There will always be those who are against you and your cause, your passion, your purpose. They may bring you down for a moment but you will rise and follow your dreams. When you are faced with a conflict, involving another who is trying to bring you down, bless them, turn the other cheek and continue doing what matters to you. Say a prayer for that person or group who is against you. They are in tremendous pain, more pain than you'll ever know in your lifetime. Remember that you are spiritually advanced and that same person who is harming you is watching to see if you'll fumble. Don't fight back with words, but keep your chin up and be the leader that you are. Follow your internal guidance, it will never leave you stranded nor abondoned. It hurts when others try to harm you. It could be the ones closest to you. If you believe that your mission is on target, nothing will stop you. Blessings xoxo ~PsychicMedium Michele

It’s no secret that America is beset by a tremendous rise in chronic illness, pain and depression. Unquestionably our collective lifestyle of stress, unhealthy diet, long hours of work and constant stimulation play a major role in this national malady. But I’m here to tell you that not all of the pain, illness and depression we are experiencing are due to our lifestyles. The good news is that much of our suffering may in fact not even be our own!

Consider for a moment the last time you were feeling great but then mysteriously came down with some kind of pain, illness or depressive feelings. Did you ever wonder where they came from? Isn’t it odd that you can be feeling wonderful one moment and awful the next? We’ve all experienced this but most of us never consider that we may be under the influence of something spiritual as opposed to physical. Millions of people are experiencing an opening of higher awareness and along with this many are becoming more sensitive to the spiritual and energetic forces surrounding them. When we open to Spirit we are consenting to its messages. Often, these messages come in the guise of physical discomfort. After all, nothing gets our attention faster than physical or emotional discomfort!

The challenge is that much of this is so new to many of us we often fail to recognize messages from Spirit when they arrive. We simply aren’t aware and haven’t been trained or taught how to recognize messages from Spirit. So, when pain, discomfort or depressive emotions come along we assume they are our own and must be due to something we’ve done or failed to do. Our challenge is to wake up and learn to discern the difference between a true illness or disorder and a spiritual message. The good news is that everyone can learn the art of discernment.

Those who experience an increased spiritual and energetic sensitivity are often called empathic. We generally think of an empathic person as someone who deeply feels the pain and suffering of others and of the world. While this is accurate, many times an Empath often actually embodies the pain and suffering of others. And more than that, the embodiment of pain and sadness of many empathic people extends far beyond the physical realm. In truth, many empathic people are unknowingly connecting to Spirit through their super-sensitive ability to feel and embody pain and emotions.

Being an Empath is extremely difficult. It has taken me an entire lifetime to truly understand this gift and I still have difficulty at times! For many years I suffered from terrible headaches, digestive problems, depression and sharp aches and pains throughout my body. When I’d visit the doctor they never found anything wrong with me. At times I felt I was losing my mind! I lead a quiet life, ate a healthy diet, was safe and secure from many of the stresses many people endure, yet my body seemed on the verge of falling apart and my emotions were constantly frayed. I spent years without answers until a series of experiences finally brought light to my suffering.

During this time I was studying transpersonal psychology and learning past life regression therapy. I was increasingly able to visit past lives with great clarity and to journey out of the body at will. Soon I had a series of experiences that confronted me with the fact that I had been blessed with the gift of mediumship. This came as both a shock and a great joy to me. I’d never imagined being medium and had no idea what was in store for me as this gift began to express itself through me. Today I’m blessed to be able to share this gift with many people, helping them to heal from past hurts and sorrow through connection with loved ones who have passed into Spirit.

But as this gift flowered within and through me I came to learn that the empathic nature of mediumship is something that we all share to one degree or another. In fact, we all have deep access to empathic mediumship if we will allow it to flourish within us. While it is not everyone’s path to use the gift of empathic mediumship to serve others, we can all connect to Spirit. As my own expression of the gift of mediumship deepened I came to understand that much of the pain and emotional turmoil I’d been experiencing for years was in fact “nudges” from those in Spirit! As I explored this over the years I realized that many people may be getting similar “nudges” from loved ones who have passed into Spirit and who want their presence to be known. Anyone who is opening to a deeper awareness of our True Nature as boundless Spirit may also experience such nudges from loved ones who want to communicate. After years of such experiences I am convinced that many of our mysterious chronic and acute illnesses, pains and emotional turmoil is in fact not ours at all. Rather, it is the product of a fervent, even desperate attempt by our loved ones to connect and commune with us.

