Lessons from Heaven

The story of Anita Moorjani’s near-death experience as told in her bestselling book “Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death to True Healing,” touched the hearts of so many people around the world because she shared not only her extraordinary healing upon returning to her body, but also the lessons and truths she gathered in her brief time in the afterlife.

Specifically, Moorjani spoke about the unconditional love she felt for herself and others, and how she realized the cause of many issues in her life, including cancer, was her own lack of self-love. Her story reinforced many spiritual beliefs, such as we don’t die; the soul lives on forever; and the most important thing in this physical life is love.

In her newest book, “What If This Is Heaven: How Our Cultural Myths Prevent Us from Experiencing Heaven on Earth,” she takes on the biggest myths holding us back from being our authentic selves, and one that jumped out for me was “You Get What You Deserve.”

Moorjani pointed out during our interview for the September 2016 Issue cover story of Elevated Existence Magazine, that despite what many organized religions teach, we are not judged on the other side. We can see how our actions affected the people in our lives, but there is no harsh judgment — only love. More importantly, we don’t feel the need to judge others, even those who may have wronged us during our physical life.

“In the other realm where I shed my body, I was in a state of total clarity, total empathy and total unconditional love,” she says in the September 2016 Issue cover story. “When you are in that state you feel for everybody — even those who have hurt you — with unconditional love. Empathy means understanding where they were, understanding why they did what they did and knowing that they could not have done any differently from where they were standing.”

Layout 1She believes every single person, no matter what they do, has a story behind them, which made them react the way they did. However, while living here in this physical world, we don’t see other people’s stories, and we don’t know or understand what drives them to do what they do. In the other realm, we can see it all with extreme clarity, and have what she calls “360-degree vision.”

“All is known. All is transparent. You know the story behind what took them to the point of doing what they are doing — even the person holding the shotgun or the terrorist,” she explains. “When you know that story, you realize there is nothing to forgive.”

Imagine if we lived our lives from this vantage point while still in our physical bodies — and this is only one of the myths she takes on in the book!

We are all here as spiritual beings having a human experience, but it IS possible to harness our authentic selves and bring a little piece of heaven into our everyday lives. As Moorjani says in the September 2016 issue:

“It’s not about going out and changing the world. It’s about becoming what we want to see in the world.”

My Message From a Starbucks Fly

If you are familiar with me and my work, you know I believe we are given constant signs and synchronicities from the Universe to help us on our path — whether navigating us where to go next, assuring us we are on the right path or waking us up to something we might not have noticed or realized.

Well, my latest sign came courtesy of a fly at Starbucks!

I was sitting in a local Starbucks with the intent of working for a few hours without any distractions, and as soon as I sat down, I noticed a fly buzzing around the chair.

Now, this Starbucks was pretty big, and I was all the way in the back of the store, sitting in a nice brown leather chair with a table right next to hold my unsweetened, iced passion tea. I assumed since the place was pretty spacious the fly would eventually be on its way to another section (and another person).

I was wrong.

This fly was apparently in love with me because he never left my side. He crawled on the table next to me (I think he was even staring at me at one point) and he buzzed about in front of me, behind me and around me. He never truly got in my way, but he was there and kept grabbing my attention.

At one point I even texted my boyfriend: “I’m being harassed by a fly. Just thought I would share…”

Over two hours passed and this fly was still hanging out with me. Then it hit me! This fly has an entire Starbucks to roam about and he is sticking with me. There must be a reason.

I looked up the metaphysical meaning of a fly, and this is what I found:

“Your persistence in reaching your goals will bare fruit sooner than later. Even if that means annoying others or being selfish for a while — you do have the ability to accomplish your goals.”

I got the chills because here I was at Starbucks trying to minimize distraction so I could get work done and move toward my goals. Not only that, but I spent the last few weeks writing down my goals, breaking them down into projects and prioritizing daily tasks to get them all done (thank you J.B. Glossinger and your “Sacred Six Method”}. I have also been feeling guilty because I have work to do and can’t take off every time loved ones have off from work.

This fly reinforced exactly what I need to hear.

And the best part . . . as soon as I looked up the meaning online and got the message, after hanging with me for hours, the fly immediately flew away and never came back.

Message received little fly, and thank you for your help.

I wanted to share this story to show you an example of how the universe is always communicating with us, and sometimes even the things we find annoying or negative hold messages for us.

Keep your eyes open, my friends, and don’t discount anything — even a little fly.

tammyTammy Mastroberte is a three-time, award-winning writer, founder of Elevated Existence, and publisher and editorial director of the multi-award-winning Elevated Existence Magazine. She started the new age, spiritual and self-improvement company at age 30 – eight years after the sudden death of her mother from a brain aneurysm only three days after Christmas in 1999. This tragedy led her down a synchronistic path to discover her purpose and the meaning behind many of the events in her life – including her mother’s death. She now shares her guidance, and the wisdom of today’s top authors and spiritual celebrities through Elevated Existence. Follow her on FacebookTwitter: @ElevatedTammy on Instagram: elevatedtammy

Elevated Existence August 2016 Self-Help Book Picks

Each month, a ton of new spiritual and self-help books hit the market. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or miss out on some new releases.

