Interview with Darron Eastwell

We each have a story. How we perceive ourselves and respond to events of our journey, enable us to grow and also offers opportunities enrich the world.  During a recent professional event, I had the privilege of meeting Darron Eastwell. This versatile author and speaker has experienced major shifts and its a delight to share our interview. 

In a nutshell, please describe yourself.

I’m 44 years old, married 20 years, father of 2 kids. I live in Buderim, on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland (Australia).

Of course, there is far more to you than initially meets the eye. Would you say you had a conventional career?

Well, my main work life was a 25-year banking career with National Australia Bank (NAB). Since leaving high school, this was my only employer. I'm originally from country Victoria.  However, due to my NAB roles, I relocated many times for different job opportunities.  While holding Business Banking management roles, I moved around Victoria, South East Queensland and Central Queensland before settling back on the Sunshine Coast in 2015.

Sounds like you come to thrive on change.  What has driven you through it all?   

Working for a large, corporate bank in demanding, high-pressure jobs consumed me. However, I really enjoyed the opportunities the bank provided.  After all, I never finished high school or gained any specialized education qualifications. I stuck with my banking career, worked my way up. I used to say I have a “Street-smart” degree.

Your life demonstrates that being adaptable enables us to respond well to whatever comes. Tell us how your work priorities have affected your family life.

I have always been a highly-dedicated family man with my family being my number one priority as I was the “bread-winner” for many years.  My wife and I chose to raise our kids so that they didn’t have to attend day care or after school day care. So, Bianca stayed home, looked after the kids while I went to work, traditional family compared to these days, we were very fortunate.

Sounds like you had your life pretty much planned out and the details were coming together. What caused your life to change dramatically?

Due to my mountain bike accident, our roles were reversed. Bianca had to be my carer then go out and work while I stayed home and continued rehabilitation and recovery.

How did your life focus and values change in all this?

I no longer feel that my high-pressured, corporate banking job is important. I feel like I was just a number to them. All I want to do now is gain part-time employment so I’m not consumed by work. Creating a healthy work-life balance enables me to enjoy the Sunshine Coast, all life has to offer. 

Share some key life challenges and how you respond.

Pre-accident, life was great. I didn’t have a worry in the world other than what most people would worry about. (i.e. how long would it last?) Yet, job satisfaction with NAB was nearing an expiry date and I still didn’t own my family home I had to work to pay the bills. 

My key life challenge was no doubt was on 23/05/2015 when I had my mountain bike accident, which changed my life forever. Even three and half years later, I still have zero memory of that day and the following 12 months after the accident due to the injuries. This is probably a good thing. Injuries sustained from the mountain bike accident were as follows: Fractured Skull, Fractured Neck (occipital condyle fracture), Fractured T7 Vertebrae Severe Traumatic Brain Injury (Diffuse Axonal Injury).  I was in a medically- induced coma for 10 days. I had a Glasgow Coma Score of 5 (GCS range from 3-15 -the lower the number, the more severe the injury; GCS of 3 equals a dead person).  Once I awoke from the coma, I had Post Traumatic Amnesia for 32 days.  Given the duration, this indicated a very severe TBI.

What you describe feels like a huge shake-up and perhaps a wake-up call on many levels. What else stands out for you?

I was in 3 different hospitals for a total period of 2 months, spending 6 weeks in the Princess Alexandra Hospital Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit where I had to undergo rehab Occupation Therapy, Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy, Balance Therapy. It was full-on.

Wow! You are certainly one resilient spirit! As your experience points out, challenges may seem economic or physical on the surface, but beneath it all, it is our attitude, will, how we respond mentally and emotionally, that determine what plays out.  

Yes. I had to re-learn life's simplest of skills, basically relearn to live independently again.  But I was so focused on getting well, nothing got in the way. I felt I had so much to live for including; my family, where I lived, my house, the lifestyle we had set up for ourselves.  I just wanted to be healthy again. My drive for recovery came from my perseverance and 'never give up' attitude, which I still have to this day.

What you say here invites readers to quietly ponder what is really important, what they really want. Its not usually what first comes to mind. What brings you the greatest joy?

My greatest joy is that I now live a quality, healthy life with my loving family on the Sunshine Coast in our family home which we built 10 years prior. I’m living my dream. I am now able to spend more time with family, exercise more and play my guitars more.

