Thoughts on Letting go and Forever Ours by Dr. Janis Amatuzio February 25, 2012
Posted by heidi skarie in Book Review.Tags: cancerous tumor, heart disease, janis amatuzio, loving wife, lung cancer, pneumonia
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I believe we are guided to read certain books at just the right time for what we need. My last blog was on the book Beyond Knowing by Janis Amatuzio. After I finished reading it, her first book Forever Ours became available at the library.
In one of the stories her first patient was sick with pneumonia and she gave him antibiotics. He recovered from the pneumonia but then the doctors were able to detect that he had a cancerous tumor on his lung. He decided to not have treatment and to go home and enjoy the time remaining to him.
Dr. Amatuzio was devastated by the thought of losing a patient. She thought he was giving up and she wanted him to fight for his life. But over the years she came to realize he wasn’t giving up, he was letting go. He’d accepted that he was dying and wanted to be with his loving wife in his own home.
This past weekend my aunt was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor the size of a baseball in her lungs. She has also decided not to do chemotherapy or surgery. There is a chance she can be treated it with antibiotics since she wasn’t a smoker, but the parallel between having just read the story in the book and my aunt being diagnosed with lung cancer struck me a more than a coincidence. We are being guided all the time if we pay attention.
Letting go is hard but there are many things we have to let go of in life. The hardest is letting go of a loved one or letting go of life when it’s time to move on. But there are lots of other times we have to let go of smaller things like favorite possessions, or a lost or dying pet, or friends who move away, or past hurts. Learning to let go is part of life. Gradually as we grow in wisdom, like Amatuzio did, we begin to let go with grace.
In the book Forever Ours, the title refers to the love that we have with people. Janis Amatuzio concluded we will always have this love even when one of us moves to the other side.
When her mother was in the hospital with heart disease, she began to pray. Almost immediately her head filled with the following words. “Janis, I love you so. Don’t worry, your parents will be fine. At the moments of their deaths, I will wrap them up in my love and yours, and they will be forever ours. The comfort, amazement and relief I (Janis) felt were overwhelming. I knew the words were true and would last me a lifetime.” p. 200
The book ended with a beautiful poem.
Ascension
And if I go
While you’re still here. . .
Know that I live on
Vibrating to a different measure
Behind a veil you cannot see through.
You will not see me,
so you must have faith.
I wait for the time when we can
soar together again
both aware of each other.
Until then, live life to its fullest!
When you need me, just whisper
my name in your heart. . .
I will be there.
-Colleen Cora Hitchcock p. 201
If you have any stories about letting go or dealing with death, I’d love to hear them. Post your comments on this blog.
Today I’m leaving on a Caribbean cruise. I’m looking forward to warm days, swimming in the ocean and seeing green trees and flowers instead of snow. I’ll post photos when I return. Embrace life. It’s a precious gift.
Beyond Knowing by Janis Amatuzio February 19, 2012
Posted by heidi skarie in Book Review.Tags: dreams visions, inner voice, pathologist, reassurance, simplicity and beauty
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I recently went to a dinner party. After we ate, one of the men I’ll call Joe asked me if I believed in reincarnation. I replied that I did and Joe said that he did as well. This led into a sharing of stories. His wife said after her mother died she had a dream with her that was a “visitation.” Joe said he’d once been stopped at an intersection and was about to pull out when an inner voice told him to wait. He waited and a car came barreling by. Joe knew he would have been hit if he hadn’t listened to the inner voice.
Another woman in the room said that she believed that after you died you were dead. She had a dream of her mother who died as well, but for her this was just a dream created by the mind. Her husband didn’t know what to make of the stories. I asked him if he’d had dreams of his beloved dog Homer who had died recently. He had but he didn’t think that they were real.
The differences in how people related to their esoteric experiences led me to thinking about something Dr. Amatuzio said in her book Beyond Knowing. Dr. Amatuzio is a Minnesota pathologist and in her work the loved ones of the deceased occasionally told her extraordinary dreams, visions or synchronies. Gradually she had a shift in awareness from wondering if these extraordinary stories were true to a knowing they were. She said that something awakened inside her and she even had an awareness that she already knew these things. She thought these experiences are a trigger to wake up spiritually.
