Rocks, Sticks, and Connecting with Spirit

I am sitting alongside Beaver Lake in Arkansas.  We are on a 12-day road trip through the Ozark Mountains.  

Yesterday as the kids were swimming, with my husband teaching them how to skip rocks as the jet skis, canoes, and boats were passing by, I found myself on the rocky shoreline collecting driftwood of cedar and granite stones.  

Here I am in my element, totally immersed and contemplative. 

I am thinking of the stories that these rocks and fallen trees could tell of their life here on this lake shore.  Like the elders of the past, reminiscing of summers gone by. 

This brings to mind the thought of our own stories, like the stories that are made together with your tribe.  

Retelling these stories around a campfire, of the same day together, the same moment in time, yet realizing that each of us has our very own way of storytelling because of our very own perception of time.  That our minds expand on and analyze and, to another, they are simply a quick experience then gone from thought. 

I think to myself of our own stories. The stories that are in our minds from childhood leading up to the now.  The stories that we have found to not be true, but those we have created in our imagination.  The stories of struggle lost hope, and happiness found.  The stories of those we love and the stories of those we have loved and lost.  

I look down for the stones in the shape of a heart, hoping to find one.  The heart rock story is one of my own, one of my most treasured stories.  A story of hope, love lost but never far or forgotten, always here even when you aren’t looking for it.

Following the Helping Parents Heal conference, my friends Ty, Brian, Beth, and Tracy, had a plan to travel to Sedona and meditate on a vortex.  We rented a car, me as the driver, Brian as my co-pilot, the ladies in the back seat, and we headed out for an adventure.  

With so much enthusiasm for the surroundings that we were seeing and the excitement of what was to come, we traveled and explored until we finally found our off-the-beaten-path, only known to locals, a hiking trail with a vortex.  

We meandered up the trail taking a left and heading into unknown territory, when we all had a feeling that we were heading in the wrong direction but were determined to find the vortex and contemplated continuing on our path. 

Just then a deer stepped out in front of us, out of nowhere to block our path… we took that as a sign to head back to the original trail and continue in the other direction.  As we were heading up the mountain I began to feel nauseated and thinking to myself how out of shape I was, said so out loud.  We stopped and realized that we were standing in a vortex.  A vortex can be found by looking for spiraling trunks of juniper trees.

We chose to stop here and find a spot to meditate.  Of course, there was a stand-alone rock big enough to sit on with a large fallen tree just the right height and length for the four others to take a seat. 

We knew then our children in spirit, Aymen (Tracy), Ryland (Elizabeth), and Shayna (Ty and Brian) whom we came here to connect with, were on our side. 

We sat then to begin our meditation…

I as the facilitator, began to speak aloud putting us all into meditation.  Almost immediately Shayna was in front of me. Literally.  I could feel her hands cupping my face, holding me gently in her hands as we were looking at each other eye to eye.  

As I type this I can tell you that she is here with me, guiding me along as I write these words, as I am holding on to the memory of that beautiful smile and the love reflected in her eyes.  

Having never met Shayna before this day, I knew immediately that I would never forget her.  

This was different from a mediumship reading for me.  It was as though we were exchanging thoughts as we looked into one another’s eyes, like telepathy.  She relayed to me that she had a gift, especially for me and, as her face pulled away, the face of a younger version of my dad replaced hers.  

I was taken by surprise as he was talking so fast and telling me how excited he was to have been present during my readings for parents over the last few days.  Like a bird sitting up in the corner of my room, he explained, as he understood the process and he was the one who helped to explain to the children how it all worked.  

I cannot tell you more about these messages because they soon became more feelings than words as the hot tears streamed down my face.  As he pulled away gently, I was brought back to center quickly, realizing that I was in meditation with eyes wide open and for the first time in my life, visually seeing spirit before me in the form of Shayna, Aymen, Ryland, and my Dad.  

If you have been in a trance you will understand, if not, I describe it as a dream-like state of being, yet you are completely aware of your surroundings.  

As I guided us out of meditation, eventually bringing everyone back to center, everyone began to stand up. 

I stopped Ty in her tracks as Shayna was begging me to have her mom remain still.  Ty did as I requested as Shayna was saying to me, “I left a gift for her beneath her feet”.  Ty stood up and lo and behold there was a heart-shaped rock right where Shayna said that the gift was located.  

Brian, sitting to the side, stood up himself, and looked down, only to find his very own heart-shaped rock as well.  It was a moment that I will never forget. It was one of those moments in my life that I will never doubt for I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that what I experienced that day was more real than real. 

As we climbed down that mountain, Brian and I shared our stories, feeling the immense love of that moment, both of us knowing that Shayna brought my Dad to me, as I brought Shayna to hers. I will forever have a bond with Shayna, for I had just lost my father a few weeks prior. Shayna gave me the most beautiful gift that day, the gift of my father.  

She and I exchanged gifts with one another that day.  She gave to me my father, and I gave to her, hers.  She is with me this day as I write as she brings along Aymen and Ryland with her.  How do I know this, I don’t.  I feel this… and here is my proof, as I glance down from my sitting space and see this

And this is her dad’s blog if you would like to follow: http://www.shaynaelayne.com/

Much Love, 

Nicole x