Ahh! So, you are also a musician! Have you always played? 

Well, I did not make much time for that hobby before my accident. My wife and I always spoke about returning to the coast, not having to relocate again.  We wanted to live a simple, uncomplicated lifestyle, enjoying the beaches, the sunny coast, warm climate.  We feel motivated to be outdoors.  We wanted our kids get to grow up in such a beautiful part of not only Australia, but the world.

As the saying goes, ‘Ask and it is given.’ You have given yourself your most heartfelt wish. Tell us, in your own words, how setbacks can be seen as gifts.

Set-backs can be gifts as they can change how you think what's really important.   Without your health, you little to feel joyful about.

Many people who have Near Death experiences (NDEs) also have out-of-body experiences (OBEs).  My NDEs and OBEs have changed the way I see myself and the world. Consider also people like Dannion Brinkley- he died twice by lightning and wrote At Peace in the Light & Saved by the Light. We also feel the impact of OBEs explored in Interview with William Buhlman and others on this blog.  How did having an NDE and OBE change you?

Surviving my near-death experience (NDE) has made me a better person and appreciate life more and I now realise how life can change in a heartbeat.  My brain is empty now. I am noticably calmer.

My mind echoes: I am not going to be a victim. I am not going to be negative about what happened. I believe everything happens for a reason. Positivity is so powerful. Having a positive mindset can assist with overcoming the impossible. I wouldn’t change what happened to me for a second. It has enabled so many doors to close but more doors have opened.

This echoes that saying, "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." Let us know what windows inspire you, what nourishes your soul?

I’m inspired to live the best version of this new Darron, inspired to remain happy & healthy and share my story of survival against the odds. My wife is the biggest inspiration. Without her support, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

What a heart-warming story of connection with your family, your deeper self to inspire the world. This is a perfect lead in to tell us about your new book.

My book is, The Day I Broke My Brain. Basically, this is what I did through my accident.

It reminds me of Proof of Heaven by and the implications explored in Interview with Dr. Eben Alexander and the the book and Ted Talk Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor.

As previously shared, due to my injuries, post-traumatic amnesia and severed memory problems, my occupation therapist suggested that I start writing a daily journal.  This   improved my memory and fine motor skills such as writing. I began with my name, address and where I had lived, my family’s names ages.  Then, I wrote about my thoughts, emotions and anything that I felt like writing.  This went on for about 6 months before I thought of the idea that I could have a book on my hands about my survival and rehabilitation story. Thus, over a period of 12 months, the daily journal writing evolved to have greater detail.  I had longer and longer writing sessions, all by hand, to the point when I had finished my book in its manuscript version.  I still have the hand-written notes today.

Other than assisting in your rehabilitation, what is your hope for this book?

Besides writing the book to help me deal with or at least uncover what happened to me, my hope is to help other people impacted by brain or other severe injury, to provide inspiration or motivation for healing. My recovery is proof that you can recover, not always 100%, but at least to redefine a high-quality and independent life. I now see life is far more than what I thought is was before my accident. Having a book is the modern version of a business card. It provides creditability, paves the way for new connections, and new career opportunities.

 Your story is one of determination and empowerment. It reminds me of the attitude of quadruple amputee Kyle Maynard who wrote No Excuses. What do you foresee next?

My hope is that it continues to sell, provides opportunities for me to meet new people. Talking at public events provides more income and eventually help with me gaining employment. My ultimate goal would be if the book could be put to movie as I think its a great story a positive story of someone beating the odds and overcoming such an injury it changed his entire life for the good.

How do you envision your book can help people?

I think my book can help people not only impacted by brain injury, but it can help anyone who is lacking the drive, motivation to improve their life, change mindset to see that nothing is really bad.  We do not have to wait for tragedy or an NDE to trigger the change.

What else have you done and are you doing to contribute to a new level of well-being?

After 12 months of traditional rehabilitation in hospital, I had had enough of it and was screaming out to do something else to feel happy.  Hence, I thru myself into physical exercise, music therapy, meditation, yoga, and naturopathic supplements.  In addition, I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol for two and half years.  Now, I only drink very small amounts, changed my diet to try and eat more healthy foods, intermittent fasting and eat brain foods.

