Author: Adele Ryan McDowell

A word on the Afterlife

Posted on by Adele Ryan McDowell

Do you remember the Frank Capra movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”?

James Stewart plays the lead character, George Bailey, who reluctantly stays in his hometown to run the family business. Due to some family mishaps, George becomes despondent, drunk, and wishes he had never been born. George throws himself off a bridge and is rescued by Clarence the angel, who shows George what life would have been like for his family and friends if George had not been born.

Upon reviewing his “unborn” life, George understands the difference he has made in the lives of his loved ones. Despite impending disaster and failure, George runs home, giddy with love for everyone and everything in his hometown. I think the afterlife is a bit like that.

The way I understand it is this: When we die, we have a life review. We look at the life we have lived from the soul perspective. This is always unconditionally accepting and loving. Our version of Clarence the angel says something like, “Let’s roll the video,” and we experience, from a soul level, a review of our life. This is not a punitive measure to determine blame, nor to judge right or wrong, success or failure. This is a soul assessment of our life, seen with detachment and compassion. What were our choices? What kind of person have we been? Have we acted with kindness and generosity of spirit? Have we been able to forgive, apologize, or right a wrong? Did we share ourselves? In essence, have we acted with a good heart and grown closer to understanding that we are all connected, we are all one?

There is the story of the man who had a near-death experience (NDE) in which he traveled as far as his life review. He came back to life and his friend asked him what he had learned. He answered, “I should have been kinder.”

This reminds me of ancient Egyptian mythology. Upon death, the heart, considered the home of the soul, is weighed against the lightness of the goddess Maat’s feather. Her feather symbolized truth, justice, and balance. This was the measure of a life, a light or heavy heart, and this determined the outcome of the soul in the afterlife.

That seems like a fitting measure of a our lives. Are our hearts heavy or filled with light?

Take the step

Posted on by Adele Ryan McDowell

You are ready. You are fully standing in your power. No more equivocating, fretting or spinning in place. It is time to unfold into your fullness, your raison d’etre for this time now.

The energies are with you. You are supported by the universe.

Take the step. Then, take the next step.

Feed the energies with your action and motivation and willingness to fully commit — both feet in — to the universe and higher good.

And so it is.

To the traumatized and wounded

Posted on by Adele Ryan McDowell

Yes, you were traumatized. It happened. No one knew how brave you were, how courageous your were. You took it all in; you absorbed the chaos and craziness into your body. It wasn’t easy to stay grounded and remain in your body.  There was lots of pain. There were cascading feelings of never doing it right, never being enough, no good, just bad, bad, bad. It was your fault. You were always responsible for everyone’s feelings.

That is history and brain tapes and body memories, which, oddly, enriched your awareness and sensitivities and amped your levels of compassion — for most everyone, but, sadly, not often enough for yourself. Work hard to make peace with yourself and your history. You are way too hard on yourself. Go very gently. Understand it was a past trajectory and mightily endeavor to see yourself anew.

You are a lovely, light-filled Starfish, swimming on this bluegreen planet. You are a visitor. Please know it is important for you to be here now. It is time to detach and grow away from the shadow of the trauma. It is time to unfold into more complete alignment with your soul, Starfish. It is time to swim in the light.

You will make it. Remember, blessed release is possible.

Refill yourself with light and joy. Find goodness and happiness in the smallest of treasures before you. As you attend to the lighter and higher frequencies, you will attract more and more of these life-giving energies. Yes, it happens. Have faith in your higher self, Starfish.

You are loved, guided and protected.

And, so it is.

Take the time. Now.

Posted on by Adele Ryan McDowell

Take the time. Take this time now to heal, become more present, more conscious. It’s time for you to go within — delve deeper — in order to prepare and re-align yourself to go out.

Breathe. Take the time you need. Now.

There is no better tomorrow without taking the time for today.

Refresh, sort, clear, cleanse, move, exhale, be still, listen, and, above all, be loving towards all that you are, all that you have been and all that you will be.

These are very important times for you. Fertile, rich with potentialities, shimmering with energies. Take the time now. Attend to you.

And so it is.

I can still see you

Posted on by Adele Ryan McDowell

September is the month dedicated to suicide prevention and suicide awareness. To honor this important month, I am sharing with you a blog post from makingpeacewithsuicide.com that works in concert with the messages of Channeled Grace.

If I were to have a gravestone, preferably under a beautiful tree that flowers or, at least near a Chinese restaurant, I would want the gravestone to be etched with these words: I CAN STILL SEE YOU.

Of course, this makes me laugh. It has for days as I have been entertaining myself with this very thought. My overactive imagination conjures up this scene where you visit me at my gravesite and I see you and envision that we converse energetically. At first, you are surprised and somewhat dumbfounded, but I know so much about our history that ultimately you are convinced that a) this is real or b) you are having a lucid dream or c) you are playing make-believe and it’s kind of fun.

