Current Articles
When things go wrong, is there a reason why?
from the January 2019 Wisp
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The real question is, “Do we preplan conflict in our lives to help us overcome obstacles?”
Sheri Engler has just come out with a book which she has authored and illustrated, The Pearls of Wisdom: A Fairy Tale Guide to Life’s Magic Secrets for All Ages.
Sheri is an experienced mentor, medium and metaphysicist with a background in psychology counseling and research. She received a B.A. in Clinical Psychology at San Francisco State University. She lives with her husband in southern Oregon, where they raise mini dairty goats, ducks, chickens and German shepherd dogs.
She says, “The first thing to understand is that we are not victims. We pre-plan conflict into our lives in order to learn from our experiences. That’s how our souls evolve.”
According to the author, we write our scripts before we come here, then we direct and star in our own life story. This is a message that others have written about, in particular Ruth Montgomery, whose books on reincarnation and a vast array of metaphysical subjects have appealed to many seeking answers to life’s mysteries.
According to Sheri, we ask our ‘soul families’ on the other side to play parts in “our movie.” Sometimes they play supportive roles, sometimes dark roles. But just because we plan these things doesn’t mean we have no choice except to suffer.
If you understand how things work, she proclaims, you can use that knowledge to make your life the way you want it. “There’s always freedom of choice.”
Here are some questions worth pondering, to which her book provides discussion:
• How do we plan our lives before we are born and why don’t we remember?
• What’s the point of experiencing painful things, why not learn from happy things?
• How can we figure out the reason for why we planned something?
• Are we to blame for our bad relationships, accidents, illnesses, etc.?
• How can we change what we planned if we don’t like what we’re experiencing?
When things go wrong, when hearts are broken, when jobs fail, or people leave our lives … is there a reason for these tragedies we suffer? Is there a plan behind it all? Is it fate? A curse? Or just random bad luck?
If there is a reason, does that mean we can we change it?
“Yes, you can change anything you want, any time you want—once you learn the secret,” says Sheri.
You can buy the book through her website at www.pearlsofwisdombook.com. She offers the ebook for free, but the book looks so beautiful, you may want to buy either a hard copy or paperback with its gorgeous pictures. All proceeds from her book go to support an outreach foundation to help young girls reach their potential.
You can find the book on Amazon at https:// www.amazon.com/dp/0998818518.
Wispy Words
Aspects of Ourselves
by Ann Ulrich Miller
Some of us live in more than one world. I have reason to believe that I might be one of them. You are probably wondering why I would make such a claim. After all, I know that I am in one physical body, living my life here in Eckert, Colorado.
However, for a long time I had suspicions that I really am multi-dimensional. By that I mean that there are aspects of myself that are experiencing the lives I know through, for example, the many characters I’ve given birth to in my books and stories. The characters in my stories are actually fragments and projections of my own personality and experiences, but somehow down the road, they became their own entities.
As we turn the corner from 2018 into 2019, it’s common for people to reflect over what happened to them in the year that has passed and to look forward to what we want to create in the new one ahead. Certainly if you want to change your life for the better, it is important to lay out goals and to make up your mind that things are going to change. It’s up to you whether they change for better or for worse.
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This year (2019) I am going to become an Artist. This is something I’ve always wanted to be when I grew up. As a matter of fact, after I got my degree in Creative Writing from Michigan State in 1975, I wanted to enroll in the Art program and get a second Bachelor’s. Life with my then husband and our first child intervened and that didn’t happen.
In December 2018, I broke down and decided to buy myself a Christmas present. I ordered an art table with a slanted glass top. I had this item on my “wish list” for more than a year, but didn’t feel I deserved it, or that it was time to become the Artist aspect of my being.
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Then something clicked. I think it happened at the Shopper Christmas party in early December, when I kept staring at the large wall-size mural at the Needle Rock Brewing Co. in Delta, where we had the party. Something about the huge colorful mural, which was the local mountain range near Needle Rock outside Crawford, triggered something in me.
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I kept focusing on it, and a feeling came over me that projected me outside of my current setting into something beyond ... it was like I had stepped out of my current situation into another dimension. The feeling of “wanting to create art” and BE in it at the same time overpowered me. I felt ecstatic.
Creating stories with characters that come to life and stay with me is like having extended family. And it’s true that I actually “live” a fantasy life through my rural teen-age character, Annette Vetter, and get nostalgic when I think about the inside of her farmhouse, the smell of the woods in fall, and the barnyard animals she cares for. A lot of Annette’s friends remind me of the people I grew up with and still think about now and then. I feel that I have never lost touch with any of them.
More recently, I’ve bonded with Bridget in my novel, The Dream Chasers, because many of her experiences were my experiences 16 years ago. Of course, Juniper in Rainbow Majesty was another aspect of myself discovering enlightenment and finding love at the same time. There is also Rhea Sinclair in Sonata Summer, reflecting the musical side of me, only she wasn’t afraid to play in front of others. When I write, I go into another dimension.
When I am creating a drawing or a painting, I go into another dimension that is like stepping out from my mundane world and experiencing more than you can imagine. I guess it’s true that artists, writers, musicians ... we are different from people who keep themselves safely tucked into what they believe to be “normal” lives.
Earth Star produced seven books in 2018, only one of which was published under a different company. I was blown away when I realized this because in addition, I put out 12 newsletters last year, worked a part-time job, and went through two eye surgeries. It’s no wonder I decided to take a break for a few months from book publishing.
Art is a different thing. It is relaxing, it is like traveling on vacation ... it transcends your spirit, and this has been an aspect of myself that I am ready to embrace.
Now ... where is that stash of watercolor paper I’ve been moving around from house to house in the last 20 years?
Be sure to check out the latest releases at my author website, AnnUlrichMiller.com and also www.earthstarpublications.com.
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