Who Needs Time Travel? You're Already There

For those of you who have read Emily's House, you know that one of the themes of the story is the convergence of mysticism and science. And it's little wonder that came through. I love science, and I'm intrigued by mysticism and spirituality.

Reading avidly in both areas, I've long noticed how physics and metaphysics are closely aligned. It's like they're talking about the same things, only in different languages.

The other night, I was watching one of my favorite shows, Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. To be fair, I'd probably listen to Morgan talk about snow shovels for an hour - LOVE that guy.

Morgan Freeman, photo by Colorstorm Media/Eyevine

But combine Morgan with far out, freaky, cutting edge science and I'm all in.

What up with the cat on his head? 

So I was all settled into the small dent my butt has created on my couch (okay, big dent), Morgan cranking on the set. The episode was about eternity and time. Toward the end, along comes Dr. Jeff Tollaksen, of Chapman University, and says this about time:

"There's an ocean flowing here. There's a current flowing, from past to future and future to past."

Dr. Tollaksen of Chapman University. I wonder if he has
this much attitude because of something his future
self has done?

Dr. Tollaksen was referring to the results of over twenty years of experiments he and his colleagues have performed - experiments which have led him to the conclusion that the future affects the present.

What?

According to Dr. Tollaksen, not only does the past affect our present, but the future does as well.

Can you get your head around that? I'm not sure I can - not really. This would mean that I'm doing shit right now, in a future I'm completely unaware of, and it is affecting what I do now. But what I'm doing now - wouldn't that affect my future? Doesn't this create one *ucked up paradox?!

But here's the thing that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when he said that time was like a stream. This is a section of Chapter 50 of Emily's House - a chapter entitled "Put Your Boat In":

Brighid said, "But time is very much like a stream . . ."

Emily replied, "So if the stream is like time, then if I put my boat in back there, by the big willow . . ."

"Then that is what you observe . . ."

"And that's like the past."

"Yes."

"But if I put the boat in way up there, by that big oak . . ."

"Then you are with the oak in that moment . . ."

"And that is like the future."

"Precisely."

"I can put the boat in the stream wherever I want to go. So I can go to any time I want simply by choosing it?"

"Your Anam is eternal. You already exist in all time that ever was or ever will be." 

When I wrote this exchange between Brighid and Emily, I had not heard of Dr. Tollaksen or his experiments. This idea about time - how it's a stream with past, present and future connected - was influenced by metaphysics and new age spirituality. And I thought it was a cool way to deal with the concept of time travel, a device I needed to use to make the story work.

But doesn't it sound similar? Isn't it intriguing that science is now proving what some mystics have long believed - that time flows freely from future to past, and past to future?

What do you think?

I'll see you in the future. Oh wait, we've already been there . . .

Manic Monday: Will You Stand on the Shore or Explore the Deep Beneath?

The view under the surface in the Bahamas

I love to go to the beach for vacations - preferably warm, tropical waters. The biggest reason is that I love to snorkel.

Those who witness my snorkeling may chortle under their breath. I must be a sight. With my extremely fair skin, I'm not a bikini-clad, tanned vision in the water. I'm more of a cover-most-of-the-body with a suit, zinc oxide on my nose sort of snorkeler. 

But once I slip into the water, I don't care what people on the boat think. Once in the water, the only sound is of my breathing through the snorkel tube. In the water, it's just me and the fish and coral. Once in the water, I'm floating on top of a world of color, drama and mystery. In the water, I'm witnessing a part of the deep beneath.

You can't sit on shore, staring at the glassy surface, and hope to know the universe beneath. You have to get into the water to experience it. You must go into the water to witness the deep beneath.

My husband of 24 years is not a snorkeler. He admits that, besides the fact that he's not a strong swimmer, he's afraid of being in the water. Fear of what's below. Fear of the deep beneath.

A lovely view, but no hint of what lies beneath

But he gamely accompanies me on my snorkeling adventures, suffering through motion sickness, popping the Dramamine. He stays in the boat while I explore. He's happy on the surface, thank you very much, and has no desire to explore the deep beneath. No desire to face this fear.

This year, while in the warm Bahamian waters around Nassau, my nine-year-old daughter decided that she would snorkel too. "I want to go with you mama," she said. She donned the mask and flippers and slipped right into the cool water.