We created Elevated Existence Monthly Book Picks to help our readers narrow down their search, and make sure they don’t miss some great options!

The books for this month were chosen by our editor’s as their picks for August 2016. They are listed below in alphabetical order. Click on each title to go directly to Amazon and find out more about the book.

enlightened-marriage“The Enlightened Marriage: The Five Transformative Stages of Relationships and Why the Best is Still to Come,” by Jed Diamond
For more than 40 years, Jed Diamond has been helping couple repair even the most damaged of relationships and reweave broken marriages, and in his newest book, he reveals the five stages of relationships. He believes because most of us have had hurtful experiences in past relationships, often going back to childhood, we develop an inaccurate love map that causes us to get off track when the stresses of life increase. In this book, he helps readers get through stage three, which is disillusionment, without losing love; learn while healing childhood wounds is the greatest give of love you can give and receive from your partner; recognize and address the mid-life stresses of “menopause,” irritable man syndrome and male-type depression; and more.

expectant-mom“Finding Calm for the Expectant Mom: Tools for Reducing Stress, Anxiety and Mood Swings During Your Pregnancy,” by Dr. Alice Domar and Sheila Curry Oakes
From fun quizzes and stories of women Dr. Alice Domar worked with, to information, advice and encouragement, this new book includes mind-body techniques to relieve stress, anxiety and moodiness. It offers tools for problem-solving so expectant mothers can adjust their expectations, restructure negative thought patterns, cultivate resilience, and happily anticipate becoming a mother.

 

learn-almost-anything-in-48-hours“How to Learn Almost Anything in 48 Hours: The Skills You Need to Work Smarter, Study Faster and Remember More,” by Tansel Ali
Three-time Australian Memory Chamption, Tansel Ali, reveals the secret to learning new skills fast, including easy-to-learn memory strategies such as mind mapping, visualization techniques and mnemonic devices. Whether studying for exams, learning a foreign language, mastering a musical instrument or improving something about yourself, he show readers how to do it quickly through practical exercises and brain training techniques.

 

take-charge-of-your-destiny“Take Charge of Your Destiny: How to Create the Life You Were Born to Live,” by Jim Donovan
Learn to create a compelling vision for your future, eliminate subconscious blocks in your way and create a life of abundant health, success, prosperity and joy. Jim Donovan shares how to break the illusions holding us back; how to easily uncover the resistance blocking our progress; how to create one’s own personal health team, how to attract more money into our lives easily and joyfully; how to feel better no matter what happens; and more.

 

thank-and-grow-rich“Thank and Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy,” by Pam Grout
If you are ready to connect to the field of potentiality author Pam Grout talked about in her books “E-Squared” and “E-Cubed,” her newest book will help you get on the frequency of joy and gratitude to begin experiencing miracles and communication from the universe. The book offers an updates perspective on abundance, which goes beyond financial capital, and shows readers how to grow and expand their creative, social and spiritual capital and more. The 30-Day experiment offers exercises or “party games” to help raise the readers vibration and change their thinking through “thanking,” as Grout explains in the book.

The Art of Not Making It Real

By Gary Renard

One of the most important tenets of “A Course in Miracles” (ACIM), if you are actually interested in doing the Course, could be put in just four words: Don’t make it real.

More specifically, don’t make this illusion of a world or anything in it real in your mind because the world you see is your projection, which has no inherent reality. With the Course, you don’t forgive people because they really did something to you; you don’t forgive situations because they’re really happening; and you don’t forgive the events you see on the news because they are true. You forgive everything because nothing has really happened except in a dream of your own making; a script you authored and then forgot you made up. As the Course puts it, “We forgive our brother for what he hasn’t done.”

If ACIM is saying anything, it’s saying nothing has happened, and that “The full awareness of the Atonement is that the separation (from God) never occurred.” And because people haven’t really done anything, they are innocent. Few people like that idea at first, until an associated fact sinks in. And the truth of that statement doesn’t just mean other people are innocent. The most important thing is it must also mean that you are innocent. And you get in touch with your own innocence by seeing it everywhere.

The Secret to Salvation
Once in a while something will happen where I’m tempted to be upset. Maybe I’m on the Internet and I read someone saying something very nasty about me. Never mind that they never met me, don’t know me, and have no idea what they’re talking about. You would think, given the confidence with which they make their pronouncements, that they know everything about me. There are a lot of angry people out there, and the Internet is the perfect place for them to project their unconscious guilt onto others. Of course they don’t know that they’re projecting. They just think they’re right and their anger is justified. But as the Course would say to them, “Anger is never justified,” and “Attack has no foundation.” Indeed, the Course even gives us the secret to salvation: “You are doing this unto yourself.”