Dr. Amatuzio saw that the people who had these amazing experiences were profoundly changed. These experiences brought them joy, relief, reassurance, comfort, and sometimes healing. She began asking them. “How has this changed your life?” p. xvi
The answers were elegant in their simplicity and beauty. “It’s all about love. All is well. Be kind. Trust yourself. Don’t worry. Live each day to the fullest. Life is a phenomenal gift. There is nothing to fear. Everything is really all right.” p. xvi
“Perhaps these experiences are immortal gifts, ago-old portals through which we can reach into the realm of the masters and mystics, approach the threshold of the divine, and glean the wisdom of the ages. Could the magic and power in these familiar stories transform us as they have others?” p. xvi
Dr. Amatuzio tells about her own wake up process that started when she was a child. Once day she lay down for a nap and fell asleep. Her guardian, a being of light, appeared at her bedside. Together they left the room and rode horses above the earth. He told her without words that he would accompany her throughout her life and sent light streaming toward her. She had a feeling of love, joy and ecstasy.
The book is filled with amazing stories that were told to Dr. Amatuzio. One that stuck out for me took place in 1888 here in Minnesota. Harry and Walter Swenson were brothers who worked a dairy farm. One February day Walter drove to town with a team of horse and got caught in a blizzard on the way home. When he didn’t return home Harry became worried and searched for him. The storm lasted three days during which time there was no sign of Walter.
When the storm let up Harry went to the barn to milk the cows. Walter walked in. “Harry was overjoyed and surprised and said, ‘Walter, what took you so long? It’s about time you showed up!’ Walter looked at him and said, ‘Harry, I thought you had been looking long enough. Me and the team, we passed in the storm.’ Harry blinked, and his brother was gone.” P. 132. Walter and his horse were found down in a creek bed frozen solid a week later.
Another woman named Theresa told Dr. Amatuzio she had the gift of seeing. One night she dreamed of her friend Marge who wore a maroon dress and locket on a gold chain. They danced around each other in joy. Theresa awoke from the dream and noticed the time was midnight. The next day a friend came over and told her that Marge had died of a heart attack at midnight. When Therese went to the mortuary there was Marge’s body in the maroon dress with the locket around her neck.
Dr, Amaturio’s father, Don, shared a story from a time when he was critically ill in the hospital. Don had a sense of leaving his hospital room and flying across a vast space. He arrived a magnificent place with vivid colors and beautiful music. The light there glowed and felt familiar. Then Don came to a river. On the other side were all his family and friend who had died. They waved and beckoned to him; he was overjoyed and began to wade the river. They stopped waving the turned around. Don knew he wasn’t to cross over. When he awakened it was early evening and he felt peaceful. When the doctor came to visit, he found that Don was finally showing signs of recovery and would live. The doctor said, “You’re going to be okay!” p. 169.
Denise told of a dream of her dog Kizzie who had died six months earlier. In the dream Kizzie was running around like she did as a puppy “in the most beautiful place imaginable. “ p. 173. The dog looked her in the eyes and let her know that she was happy and in a good place. When Denise woke up she knew the dog was fine and her heart healed. Later Denise was watching What Dreams May Come and in a scene in the movie there was the same meadow she’d seen Kizzie in. “And then the peace and joy she had experienced reawakened in her heart, and her surprise faded to the calm, still place of deep knowing.” p. 173.
Dr. Amaturio asked Denise what had changed in her life since then. She said, “This experience has been so profound for me. Now I am certain: I know there is much more waiting for all of us after our brief visit here on earth. I have no fear.” P. 174.
Dr. Amaturio says that, “These beautiful experiences allow us to truly find ourselves again, to remember who we are, truly, and what we already know.” P.201. The wisdom of these stories is the truth that: “You are deeply loved and never alone. You will see your loved ones again and again; and just the power of your thought will draw them to you.” p. 201.
When I reflect back on the dinner party, I think that the people attending represent a typical cross section of people. Some don’t believe in an afterlife, others are wondering if these extraordinary events could be true, while yet others know they are true like Dr. Amatuzio who said she awakened to the truth.
Dr. Amatuzio says, “But please don’t take my experience as recorded in this book as “the truth.” Read the words on these pages and the stories that real people have shared with me. Then trust your own feelings, make your own decisions, and arrive at your own truth, about one of the greatest concerns of sentient humanity: Life and Death.” P. xi.
If you have an amazing story, I’d love to hear it. Please leave a comment.
Here is a YouTube of Dr. Amatuzio: This is an excellent lecture that Janis Amatuzio gave at the University of Minnesota. It’s long, but well worth listening to. Janis is funny and very personable. You’ll enjoy the talk.
Closer to The Light by Dr. Morse February 4, 2012
Posted by heidi skarie in Book Review.Tags: death, Dr. Morse, near death experiences, out of body experiences
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I’ve been thinking about death. A friend of mine died of cancer recently. I got to know him when he was already in hospice so his death wasn’t unexpected. On the same day that I heard that he was failing, I talked to a friend whose mother had passed away and got an email from a friend whose beloved dog had just died of kidney failure.
