

Coming through is a privilege, I know, because there are so many of us over here who want to come through.  So, I want to make the most of my wish: make each day a BIG day.  What this means to me is do at least one new thing each day! Sing a new song.  Walk somewhere different.  Try a new food. 

It only reasons to follow that when you give new things a try, unexpected things unfold from there like dots happily connecting!

Follow this advice and become a brighter person.  It’ll make a surprising difference.  I’m sure of it!

Rowena

05/30/10

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Suffice it to say there are too many people each day telling us what to think and do.  For me, however, none of their opinions or advice mattered as much as my wife’s, so I learned to dismiss their ideas of who I should be and how I should behave, and only took to heart what my wife thought.

When she and I took our marital vows we promised to love and honor one another.  To us that meant putting the other ahead of yourself.  Sometimes it was easy. Many times it was not.  But after 55 glorious years together, the result was the best marriage and closest friendship of all my friends and colleagues. 

Find out what your spouse’s wishes, wants and needs are, and then make them happen from your heart.  It’s the glue that binds you! (Bonus: It also keeps you healthier, longer.)

William

05/23/10

YouTube
Brave people come in times of trouble.  As they step forward, we recognize something special that sets them apart.  Once in a while, however, a brave person has been in our midst all along, quietly waiting for God to call upon them.

That’s why I’ve come through today.  I want to retrace my footsteps back to when I was a boy in Indiana and fell into an abandoned well.  Dark and slippery is all I remember now, but without the help of our neighbor, a dear, private man, it would have been my certain demise.  Upside down for nearly an hour he hung, holding my hands and telling me funny things to calm me down as others pulled us up.  Although we got out, he wasn’t carried home the way he should have been: on people’s shoulders. 

So many folks are braver than you know.  I believe God allows each of us times to step forward, but not everyone does.  He did.  I owed him my life and am so glad for this opportunity to say thanks.  “Tom, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!”

Mike

05/16/10

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People almost always thought I was a boy.  Though I tried to look more feminine, in their minds they saw me one way so I was stuck.

I’m sharing this because there are millions of kids just like me, pigeon-holed by society into what they feel is who you are.  After years of being rejected, taunted and teased, I gave up. 

When God took me home, I was shown how I could have changed things for the better: instead of seeing myself in the mirror with similar feelings of rejection, I needed to see myself with love in my eyes. 

If you see anyone with their head or shoulders down, smile at them.  Give them a sincere compliment.  Tell them how special they are.  It makes a difference.  It may make all the difference when they see love in your eyes.

Thank you for sharing this time with me -

Tracy B.

05/09/10

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From the day I died, I promised myself that if ever I could come through to help someone on your side I would advise that they live as if today were their final day. 

While that may sound morbid, it’s not.  In fact, it’s the most life-affirming thing one could do.  Believe me!  I tried it a few times and the difference those days made in my life were amazing, because I treated people, even strangers, like they were more special than anyone. 

It came over me one day to try this.  I like to think it was God talking to me, but however the idea came I’m grateful because I got to have a handful of days that felt like the sun was shining from the inside out!

A lot of love,
Kathleen

05/02/10

YouTube

Too many times we think we’re not enough.  But the funny thing is, we’re much better at nearly everything than we think.  I’m here to tell you a secret: when you wish for something it’s just that.  A wish.  Tell yourself that you’re already really good at whatever it is that you want to be good at!

It’s true.  Sincerely!  People talk themselves out of so many things it’s silly.  While they say they want it, they pretend they know why they can’t really achieve or have it.  Nonsense!  Leave no room for excuses.

Start rallying your forces of positive energy.  It’s a gift to use them.  After all, they’re God-given!

Jerry

04/25/10

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I fought and fought with my dog, Big Duke, over which part of the bed or couch he was allowed to be on until I nearly wore myself out and he only got more defiant.  We mostly just put up with each other until he died, and then I felt so alone.  I missed him so much.

Once I died and came home, Big Duke was there to greet me! In fact, his tale wagged so much it pushed me around which surprised me since I didn’t think that could happen once you leave your body.  But, as it turns out, when you really love someone – even a pet – you bring them back to life in a way that is much more real than you could possibly know.

Love your family with all your heart.  And yes, that means your pets, too.  When you die, you’ll be amazed at what awaits you! 

Love life with all your heart -

Rayleen

04/18/10

YouTube

“Full of life!” That’s how people always used to describe me.  It was fun being a teenager with lots of friends because it meant I always had someone to do things with.  That is until the time I dared myself to ride my bike for as far as I could without looking. (Dumb, I know.) That’s when I was hit by a car and fatally injured. 

Before I died I wished I hadn’t put so much stock in proving to myself that I could do things I knew I shouldn’t.  It wasn’t worth the dare, and certainly not worth what it put my family through.  Don’t test fate! Don’t be stupid and don’t let anyone – not even yourself – talk you into a dare.  Do life-affirming things because that’s when you really begin living the good life!

Simon

04/11/10