Congrats on reaching a new level of balance and well-being. Who is your book's intended audience?

My audience is brain injury survivors, their families and individuals in need of motivation due to challenges. It is estimated about 700,000 people in Australia are living with a brain injury and in America around 3,000,000 people are impacted by brain injury.  Clearly, many people impacted by a situation related to my own.

 Where can people obtain a copy of your book?

The book has been purchased in 17 different countries so far or reading my blog on my website www.darroneastwell.com.au

As the result of your bike accident, how has your outlook and life perspective shifted?

I love my family and extended family more than ever. I no longer fear dying.

I relate to other people who have survived near death experiences (NDEs), tragedies or overcome trauma, sickness and injury. I can relate better to these kinds of people.

I don't have patience for materialistic people who are not realistic or they show no compassion for others. In general, I feel I am a calmer, more relaxed person because of my experience and enjoy the simple little things these days better, especially chatting to people 

As you look forward, how do you see your life unfolding?

I foresee my life unfolding like this:

•          I will continue to live on the Sunshine Coast with my family & finally can call it home
•          I will continue to visualize making a difference and seeing ths happen as in The Answer by Allan & Barbara Pease (I have used this technique 15 years and know it works)
•          I will return to working in 2019 in a part-time capacity
•          I will secure a job for which I am training now  (as a barista within the coffee industry)

Like yourself, I can attest to the effectiveness of feeling my way into a new lifestyle and way of being. Our life focus shifts with our awareness and priorities. It happens with perfect timing. As Gandhi echoes: happiness happens when what we think, do and say, are all in harmony.  Bobby Davro says a measure of success is happiness and peace and mind. How do you view success?

I will be successful at what ever I'm doing as that is how I am programmed.  When I do things, I have to do it right and put in 150%. I have high expectations for myself.

If you had a piece of advice or a vision to leave with our audience, what would it be?

Never take life for granted, go for your dreams or what makes your happy and ensure you live a healthy uncomplicated life.

Please share anything else you would like to add, including events, websites, links, broadcasts or any other ways our audience can connect with and learn more about you.

Here are some links to articles about me. Invite readers to visit my website, and find information relevant to their own journey.

https://profilemag.com.au/darron-eastwell-survival/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8V19BhrUPo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLwWEupGWds 

http://surviving-brain-injury.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/new-tbi-book-introduction-day-i-broke.html

http://tbihopeandinspiration.com/May2017.pdf  (Refer to pages 16-19)

https://www.braininjuryaustralia.org.au/stories/day-broke-brain-darron-eastwell/ 

https://issuu.com/myweeklypreview/docs/mwp460 Refer to page 24

http://myweeklypreview.com.au/people/defying-the-odds/

http://www.booksofbuderim.com.au/events-galore-at-books-of-buderim

https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-day-i-broke-my-brain-darron-eastwell/prod9781548296902.html

https://www.facebook.com/tbihopeandinspiration/photos/pb.397557900320241.-2207520000.1497447898./1319116004831088/?type=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8V19BhrUPo  

https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/life-threatening-accident-now-a-story-of-inspirati/3238030/

Thanks Darron.  We know you are an inspiring success and continue to enrich all thoe lives you touch. You invite us all to recognize blessings where we are, and to appreciate who we are and how we can assist each other. 

Notice our collective reality arises from what we choose to believe about information our elders leave us, and whether we choose to question it. If we insist on believing we are separate from God/ Source and each other, then life is about living in separation. Many people believe God condones violence as a means of conflict resolution and feel separate from what does not affect them personally. Behavior arises from belief. Our big challenge is to find ways to get people to see, feel, act collectively. The issue is we often seek to solve problems at every level except the level at which problems exist. What if creating heaven wherever you are and its the prime objective? Imagine a life without fear, guilt or anger. Imagine the end of frustration and anxiety, and negative feelings. Imagine experiencing awe and wonder, the impulse to give freely, all expressing itself through you due to your expanding awareness. We can begin to create this in lives of those we touch. It is a matter of making conscious connections. Internal shifts transform external experience.