So, if I’m tempted to be upset, then I have to catch myself and stop. If I’m feeling upset I must be making it real. Why? Because if I wasn’t making it real then I wouldn’t be upset. The second that I remember the truth, the uncomfortableness goes away.

Every now and then I’ll get an e-mail with a complaint, or several complaints about something; my books are too absolute and uncompromising, my jokes are too smart assed, etc. Invariably, the e-mail concludes with the words, “I forgive you.” I write back to them saying, no, they haven’t forgiven me or their grievance. If they learned ACIM they’d know that the problem is, “You have made it real, and so you cannot forgive it.”

Practicing True Forgiveness
forgive-yourselfNot making it real is the smoothest short cut to practicing true forgiveness. Knowing there is a truth just beyond the illusory veil, a world unseen yet truly there, and that the world we see is a trick of the ego, makes it possible to get to the fact of the matter quickly instead of losing our peace. As a character once said in a movie, “The Matrix is an illusion to pull the wool over your eyes and stop you from seeing the real world.” Of course the movie didn’t go all the way and acknowledge God as the truth beyond the illusion, but hey, it’s a good start.

Thinking that people are bodies, and those bodies are real, is what the Course would call egocentricity. In a message to Helen Schucman, the scribe of the Course, Jesus was talking to her about always saying yes to people and not being able to say no. He brought up Edgar Cayce, who worked relentlessly and died younger than he should have, as an example of not being able to say no. Then Jesus made a very interesting statement, “If you cannot say no to the requests of others, you have not yet overcome egocentricity.”

If you can’t say no, then you’re saying to your own mind this is a real person, and they have a real problem, and this problem really has to be solved, and you’re the one who really has to solve it. And by extension you’re saying you are also a real body in a real world. You’re making the whole enchilada true. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t help people. But if you do, then you should do it after asking the Holy Spirit, if there is time. And don’t help them out of guilt or because you think you have to. Help them as an expression of love.

In the future, when the human race has a deeper understanding of quantum physics, recognizes the illusory nature of the universe more completely, and begins to understand the cause and process of projection, then the idea of forgiveness will make much more sense and be seen as the self-forgiving dynamic that it is. But you don’t have to wait for the world. You can end your suffering forever, in this lifetime. You can do this by recognizing that everyone you meet and everything in this world is a symbolic representation of that which is hidden in your own unconscious mind. And by forgiving what you see, you are forgiving yourself. Thus will your mind be healed through the activation of Spirit. And when it is completely healed you will have the peace of God and attain the state of enlightenment.

Forgiveness of everything and everyone you perceive, by not making it real and instead choosing the reality of Spirit, is necessary if you are to experience complete forgiveness for yourself. As “A Course in Miracles” asks you, “Can you to whom God says, ‘Release My Son!’ be tempted not to listen, when you learn that it is you for whom He asks release? And what but this is what this course would teach? And what but this is there for you to learn?”

ABOUT GARY RENARD
GaryRenardGary Renard is the bestselling author of “The Disappearance of the Universe” trilogy, including “Your Immortal Reality,” and his latest, “Love Has Forgotten No One: The Answer to Life ” — all based on “A Course in Miracles.” As a teacher and worldwide speaker, Renard has taught “A Course in Miracles” in 24 countries and 43 states, appeared in seven documentary movies, won the Infinity Foundation Spirit Award, and hosts a monthly podcast. For more information, visit www.garyrenard.com.

Mike Dooley’s Notes From the Universe on Abundance Cards

Launched in 1998 as an e-mail sent out weekly to 38 addresses, author Mike Dooley’s “Notes from the Universe” blossomed into a daily mailing to over 700,000 subscribers in 185 countries. This deck of 60 cards,“Notes From the Universe on Abundance,” is based on Dooley’s teachings that “thoughts become things,” and includes photographs of nature and brief passages designed to remind us that we could not possibly be more loved, more powerful, or more deserving of all that our hearts desire.

“Today, you are a magnet for infinite abundance, divine intelligence, and unlimited love,” the Universe tells us. “Actually, this has always been true.”

Iyanla Vanzant MasterPeace Prayer Cards

Created by bestselling author and star of “Iyanla Fix My Life” on the OWN Network,  Iyanla Vanzant designed these MasterPeace Prayer Cards to support seekers’ exploration of daily affirmative prayer or the art of talking to God.

Each of the 50 prayer-card principles will help clear and surrender outmoded beliefs and toxic emotions, raise our energetic vibration, and align the mind with life’s most benevolent and powerful truths.

These cards will help one follow their Spirit and connect to a new level of consciousness where every thought we think is a prayer, each word we speak is a prayer, and everything we do is a prayer.