Thank you Irene
I just found out that Irene died. "Died". (We'll get back to those quotes in a minute.)
Irene and I worked together for a couple years, part-time and went out on a few work-friend dinners. We weren't super close or tight and I haven't seen her in fifteen years, but when I think about her, I'm happy that she's in the world.
Our mutual friend Jack calls Irene "the BEST". Irene IS the best.
She is beautiful, smart, sarcastically funny, loving and tender and so warm and welcoming. She is a soul-filled human being. It's a devastation to lose her in the world.
Except she's still in the world.
And that's where my story begins.
I felt an enormous amount of grief over her passing. Just, really, unfathomable buckets of bottomless grief. WTF, why?
WHY IRENE, WHY?
So I asked her if she'd like to join me for a chat.
I talk to Anam. I have always done. I’ve just not really shared that publicly. Until now.
Irene joined me for a chat and we conversed for a couple hours. It was clear that she wanted me to share her message with her family and I was NERVOUS.
I don't do this.
My chats with Spirit are my own little private thing that I keep to myself and no one knows and I don't share. I don't have to defend it or be exposed or wounded or vulnerable about this deeply spiritual private practice. If it's all delusional, I can keep my delusions privately to myself.
Irene was having none of it, and I knew it, but I was NERVOUS.
I scanned my sketchbook pages and opened up Facebook and sent them off to her chosen relation and IMMEDIATELY had a fucking breakdown. Emotional chaos.
FEAR.GRIEF.PANIC.
"I don't know what is the right thing to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what is the right thing to do."
PANICPANICPANICPANIC.
Except I do know what the right thing is to do. Irene herself told me. Irene herself assuaged my fears and opened the way forward.
From Irene.
The right thing is often scary. The right thing takes courage.
Love and sharing love is always the right thing to do. Always.
Irene's message is one of love. Love and continuance.
The dead are not dead. We do not die. Our bodies cease to function and go back to the Earth but we continue to exist.
This is the truth. This is the oldest, most ancient, eternal wisdom.
Our loved ones go on and we can continue relationship with them, if we choose.
Do not reject your loved ones in Spirit because you think they stopped existing when they released their bodies.
“No one is keeping me away because they think I’m ‘dead’.”
(One of my favourite things is how character and humour persists even after the body is released.)
Your loved ones cannot communicate with you if you deny them continued existence. You do not HAVE to communicate with them if you don’t want to - but you are the one that is preventing them from communicating. They are not gone. They did not stop. They exist. They continue.
You must allow your loved ones to exist.
They cannot communicate with you if you do not allow them to be with you. You have to allow them to be with you.
Right here. Right now.
Not "in memory" or "in your heart". Literally. Right here. Sitting on the couch, at dinner, in your car.
It's not creepy. It's fucking fantastic. (If you're scared, we'll cover that later... no one is forcing you to do this - I'm just telling you it's true and real.)
They cannot communicate with you if you do not practice together.
Practice communicating with your loved ones in Spirit.
It's like learning a new technology or a new language. To communicate with your loved ones in Spirit requires a whole-ass other set of exercising senses.
This is not possible for just some people - this is EVERYONE.
EVERYONE has this capacity - some just need more practice. Some need to get over their fear and resistance and doubt and disbelief.
It doesn't matter to me if you believe. I'm not interested in convincing you. This is true and it's real and if you want to have a relationship with your loved ones in Spirit, you can.
I never thought I would be going public with this. Never.
The Universe has other plans.
Thank you Irene.
Still a light in the world - even without a body. I love you.
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In Thanksgiving for continued Indigenous survival and future thriving; I dedicate this page to further links and resources for educating ourselves on Truth and Reconciliation.
We can choose new options to Reclaim the Dinner and bring Indigenous gratitude into all our actions. Thank you for being here.