Dear Friends,
While I was in Sedona recently, a college friend called and invited me to spend Thanksgiving with his family in Las Vegas. He celebrates on Wednesday because Thanksgiving is extremely busy for anyone in the resort business. Well, it is busy for mediums, too. People want to spend the holidays with those they love, whether sharing turkey (and blackjack) or communicating through a medium.
So - - I don't have time to go to Las Vegas. But I will be enjoying family gatherings with those in spirit here in Los Angeles. November and December Small Spirit Circles are filled as are all private sessions between now and New Year's Day. I love sharing the holidays with the spirits and their families.
As much as the holidays are a time for celebrating, it is also a time we remember those who are no longer in our midst, in the physical sense. Sometimes it is nearly impossible not to be overwhelmed by feelings of loss, especially during the holidays. In this month's article, "Thanksgiving Gives Back," I share a way for you to reconnect with those you love.
May the love of those in spirit surround you as we all give thanks,
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Thanksgiving Gives Back |
 by Hollister Rand
Thanksgiving Day brings memories of family, food and fun. This year it will be harder for some families to laden the table with food. Some may not have the funds to book flights or even drive to the next state to enjoy the holiday with those dear, but not quite as near.
One of the greatest challenges to enjoying the holiday, however, is not economic. It is facing the empty chair of someone you love who is not here to celebrate this year, maybe for the first time.
So why then even try to celebrate Thanksgiving? Because Thanksgiving gives back.
When we've lost someone we love, it can seem as though we've lost everything. The sun no longer shines and our purpose for living is questioned. I know that.
But I also know that when I speak to loved ones in the afterlife, they say "thank you" to their families - - a lot.
A beautiful young man of 17 thanked his mother for giving him the freedom to ski competitively, even though he died while making a run. A husband in spirit, thanked his wife for making delicious meals that they shared together every Sunday for 52 years. A mother who suffered with Alzheimer's before dying thanked her daughter for keeping her up to date on the family, even when it seemed that she didn't understand.
By thanking us, loved ones in spirit remind us that acts of love remain. We haven't lost everything. We haven't lost a favorite smile, an infectious laugh. We haven't lost someone entirely because they continue to live. We haven't lost them because who they are has made us who we are today.
Grief, by nature, creates alienation. Gratitude, by nature, creates connection. Those in spirit know that and that's why they thank us. So it is time to return the favor.
Try it. It is easier than you might think.
Don't start big, start small.
I'll give you an example.
While driving back from Phoenix this weekend, I started feeling sorry for myself. I was thinking about not being with my family for Thanksgiving this year, especially my Mom who died in 2000. Just about the time I reached Quartzite, AZ, I had worked myself into quite a tizzy. Not only was I missing my Mom, but I was convincing myself that I couldn't possibly meet the deadline of a huge writing project. With the radio blasting "Can't Get No Satisfaction" I was heading toward a big boo hoo at 75 miles an hour.
And then, I thought about all that my mother had given to me. I thanked her for the diligence she taught me. I thanked her for encouraging my writing skills and for supporting the spirits' place in my life . . . even if she didn't always understand it.
"Can't Get No Satisfaction" faded away and then, oddly enough, "This Land is Your Land," took over the airwaves. That song was one of my mother's favorites and she taught it to large school groups during her hootenanny phase. When we found my mother's guitar after she had passed, that song was listed with others on a cheat sheet taped to the guitar's body.
What possessed the programming director to play that song at that time? Who knows? I hadn't heard it in years. Did my giving thanks make that song play on the radio? No. But giving thanks allowed me to hear it and know that Mom was with me there in that moment.
That's the way that giving thanks works. When we say "thank you" to those in spirit, alienation is replaced by connection. When we say "thank you" to those in spirit, awareness of their presence breaks through the cocoon surrounding a shattered heart.
Giving thanks is the spirits' way of acknowledging love expressed. It can be our way, too. Giving thanks takes what seems to have been lost and makes it found again.
Giving thanks reconnects us across the table, across the country, across the world and beyond death.
Thanksgiving gives back.
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Hollister Rand is an internationally renowned medium. Known
for her extraordinarily detailed work, she provides specific messages from
loved ones living in the spirit world with feeling, heart, and grace. Hollister
is a clairvoyant, clairaudient and clairsentient (meaning that she can see,
hear and feel the presence of spirits as well as get a sense of their
personalities, emotions, physical attributes and illnesses), and her unique gifts
have provided comfort and closure for people all over the world. With her
personal charm, sense of humor, and sense of compassion, her messages of love,
hope, and healing on KOST FM's, "Angels in Waiting" and KBIG FM's,
"Radio Medium" have touched the lives of thousands of people. Her CD Many Doors - An Introduction to Mediumship
takes listeners on a journey through the doors that separate life, death, and
life after life. A prolific writer, Hollister recently signed a book deal with
a major publisher and shares her teachings through articles and newsletter.
Consulted as an authority on the subject of life after death, Hollister
presents seminars with leading researchers in afterlife science. In addition,
she has teamed up with internationally acclaimed medium, John Edward, for
InfiniteQuest, a "one-stop" portal of internet resources for the
soul.
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Many Doors - An Introduction to Mediumship with
Hollister Rand
***Share the gift of Spirit Communication***
Hollister takes listeners on a journey through the doors that separate life, death and life after life.
Price: $18.95
_______________________
Contact:
HollisterRand@sbcglobal.net
Phone:
818-255-1057
Visit:
www.HollisterRand.com
_______________________
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