Death is not easy to talk about. In our society people no longer die at home, but in a hospital setting so we’re separated from death. Moreover, many people fear death.
And yet death is a part of life. People and animals are always somewhere on that journey between birth and death.
I just finished reading Closer to the Light by Melvin Morse, M. D. with Paul Perry. The subtitle is Learning From the Near-Death Experiences of Children. Dr. Raymond Moody challenged the world to recognize near-death experiences (NDE) in his book Life After Life. Dr. Morse, a pediatrician, continued his work and by doing extensive research on NDE with children.
Dr. Morse first became interested in NDE when a nine-year old patient was in the intensive care unit. She had been found unconscious in a pool and had massive swelling of the brain. Three days later she made a full recovery. Afterward when the doctor questioned her about her experience he discovered that she remembered all the details of her hospital experience, including what the doctors did to save her even though she was unconscious.
She then told of going through a tunnel and meeting a woman named Elizabeth, a tall nice woman with golden hair. She also met her late grandfather and several other people including two boys waiting to be born. While out of her body she visited her home and saw her family. Elizabeth took her to meet the Heavenly Father and Jesus. The Heavenly Father asked her if she wanted to go home. She said she wanted to stay with him. Jesus asked if she wanted to see her mother again and she said yes and then awoke.
Here is Dr. Morse interviewing her.
Crystal who drowns in pool
This experience led Dr. Morse to doing research on children with NDE. He found that children have experiences that are very similar to adults. The main difference being that children don’t have a “life review” when out of their body, perhaps because their life has been so short.
The typical NDE experience begins with the person floating out of their body. They usually see their body below them and often see medical people trying to save them. They may also see family members. Then they go through a tunnel. Next they see a light or a being of light who they see as their guardian angle or a spiritual being. They may also see someone they know like a grandparent who passed away years ago. The person is then asked if they want to return to their body or told they have to since their life purpose isn’t over.
Here is an example of story from six-year-old Daniel who was hit by a car. “I was standing there watching the doctors load me into the ambulance, when I saw that I was outside my body. My mother was crying and everyone was in a hurry.
When I got to the hospital, I watched the doctors put tubes in me. I looked yucky because I was bloody and bruised.
“I then went down a tunnel that was dark. At the end of the tunnel was a bright light. I wasn’t sad and I wasn’t happy, but I did want to get to the light. When I got to it, I met three men. One was very tall and the other two were short. Behind them was a rainbow bridge that stretched across the sky. They seemed nice, but I was afraid of them anyway.
“All of a sudden I was back in my body. I looked down at my feet, and the men were there. Then they disappeared, and I was completely back.” P. 39-40
As I reflect on this story I remembered that my friend whose dog died said that Homer had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Interesting that both of these people used this expression.
The chapter of the book that interested me the most was called The Pure Light. In this chapter Dr. Morse talked about the Light. He begins with a quote from Black Elk, a Native American Spiritual Leader. “Grown men may learn from little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.”
Light appears in nearly all of children’s NDE and in one out of four adult experiences. The light appears after the person has had an out-of-body experience or traveled through the tunnel. The Light wraps them in “warmth and caring.” For some the voice of God comes from the Light. Many say that seeing the Light changes them for life. The pure light is described as unconditional love, or “all-knowing or all-forgiving.” One five-year-old said “I will never forget that Light. It is with me all the time.” P. 116. Another child said, “It represented love peace and happiness and complete and utter joy.” P. 116. Dr. Morse says that the Light makes the NDE mystical.
While the Light is important I noticed that Dr. Morse didn’t say much about the sound. Yet some of the descriptions of the NDE did mention hearing a choir or music. I believe the Sound and the Light are both ways in which the Holy Spirit speaks to us. We hear the sound current in the wind, the song of a bird, in music, and laughter.
Dr. Morse ends his book with a few quotes from the children.
“I have a secret to tell you. I have been climbing a staircase to heaven.”
“I just wanted to get to that Light. Forget my body, forget everything. I just wanted to get to that Light.”
“I wasn’t afraid to live again because I knew that someday I would be with the Light.”
“You’ll see. Heaven is fun.” P. 181.
Reading the book was perfect timing for me. It was a reminder that death is nothing to fear. We are soul, not our body, and someday we will leave our body and go into the Light where joy and unconditional love and a loving being of light await us.
If any of you had a NDE or any other mystical experience, please share them with me on this
The following are two videos interviews with Dr. Morse.
Interview with Larry King
Interview with Joan Rivers