At this point you may be thinking ‘Ok Michele, if what you’re saying is true how do I learn to discern the difference between my own physical suffering and a message from Spirit?’ Years of experience has taught me a few simple but profound clues for such discernment. The next time you feel the onset of an acute pain, flare-up of a chronic condition or emotional pain that seems to come from out of the blue, take the following steps:

1.    First, let the pain, discomfort or bad feeling just be there! You have to allow it to just be, to accept it, before you can discern whether it is yours or not. People often find this to be very challenging. We are so accustomed to running from our pain and negative feelings! I’m not asking you to wallow in pain or sadness here. I’m simply asking you to stop and allow the full experience to be present within you without running from it or trying to make it go away. And don’t ‘allow’ the pain or feeling to be there in order to make it go away. That’s cheating!

2.   Once you have stopped and allowed whatever is there to just be, question it. Question the feeling or sensation directly as if it were a person. Converse with it even if that seems silly to you. But remember, just as in a conversation you have to both talk and listen, when you question a feeling, pain or sensation you again have to stop and listen for an answer.

3.   Listen for answers from the center of your own intuition. This takes trust. You can only develop this kind of trust by doing the work—asking the questions and listening for answers. If a clear source of the pain, discomfort or pain isn’t forthcoming that is a clue that it isn’t your own. After all, if it were your own, who better to know its source than you?

4.   At this point ask (out loud if you can) “Who do I know who passed from a pain like I’m feeling now? Or, ask “Who do I know who passed that was very sad or depressed shortly before their passing?” Or, ask “Who do I know who passed that had a chronic condition similar to the one I’ve been enduring?” Let these questions penetrate deeply and then stop and listen. You might be amazed at the answer that comes!

5.    When an answer comes you may receive it by suddenly thinking about a specific friend or loved one who has passed. You might get a deep intuitive sense of that person’s presence. And, you might even have multisensory experiences such as smells, hearing their voice or even feeling something brush against your skin.

6.   Once you’ve allowed the answer to come, try to commune in whatever way you can with the Spirit of the person whom you have thought of or had an experience, memory or sensation of. Then, check the pain, discomfort or negative emotion. Has it gone away? Is it present but reduced in power? If so, you’ve just communicated with Spirit! Spirit got your attention and the pain, discomfort or negative emotion just falls away.

 I was recently discussing this amazing process with a client. I had been beset by a strong depression out of the blue as I was preparing to meet with the client. Later, we discovered together that this feeling of deep sadness and regret was coming from her brother on the other side. Relating this to my client later I said, “Your brother was with me so strongly, giving me his emotions and for two hours I didn't realize it was him and I thought I was really going thru something like major depression. He got me twice!!! Once I discovered it was your brother, all the feelings left instantly. He wanted me to communicate to you just how upset he really was while on the planet and just shortly before he passed.”

This young man had left Earth through a suicide and was communicating his emotions to me by giving me an experience of the darkness he had felt at the time. I’ve experienced literally dozens of similar experiences over the past few years. Now that I understand the source of these uncomfortable and often painful feelings and experiences I am at peace. I simply question the feeling until the source becomes clear. When the communication is made from Spirit the pain or discomfort leaves.  

So, what I want to say to you is this: anytime you are not feeling yourself, question it! Ask yourself does this belong to me? As I counseled my client, “once I discovered your brother was around, all the negative emotions left immediately. Now that you have a brother on the other side who felt this way, it's vitally important to remember that when you are feeling this negativity to ask if it’s him coming thru. Once you discover it's him, the negativity will leave. I know it’s strange that our loved ones would make us feel this way but welcome to Spirit Communication! This is their language. They don't have a mouth anymore, or a voice, so they may let you know they’re around by giving you their emotions.”

Not long ago a woman came to me desperate because of sudden headaches she began experiencing. They caused her to quit her job and made her life miserable for over a year. She was beside herself, going to many specialists trying to come to terms with these very painful headaches, and she feared she may have had the same illness as her uncle who passed away a year ago. It's interesting that the headaches became a problem as soon as her uncle passed. During a session we discovered that her uncle passed due to a brain tumor and the headaches were coming from him as he tried to let her know "I'm here, I'm here!!! Once she made this discovery, he stopped coming to her in that way and to my astonishment her headaches vanished. She was an unaware sensitive. 

The same thing occurred to my sister who experienced chronic pain that left her in despair for years. Many nights as she laid in bed her entire head would ache until she was literally in tears. She is also an Empath and Spirit Communicator but she made the mistake so many of us make: she took on this pain as if it were her own. Like my client, my sister thought she had a terrible illness when all along it was her cousin from many years ago who passed in a car accident trying to communicate with her. He went through the front window of a car and crushed his head. All he was trying to say was hello and that he was around. Once she made the connection the headaches disappeared, never to return.