At first, she was afraid. She held my hand tightly as we flippered ourselves away from the boat and out into the open water.

But then her grip loosened. I turned to look at her. I was rewarded with seeing the biggest smile I think I've ever seen on a person. Her eyes were wide and sparkling with wonder. She pulled her vision away from the purple and pink corals long enough to look into my eyes and give me a thumbs up.

We held hands and happily swam together that day, enjoying a moment of wonder. It was the single happiest hour of my life.

You see, it's not only that I got to show my daughter the wonders of at least one, small tiny piece of ocean. And it's not just that we experienced it together. No, my real joy was in the fact that she chose to explore the deep beneath rather than sit in the boat, viewing only the surface. Despite her fear, she jumped in anyway.

I've spent much of my life avoiding the deep beneath of things - avoiding because of fear.

But the more I explore the mysteries, the more free I feel. Free to try new things. Free, also, to say no to something that truly doesn't interest me. Free to know the difference between "not interested" and "no, because I'm afraid."

Writing fiction is an exploration of the deep beneath (if a writer allows it, that is). It's an excavation of the inner deep. A search for the truth within. When entering that place, one must not cave into fear. It takes a certain amount of courage to see the "truth" of the inner house.

Right now I'm working on Book 2 of the Akasha Chronicles. It will be titled "Emily's Trial." In it, Emily and her friends must face their fears head on when they go to a world where fears and nightmares become real.

I've got the draft written and feel okay with what has happened on the page so far. But I'm not satisfied. Perhaps I've stayed on the surface with it? Maybe I held back from going there - going to the deep beneath of fear.

As I thought about snorkeling and my nine-year-old daughter facing her fear, it inspired me. If she can jump, maybe I can too. 

It takes courage to explore the deep beneath.

Will you stay on the shore? Or will you jump into the black waters?

Writer Chat Wednesday: The Gift of Allowing

I am hard at work putting together more insightful, fun, informative and provocative Writer Chat's with wonderful authors from around the globe. Today the writer chat is with . . .

Me!

Here's a word I've been thinking about a lot this week: Allow

I started the week with a wonderful Chakra Reading and block removal with the wonderful Rosemary Sneeringer, aka The Book Nurturer. It was a powerful process that brought much clarity to my writing process and simmering projects. But the word that most stuck with me was "allow."

Allow what? What do I mean by allow?

Allow abundance. Allow ideas. Allow inspiration. Allow all the wonderful things that are flowing toward me to come.

Can you relate to this? Do you ever put up walls or barricades or dams to ebb the flow of abundance that is flowing to you?

My experience with it is that I will go through periods where I'm "in the zone." It's like I'm riding the river and going with the current and everything is lining up and buzzing in the right way. It was during such a period that I won my trip to Ireland I had so desperately wanted (read about that bit of magic here). I've manifested other wonderful things while riding the current.

But then it happens - life throws you a curve ball. It always will. We should expect it. But we don't. We're in the stream, riding the ride of life, having fun and them WHAM! Shit happens. We're thrown off course, the waters are turbulent - hell we may even get thrown from the boat! We're in the roiling waters flailing our arms, kicking and screaming and trying to get back in the boat or at least make it to shore alive.

When the waters get rough that is the time we most need to allow but that is also the time it is most difficult to relax. Allow means letting go.  Allow means forgetting our useless attempts to control. Allow. Let it Be.

The beautiful thing about my time with Rosemary was not that it told me anything I didn't already know - at least on some level - but that it reminded me in a powerful way that the missing component was the allow part. I need to get out of my own way. Do you relate to this?

Time to relax. Let it go. Allow.

In the words of McCartney & Lennon:

There will be an answer, let it be . . . 

Is there anything that you're not allowing? Are you riding the stream and enjoying the ride? Or are you paddling like mad against the current, fighting it every step of the way?

I love hearing from you so leave comments here, or my Facebook page and remember for the month of February, everyone who leaves a comment is automatically entered into the February book giveaway for a signed copy of Emily's House. Complete contest details here.

What Does a Message from God Look Like?