Michael J Tamura & Interview on NDE revelations

Michael J. Tamura enriches the lives of others with spiritual teachings and profound sharing about his near-death experiences (NDEs). After reading about him, his personal awakenings, and insight into soul growth, I approached him to learn more. I am especially grateful he made the time for this dialogue before embarking on a 27-day promotional tour for his new book, You Are the Answer.

Why do you view yourself as a messenger?

James Van Praagh wrote in his Foreword to my book, You Are The Answer, that I was “...a true spiritual messenger...” Personally, I hadn’t really viewed myself that much as a messenger. But, now that you ask and having re-read what James so graciously wrote, I suppose I am a kind of message-bearer. Perhaps, I’m like the old-fashioned Western Union Telegraph Messenger, but for the Holy Spirit! I have, however, thought of myself at times as a cross between a wake-up service and a kind of spiritual ambassador.

What is your message?

I do my best to remind people that it’s a beautiful day to wake up to and I practice representing what I experience as Divinity: That which is limitless, eternal, immortal, ever-present and all-loving. I try to bridge the gaps that I see between where a person is and where he or she truly is as an immortal soul.

What did you know of NDEs before your own?

Another friend of ours, Dannion Brinkley, I’ll nominate as the president of the “Dead-Again Club.” He’s had more near-death experiences than you could shake a stick at! I’ve read his bookon his first NDE called, Saved By The Light. Joking aside, which is hard to do when you’ve been to “the other side,” I’ve been a regular on “the other side” for a good portion of my life.

How do people you know help you reframe this?

After my wife, Raphaelle’s father passed on, he came to one of her sisters in a dream and told her that “death is not what you think it is.” At the end of her dream, he also told her that he was concerned about her sister’s husband (me), since he saw me hanging out with “dead” people all the time. Not only is he correcton this, I’ve been teaching and healing souls in the spiritual realms, or “the other side,” as long as I can recall.

When I was a child, I would often end up around flashing red, blue and white lights of emergency vehicles as I fell asleep at night. I was helping those who were in an accident or a major disaster like tsunamis or earthquakes around the world in the out-of-body state. For the past thirty-five years or so, every night I would go out and teach my “astral class” to a growing number of souls, some who are incarnated presently and are my students here as well as many more who are between lives either having passed on or preparing to incarnate. I also teach many souls who are incarnated currently but would not be able to easily attend my earthly classes, such as those who are still infants and children as well as the elderly.

Please explain your sense of "the Other Side."

In fact, the idea of an “other side” isn’t all that correct. There’s only one side to the oneness of spirit. It’s all here and now. Yet, when we experience an experience that doesn’t relate with anything we think we experience here, we start to think of it as “somewhere else” other than here. Then, there’s dead people and live ones! Yet, as we become increasingly more aware, we begin to realize that the variety of our experiences is something akin to looking at a cell under a microscope.

For example, at 10X power, a cell looks a certain way. At 50X power the same cell looks quite different. And, at 200X power it looks nothing like any of the rest. “Being dead” means that you see the same so-called reality at a different power than when you were “alive.” But, even after dying, each of us will experience “reality” at different “powers” depending on how aware we are. The more you awaken while incarnated, the higher power you can experience things. Soon, you become aware all of this is a dream. It’s like going from one dream state to another. Until we awaken, whatever dream state we’re in we believe is reality. Waking up in the morning after a good nightmare we are grateful to realize the nightmare was just a bad dream. We’re so relieved that we forget that we’ve just only moved into a different dream state and we need to wake up from this one as well.

How would you describe the 'real' you?

Long before my two NDEs in the past six years, I’ve experienced many different states of being that are not the experience of this body person named Michael. As we let go of the layers of energy-thought patterns making up our ego, we experience different states of our beingness. In my book I attempted to describe a little of how I experienced the coming back together, or formation, of the ego as I re-entered this physical state. Yet, that allness where there is no ego can’t be described or explained. It truly is beyond words, beyond any thought. When I was “there” there was no “there” to be. There wasn’t even an “I.”

Between here and “that” there are myriad realms. I’ve experienced a few of them. Some are very much like here on earth except less dense and more vivid where people are like people and there’s even houses and cars. The only difference is that some people float or teleport more easily there and things like that. Some realms are much more celestial. There’s truly heavenly music that permeate the whole realm and everything is just varying energies and colors. The purer the thoughts, feelings and actions that you produce, the finer and more beautiful the environment you live in. Your thoughts are actually more alive than your body. And, contrary to popular belief, it’s a whole lot easier to die than it is to come back here. They don’t call what your mother went through to get you here “labor” for nothing!