You may think it absurd that Spirits would cause us pain and suffering, but I say it's time for us to wake up! The Spirits will do anything to get us closer to our Spirituality, even cause us pain. So, Empaths, next time you feel something like this question it, ask where it's coming from, who is close by. If the pain is undesirable, ask it to leave and Spirit will respect you. The energies will pull back as soon as you acknowledge a passed over loved one. If you feel pain in your heart, ask yourself, "Who do I know who passed through heart failure and is trying to reach me?" If suddenly you feel ill, ask, "Who passed through an illness?" This is how they communicate and how they get your attention. 

If you continue to experience unpleasant sensations or feelings even after acknowledging a communication from Spirit just clearly ask that being not to come to you in that way any longer. Trust me, this works! They do not want to cause you pain; they just want you to know they are with you. Create an agreement with them. You can say to them, "please let me know you’re around by giving me chills, or making me feel happy.” But, if you fail to recognize them they may go back to the other way! Once you feel chills or whatever agreement you made with them to allow you to know they are with you, tell them, "I know you're here and thank you for being close." Talk to them, they’re always right here, just a breath away, a thought away.

Spirits love it when you talk to them. Remember they are not gone they have only changed form. Just as boiling water turns to steam, passed over loved ones have become Spirit form. It's a transition and nothing else. They are also deeply involved in our lives on a daily basis. Do not act like they don't exist. Thank them for all the unseen favors they have given you in your life. Many times you’ve failed to realize that life’s blessings actually came from your passed over loved ones. 

Clearly, pain, disease, chronic conditions and emotional wounds exist and are very real. Oftentimes such conditions are very much our own. However, not all of these maladies are products of our own life and physical bodies. As you come to understand and then trust and experience this truth I’m convinced you will experience a deep sense of peace and far less physical and emotional suffering in your life. You’ll also get the supreme joy of connecting with your passed-over loved ones and you will know they are very much alive.

 We are all very sensitive and becoming more sensitive. It's important to hone your gifts and abilities and ride the waves of change we are encountering. Spirit Communication will be the norm in the near future and everyone will be doing it to a certain level. Forget not your loved ones because they are here right now with you everyday.  Next time you experience a pain, illness or depression out of the blue; remember to check in with Spirit. Notice whether the discomfort retreats once you’ve acknowledged it is coming from the other side. You’ll soon feel a deep joy and peace and an entirely new relationship to life. Your joy will increase as chronic, even debilitating pain and illness slips away as mysteriously as it arose!
 
Author: Medium Michele Fletcher

Most of us do not have a clear understanding of what a soulmate means. There are numerous soulmates that come and go throughout the duration of our lives. That's right, there isn't just one soulmate for each person. If that was the case and we never met our soulmate, then what?? Many of us walk around feeling we have never met our soulmate so we have a huge void. We get angry and ask, why can't I find my soulmate? Soulmates have been there in our life all along. All of our previous relationships were our soulmate at that given time. They entered our lives for a purpose. The purpose was fullfilled and now they are gone but we keep looking and looking for the one and only. The idea that we have only one soulmate for each of us is a huge misconception and we can thank the media for that. We have this belief that a soulmate is a person who we have an undeniable connection with, and we are meant to be with them FOREVER.  We know and feel so deeply within that they are the ONE chosen for us! Marriages are destroyed because of this idea, and why? The idea of a soulmate is extremely alluring and tempting. It reaches into the romantic within all of us.

The next time we have an attraction for someone and we are married or with a partner, first consider that it's possible we have known the presummed soulmate in a previous existence and parts of us remembers. Or, have we thought that maybe this attraction is reminding us unconsciously of our parents? Many of us choose our spouses based on the fact that they are much like our parents. This is either healthy or unhealthy and that’s a whole other discussion. If it is unhealthy then we have a lot of work to do in order to heal from old childhood wounds to finally attract a healthy mate. 

There are so many variables as to why we feel the attraction. The attraction we feel doesn't mean we are "destined" to be with the presumed soulmate, and to abandon kids, hubby or wife! Soulmates can be spouses, our children and even our bosses. Here is the true definition of a soulmate. Soulmates are within our soulgroup with whom we chose to incarnate for the purpose of lessons and growth. Everyone who has been a huge part of our lives is a soulmate. Don’t they deserve the title of soulmate for putting up with our dark side, and we all have one of those. Before taking off and leaving our current partner, first consider that we are with our soulmate already. Maybe we are the type who enters relationship after relationship, after relationship searching for the presumed soulmate. Let's wake up and realize we are all soulmates to eachother. WE are all ONE. Imagine feeling the love we have for the presumed soulmate, and focus that love on all of humanity. If we all did that, our world would be very different from what is is now.  

Medium Michele (your soul mate)