I don't know about you, but when I ask for guidance from the Divine I don't get bolts of lightning or flaming flora. Sometimes I ask for help. Which way do I turn? What's the path I should take?
It sure would be nice if I got clearcut answers. Should I eat a third donut? CRACK! Lightening bolt comes down from above and lands in the middle of the donut, incinerating it. That would be a clear answer.
Over the years I've consulted my astrological chart, read the Tarot cards and otherwise looked for signs to guide me in life. But as fun as these divination tools are, they are faulty. You may look at your astrological chart this week and think it's right on the money only to find next week, when you look back, that the stars got it all wrong. If these tools are channeling Divine wisdom, then is the Divine unreliable? Or are we, as the interpreters unable to see the answers clearly? Or perhaps these tools don't speak for the divine at all.
In recent years I have found a way to consistently get helpful guidance from the Divine, guidance that has led me down a path of great happiness.
What is it?
The method is simple. I pay attention to how I feel. I notice how it feels to be in the situation I'm in. I pay attention to how it feels to be with a certain person or group of people. I pay attention to how it feels to be in a certain environment or to do a certain job.
How you feel matters.  Life is short. Life is meant to feel good.
Follow the feel good feelings. If the person you're with feels good to you, then be with them. If being with that person always makes you feel bad or negative, then maybe it's time to move on.
I'm not the first person to figure this out and it's certainly not a unique thought. But I wanted to pass along to you my experience with it because it has been so life-changing for me.
Case in point:
While an undergraduate I had the brilliant idea that I should go to law school. I had been told by some people that I'd make a good lawyer (following guidance from somewhere outside of me rather than internal guidance) and so I applied and off I went.
From day one, I didn't like law school. I don't think I liked anything about it much (except for those few people who became cherished friends). From day one it was hard. And I don't mean just academically challenging (which it was). I had studied hard before and had taken subjects that were a challenge.
What I mean is that I found the whole experience of law school hard. The people didn't feel right (except for a few who became lifelong friends). The subject matter felt wrong. The whole experience just felt - off.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have recognized that "off" feeling as guidance. Through my feelings, the Divine was telling me "this isn't your path."
But I didn't listen.
The truth is, I ignored how I felt because I didn't want to be a quitter.
I began practicing law and I didn't care for that either. There I was, three years of graduate education and a large student loan debt to repay and I didn't like my chosen profession.  Oh, I rose to the occasion and found that I was reasonably good at it. But I didn't feel well. My stomach hurt. I felt nauseous. I began getting sick a lot.
I did this for many years. Plugging away, trying to find ways to make it feel better to me.
And here's the other thing - the thing that plays such an important role in this notion of guidance. Every thing I tried to do or accomplish as a lawyer was hard. If I tried to add a new practice area or teach a class, it was like running my head into a large brick wall, over and over and over. My head hurt from all the ramming it into hard objects but I'd get up, dust myself off and run at that wall again!  My motto was "I won't be defeated!"
But the truth is, sometimes giving into "defeat" is okay. Sometimes, when your head hurts from ramming it into the immovable wall, it's a signal that you need to stop running into that wall!
I'm slow on the uptake but eventually I got the clue. I needed to choose a new path.  A path that is more me. A path that doesn't make my stomach hurt and give me a veritable concussion.
I began writing fiction in 2008, my lifelong dream, and I can tell you that my path to becoming a writer feels so different than the law path. And that feeling confirms I'm on the right path. And by "right" I don't mean financial success or accolades and such.  "Right" means that it feels good to do it. It feels "right".
Every step of the way to becoming a published author, there have been helpful people that show up at the right time. Doors open easily (without me having to use a hatchet to get them open!). Divine timing is everywhere (for an example, see my post How I Used Real Magic to Win a Trip to Ireland).
Here's a latest example of what I'm talking about. I want to have a launch party for the launch of Emily's House, my first novel. But researching venues, the prices are just so high, I started to think it was an impossible idea. So I asked the Divine for guidance. Within a half an hour of me thinking the thought (please help me!), I got a call about a venue that I was told was impossible to get and it just so happens that they only have one spot the entire rest of the year.  And it just so happens to be the exact day and time I wanted! And the price is ridiculously reasonable (within my writer budget).  Booked. Easy.
When I ask for guidance I always get it, so long as I'm open to receiving it. No lightning bolts required.

What about you? Do you ask God or the Divine or your own spiritual guide for guidance to help you through life? If so, do you get answers? And in what form do you receive the guidance?