When did you discern that the soul or an energy body is in charge (and not the physical body)?

It’s been a few lifetimes. Many people I think will be surprised to discover how much they already know as souls while they are out of their bodies. It’s that when they return into their body consciousness, much of that gets lost in translation.

There’s a point in soul development where we make a commitment to live the life of an immortal soul in the physical body and world. It’s what Jesus’ “transfiguration” experience was partly a demonstration of.

Often, the pull of the energies that make up our physical body and this world is so great that we tend to forget that we are more than these bodies and the thoughts and feelings we seem to have in them. But, in each life, we have many opportunities to remember. Throughout the earlier years of this incarnation, I had experiences of looking down at my physical body from above as spirit, yet, I didn’t have the vocabulary to call it anything and no one with whom to talk about such experiences. So, they tend to stay in the background more.

I remember I progressively gave up my spiritual awareness from about 5 years old on each time I felt that I couldn’t get into communication with others where and how I was. I kept inadvertently down-grading my vibration and awareness until magically one day people started to talk to me. But, within a few years after the initial excitement wore off, I realized that they weren’t talking to me after all. They were talking to the me that I had to become so that someone would talk to me. It’s truly a case of shooting your own foot when you decide to become someone or somehow else in order to have communication. If you’re not you, no one can communicate with you anyway - you won’t be there to receive it - or give it.

How has your perspective evolved as the result of new levels of connection to spirit?

It keeps getting simpler. I realized I had to make myself more and more complicated to be understood by others when I was a child. Now, I’m making myself simpler and simpler. Spirit is utterly simple. But, simple isn’t stupid. Have you ever noticed in art and music and martial arts, when the practitioners begin to master their craft, their paintings, songs, and movements become simpler and simpler?

What makes us simpler?

We hold on to less and less. The whole journey we call life is but learning to forgive all trespasses. When Janis Joplin sang, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose...” she didn’t know quite the truth of what she was singing. (Today, she’s reincarnated and knows much more about forgiving herself, however.) But, when we keep losing what we’ve held on to - what we’ve loved and believed we had to possess in order to keep them - we eventually come to a place where we’ve got nothing left to lose. Then, we realize that freedom was always ours - that we’ve never lost anything. Forgiveness comes naturally as a consequence of realizing that nothing real can ever be taken away or destroyed. Do we continue to cry over spilled milk or do we just go milk another cow? (Or, better yet, go for an ice cream cone!)

How have your dreams changed since your NDE?

I don’t seem to dream a whole lot. My wife is more the dreamer. My younger son, Nick, often dreams epics. I have a friend who nightly dreams entire movies complete with musical score with lyrics! And, many of them even are prophetic.

But, I only dream occasionally. I’m probably too busy teaching my astral classes and making my healing rounds every night to dream. Also, much of the out-of-body “time” I spend while sleeping is on the mental and spiritual realms that don’t have the same kind of “dreaming” as on a more personality level. It’s more thought, geometrical progressions and light. I tend to dream more when something on a more personal level is troubling me. I haven’t notice any marked difference in dreaming since my NDEs - but, I have noticed that my relationship with spirit is much more grounded and part of this body’s consciousness much more. In a way, I get to have more of my relationships and communication with spirit here in the body than having to go “out” in the spirit realms.

Please discuss the power ofcommunication from spirit and physical world. How does intention differ?

Intention is one of the most important aspects of a soul’s growth process. Your intention as a soul defines the course of your progress. We also need to check the consequences and results of our thoughts, words, energy and actions against the North Star of our soul intentions. Are we making the correct choices and expressing them in a way that fulfills what we intended? For example, on a practical daily application, if our soul intention is to be truthful so that we could have better relationships, but our blunt “honesty” is offending or chasing away the person with whom we are having a relationship, we need to realize that our intention is still correct, but that we may need to change how we express our truth.

