Jeremy Beremy

“Because you are alive, everything is possible."

I love this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh, it is so beautiful and has so much power in it, especially when viewed in the positive. It says, "You are still here, anything can happen!"

The idea that it can also be viewed in the negative hit home for me recently, when a lifelong friend succumbed to a seven-year battle with cancer. CANCER SUCKS! But it got me thinking, if he is no longer here in the physical, does that mean nothing else is possible for him? As a medium, I know this is not the case, and yet too often, when we lose someone we love, the mental chatter goes like this; "I should have... I meant to... If I had only..." except now we feel like it's too late because the person is no longer here.

We can do a great job of beating ourselves up over things we think we could or should have done. Over time those "If Only's" can exact quite a toll, when really all of that is just another lie we may be telling ourselves.

Our loved ones can see and hear what we share with them so, if there's something you want to say to them, just say it. I promise you they will hear it. Things are still possible for them, even new things. When my Twin passed to spirit, I was devastated. I was also fascinated, as I watched him learning to communicate with me, the different ways we can connect, and the truth is we are both still figuring it out. His soul is alive, and things are still possible. Different yes, but still possible.

And you, you are still alive. Because you are alive, everything is still possible!! You are not lost; you are not on the wrong path and you didn't miss your window.

Ok yes, perhaps it is a bit unlikely you will play point guard for the LA Lakers, as a member of the team. But what if you could play point guard for just a few minutes as part of a charity fund raiser because you won the opportunity to play?? Because you are alive, ANYTHING is possible.

I know you're thinking, "Like that's really ever going to happen,,." and I hear you. Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't but here's the thing, if you were really meant to play point guard, or whatever is your true purpose is, here on this planet, I promise you, you haven't missed the boat and it's not too late. Unless of course, you choose not to engage, not to bid on that opportunity to take the court at the Staples Center with the Lakers, or buy that raffle ticket... As long as you are alive, there is always an opportunity to hear the call of the Universe on your heart. What you do after that, however, is fully up to you.

Let me back up here a minute because I've recently been enjoying a new (to me) podcast called Unobscured on iHeartRadio. The Spiritualist Church where I often attend events, mentioned it in one of their newsletters and I love a good podcast. Unobscured's second season was all about the birth of the Spiritualist movement and the rise of mediumship in this country so, they pretty much had me at hello.

Spiritualism began in upstate New York, in Hydesville, where the Fox Sisters famously heard a series of rapping noises in their home and eventually learned to communicate with the spirit making the noises. The girls learned to communicate with other spirits, in a variety of different ways and, in the mid-to-late 1800s, the notion of getting messages from beyond the grave took our young nation by storm.

As a medium, I have studied Spiritualism, not extensively but I know the history, the stories, etc. What I didn't know, until listening to this podcast, was how close Hydesville is to Rochester. Over and over, they mentioned the growth of Spiritualism in Rochester and people going back and forth between the two hamlets. A quick glance at Google maps shows there's barely thirty miles between the two. Even in the 1800s that wasn't an unheard-of trek.

You're wondering why this is important, right?

As a graduating high school senior in South Florida, I literally applied to, and was accepted by, one school: the University of Rochester. Nestled between the Genesee River and Mt. Hope Cemetery, where Susan B. Anthony is buried and where, on any given day, you could walk by (or through) the cemetery to get to class.

I always believed in the continuity of the soul, but back then I had no idea there was a movement, let alone a whole religion centered around that very idea. I still wasn't in the habit of telling people about my abilities so it's not really a surprise I never heard about Rochester's ties to Spiritualism. This is where it started, in upstate New York. It's also where, the quietly murmuring psychic abilities I'd lived with all my life suddenly started blaring like a car horn playing La Cucaracha! My mom's car actually did that for a while so believe me when I say, you'd notice!

During the Fall of my second year in Rochester, something shifted inside me and I became acutely aware of everything going on around me. I knew what people were going to say before they said it, who was at the door or on the phone and things that were going to happen before they did. I knew it all, I just had no idea how to handle any of it.

My breaking point came when I knew my friend Rob* was going to be injured in the next day's football game. He was excited to play in his first college game and invited me to come and watch. I wanted to support him but couldn't bear the thought of sitting there, waiting for him to get hurt and I definitely couldn't tell him what I thought I knew. What if I was wrong? I didn't want to compromise his ability to play his best or to enjoy his time in the game. He likely wouldn't have believed me anyway. I watched from the hill overlooking the stadium and when I went to down to the field after the game, there he was, on crutches. He had suffered a high ankle sprain and would be sidelined for a few weeks.

I felt terrible! I couldn't sleep or eat, and my stress levels were off the chart. That was it! I'd been trying for weeks, to regain control over my brain and, in a last-ditch effort, I asked my guides to take it all away and close the doors. Seriously, just take your ball and go. I didn't want to play anymore! And that night, I slept soundly for what felt like the first time in a year.

People always asked me, "how does a girl from South Florida, end up in Rochester, New York?" I told them I liked the weather. If you've ever been to upstate NY in the winter, you'll know how hilarious that is but, the complete absence of humidity was definitely a plus, especially for a girl with curly hair. There were a lot of reasons I picked the school, I already had friends there, the dance department, the women's soccer team...

Apparently, there was still one more reason which I never understood until listening to the Unobscured podcast. I don't believe in coincidence, I never have. I believe everything happens for a reason, even if we can't understand it in the moment. My guides had led me to Rochester to connect me to a bigger picture of who I am and what I was here to do. I just wasn't ready to listen.

After college I spent two years living in Portland, Maine and when I was offered a job at the prestigious Williamstown Theatre Festival, my friend Marilee (quite literally) threatened to hit me with a stick if I didn't take it so, off I went. Hosted in the summers, on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, it is ten minutes from North Adams and just over an hour to Northampton, both hotbeds of activity during the early years of Spiritualism in this country. Seances were becoming commonplace and most evenings you could find a medium holding court in the parlor of the more prominent homes in either town.

Once again, my guides had led me to a place where I could tune into my abilities and come to understand the truth of who I was but, I still wasn't ready. I did meet my husband at Williamstown though, so at least they were able to check that one off their list.

Looking back, I can see time after time in my life, where my guides were trying to show me, to place me in situations where I could reopen my spiritual eyes and choose to see again. I am grateful they never stopped trying and when I was finally ready, they were still right there to support me.

Wherever you are on your journey, I promise you will end up right where you are supposed to be. I love the explanation of time Ted Danson's character shares during one episode of The Good Place. He says time is like Jeremy Beremy written in scrawling cursive letters. You remember cursive, right? The letters swoop around and loop back on themselves time and again, even as they continue to move forward, until eventually you reach the end, the destination. We have so many opportunities to come back around, to go back or to try again and, if we miss something we were "supposed" to do or see before, if we are willing, we'll likely have another chance when we loop around again.

Because you are alive, everything is possible, remember?

It's almost like, all things really do work together for good... hmm, what do you know about that?

*not my husband