You see, I believe that our souls are eternal and our bodies are a bit like complicated robes that we shed upon death. The brain goes dark, but the consciousness lives.

For the past few weeks I have being seeing faces again. Yes, again. When I started writing Making Peace with Suicide: A Book of Hope, Understanding and Comfort, I would see faces in the leaves of a tree outside my window, on the tiles of my shower, and framed in groups on my carpet. Most recently, I have had visitors around my bed in the middle of the night. My feeling is that they are looking for relief by way of connection or, possibly, understanding.

When I ask what they want, I hear, “We want to be heard.” Ok, good. I can help.This is the gist and sense of what I have heard:

• Some loved ones who have died by suicide have expressed regret that they left such heartache and turmoil. They did not want to cause you pain; they simply wanted to end their pain.

• For some of the younger ones who have left by suicide, there is surprise and, even, regret that they are no longer here on earth. Their choice was impulsive and, often, influenced by drugs and alcohol.

• There are some who are wildly relieved to be off this mortal coil. They were ready to go. They feel complete and satisfied with nary a doubt or regret.

• And there are some who orchestrated (on a soul level) their passing and they are doing huge works of service on our behalf from the Other Side.

Our souls have unique contracts and trajectories of growth and development. Life – and death – are not always what they seem at first glance.

So, imagine, if you will, that your deceased loved one can still see you and be there with you. And imagine that your loved one is holding you close as you take your next steps on your healing path.

It’s a lovely thought, isn’t it? And, some of us believe that it is true.

Starfish, attend to your beauty

Posted on by Adele Ryan McDowell

Dearest Starfish, swimming in the vastness of your blue-green world,

We want you to stop. Stop and wonder at the magnificence around you. There is beauty. And this beauty births gratitude, which blesses you with all of its attendant benefits.

And in this world, there is also horror and disaster, which call desperately for your awareness. In compromising times especially, focus on the beauty within you. This is the font of your animation. This speaks to magnetics and energies.

Your beauty is unique and idiosyncratic. It is the live-giving, love-giving charge within you. Your beauty serves as a direct expression of your connection with your soul.

During these tender days full of upheaval and upset, we suggest that you plug into your soul, your personal well-spring. And, in doing so, you allow your light, your soul beauty to shine outwardly. It has the power to soften, open and, even, awaken others. Further, it amplifies and strengthens your journey on the path.

Be your beautiful, light-giving self. Operate from your open heart. Each and every bit of your soul beauty and its concomitant light makes a significant contribution to the planet.

Share your Beautiful Light, Starfish. Your illumination on this planet is more important than you realize.

And so it is.

 

Prayer from Caroline Myss

Posted on by Adele Ryan McDowell

From the higher-consciousness thinking of Caroline Myss:

….Something rather remarkable occurred to me amid these types of questions and the conversations that they generated. People noted that while their life changes were brought about through a physical, social, or emotional trauma, that unforeseen event was the catalyst to their discovering the life path they were now on. They would not be doing a sacred journey or any inner healing work had those events not happened. And without the healing work, they would not have become environmentalists or health practitioners or retired so early just to experience life. Such stories are more common than I can tell you. As I listened to several people share their version of that archetypal “death and rebirth” journey, I realized that this is our time to contribute to the story of humanity. And we can either fear this time or become participants in the power and creative vibrancy of this moment in history.

When I look at people in my workshops, I think, “You need to realize – to believe – that you were born for this moment. You are built for the emotional, psychological, spiritual and psychic obstacle courses that we are facing now. Every inner challenge you have confronted has been in preparation for facing, enduring, and outwitting the outrageous challenges of your life. You need to trust not just your creative genius but your creative madness. You need to be creatively bold, not quiet; spiritually fierce, not shy. And you need to learn to pray like you are crazy, as if Divine intervention was as ordinary as birdsong in the morning.”

So, take a moment and wrap yourself up in a prayer full of grace. Breathe it in. And just let grace work its wonders:

“Lord, sometimes I forget who created this world. Sometimes I forget that what is happening in the world is temporary – a momentary drama, an explosion of human madness. I need to withdraw from that drama, from the madness that can so easily find its way into my mind and heart, into my emotions and my thinking, and remind myself that I must remain loving, kind, honest, and hopeful. The more noise in the world, the more I need that silent, still place within me. Lord, grant me the stamina to confront fear, to recognize when it is taking charge of my mind and heart. And fill me with the grace of courage that I can stop a fear from taking hold of me. Hover over me, Lord. Send your angels to watch over me during the night and let me wake in calming grace come morning.”

Amen.