Also, as we become more aware, we begin to realize our thoughts and inner feelings are not private at all. They affect everyone and everything especially around us. So, the unaware person thinks to himself that as long as he doesn’t yell at and hit his children or pets, he isn’t abusing them. Yet, if he is angry and wanting to wring their head off, they are definitely going to experience the effects of those violent thoughts and feelings, even if he is smiling on the outside and saying nice things.

What is it that tells you when you trust in the "right" thing?

It is the real you, or spirit. The closer you are to your true self, the more easily you will know what is the “right” answer or choice. It isn’t in the answer or choice or “right thing” that you need to trust. Rather, you need to trust in yourself.

For example, as parents, we often want so much to be able to trust our children to do the “right” things. We want to trust that they will be safe or not make stupid decisions or act out in dangerous ways. If we believe that they are the ones who must become trustworthy in order to allay our fears, we will try to impose our responsibilities upon them to fulfill. If, however, we realize that it is our lack of trust in ourselves that is driving us to try to “make them” responsible and trustworthy, we will examine what it is that we don’t trust in ourselves or why we don’t.

The basic one as parents in relationship to our children is easy: We’re scared to death that we’re going to lose them. We’re afraid that we aren’t good enough and that they’re going to suffer because we don’t do something right. We need to ask ourselves the very hard question: Am I going to be able to manage if my child dies (gets seriously injured, etc.)? It’s a question none of us ever want to even consider. But, if we are going to be able to trust ourselves, we have to look at it deeply.

In any area of our lives that we are terrified to examine and discover for ourselves if we would be willing to live with or through it, we’re going to have a hard time trusting in ourselves. And, if we can’t trust ourselves, we’re going to expect and demand that someone else be perfect for us so that we could put our trust in them and feel safe.

If you put trust in anything that is changeable, it will definitely betray your trust sooner or later. The only thing that will never betray your trust is that which is forever, never-changing, limitless, ever-present. And, that, is within each of us. Whenever we find that in our own self, we will be able to trust that in another - regardless of what the other does.

How did writing, 'You Are the Answer,' transform you?

That’s a good one! And boy did it transform me. It took me nine years from the beginning of when I wrote the first few paragraphs for “my first book” to completing my manuscript for publication. I actually wrote three whole books. The third one is what turned out to be You Are The Answer. The first manuscript had 495 pages! The first publisher/editor I had said it was three books in one - at least. The second book was completely different and it had two books in it still. I finally got it on the third full attempt. Just that whole process of writing a book was transformative. Then, came the publishing of it - another whole story in and of itself.

I don’t know if I can describe exactly how the whole process transformed me. The first manuscript was very much autobiographical - and, now, I know why I had to do that first before I could write You Are The Answer. I had to get myself out of the way of the book without removing myself out of it. And, to get myself out of the way, I had to excavate many areas of my life that I didn’t particularly care to revisit. After all, don’t we all have better things to do with our time? Ha, Ha!

Having written the book, I feel I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for life, for myself, for everyone in my life. I learned that it is truly a team effort to write and publish a book - and, by expanding that - to do anything, to live one’s life. I got to realize more deeply why I’ve always loved the sense of community. Because we are - we all are.

What do you hope readers take away from this book?

First and foremost, I’d like the book to inspire people to seek deeper within themselves for their own truth, their own ever-lasting beautiful and brilliant light. Second, I hope that reading the book, even just holding it, will give the reader an experience of profound healing. That connection to that which always is. Third, I would like to see people embark upon a whole new and wonderful adventure into what is just the tip of the iceberg of possibilities in awareness, healing, fulfillment and how we could really live our lives. And, finally, I hope that each person can have for him or herself a starter spiritual toolkit to get onto that new life.

Describe how you met James Van Praagh, why he wrote your forward, and why you're listed as a spiritual teacher on his site.

You can read about James’ experience of how he came to meet me in his foreword to my book. It’s a great story. A very brief version of my side of the same story of our initial meeting is this:

In the early 90’s, I was giving private reading/healing sessions in the Los Angeles area about every other month for a couple of weeks each time at a hotel there. My wife, Raphaelle, would schedule the sessions ahead of time and people would show up at their appointed times at my door and knock. I saw that the next client was named James Van Praagh, but at the time I didn’t know who he was or anything. But, as soon as I opened the door and saw him, I felt like I was seeing an old friend - which we are from way back. I immediately liked him, his brightness and enthusiasm. His aura was very bright and seemed to dance.

It was interesting because unlike many clients, James didn’t offer any information about himself. It was a different experience for me because the only people that I read before him who didn’t offer much communication about themselves or what they were interested in me reading and healing were the occasional few who were quite closed or so much in pain that they couldn’t communicate much. But, here was this wide open, very friendly and loving person who didn’t tell me much about anything. Of course, I later realized that this is the way he read others! As one whose work at the time was to give people undeniable evidence of life after death, James instructed those he read not to disclose any information about themselves. Otherwise, if they did, what he told them could be questioned as not really coming from spirit. Since that’s neither my expertise or purpose, I didn’t do that. I liked to have the person I was reading give me the starting point as far as why they came to get a reading and what they were interested in me covering and so forth so I didn’t have to spend the time getting to that point. If evidence of spirit or the afterlife or even of psychic abilities was what someone wanted, I would send them to others who did that sort of thing. Why go to a baker if you want your carpet cleaned? Ha, Ha!

Anyway, I could tell that James was giving me his utmost respect doing what he was doing. So, I just started from the beginning and went forward. We immediately hit it off and had a wonderful time throughout the whole session. It’s nice when someone can laugh with you about pretty much anything - especially things that most people are generally afraid to even talk about, much less do anything about. I think we both knew quickly that our soul relationship went back many lifetimes.

We’re both so busy these days that we don’t get to see each other too often, but whenever we do, it’s like no time has past since the last time. Sometimes it gets hilarious - when I lived in Colorado, near Denver, James called me on my cell phone to see if we could get together for dinner. I was in LA trying to call him to ask him the same question! That happened a few times in various places. Then, one time Raphaelle, my wife, and I were driving into San Francisco to give a weekend presentation and all of a sudden, she said, “You should call James now.” So, I did and discovered that he was staying at the hotel across the street from ours to give a presentation that weekend. We were able to get together for breakfast after we finished our respective events.

As to why he wrote the foreword to my book is that he’s a wonderful friend who has lovingly and enthusiastically supported our work ever since we first met. I have seen him graciously help in many ways those he felt were tremendously benefitting people spiritually and other ways. He shares his fame in ways that support and enhance many people’s lives.

Why he listed me on his site as a spiritual teacher is because basically that’s what I am. I teach people spiritually. Also, I retired from giving private sessions several years ago so that I could fully devote my time and energies to teaching more people through our seminars, audio products, writing/publishing, and media projects.

What are basic qualities of spirit that people can begin to grasp and apply?

Spirit is. That means that there is no beginning, no ending to that which is. Without beginning or ending, there is no change. So, spirit is never-changing, ever-lasting. Which also means everywhere present. Spirit is undivided. The minute we divide ourselves against anything, anyone or against any aspect of ourselves, we go away from our experience of spirit.

Spirit actually cannot be grasped. That which tries to grasp is the mind. That expression, “I can’t wrap my mind around that” is a great expression because it describes exactly what mind does to make something out of nothing. The mind is the builder. So, when we are “trying to wrap our minds around something” we’re making spirit into something, some concept or image that we could hold with our mind. Yet, to experience spirit, we need to let go of the grasping and the holding onto to the images and empty and still our mind. When we’re busy trying to “get it” we miss the allness that is spirit.

Notice when you are truly relaxed, you become a lot more loving and giving. Because when you are relaxed, you are giving yourself space to BE. It is intrinsic to that which is all and has all to give. That which has everything and is everything doesn’t need anything and doesn’t take anything. It only gives. So, whenever we come from a space of givingness in anything we do, we enter into the stream of that all-givingness that is life.

From your view, what is reality? How can a person learn to shift awareness of their own reality more consistently?

My answer to the first question is the same as above (#11). To become more aware of what is truly real, practice discerning that which is from that which appears to be. That which appears to be, which is all things perceived through our senses, is not real. True reality is permanent, unchanging. Everything else is fabricated in the mind. Anything made up in the mind can be changed. When we identify with the ever-changing instead of the never-changing, we experience fear every time that with which we strongly identify changes. We experience that change as “loss” and “death”.

Anything else you would like to add?

Thank you for this opportunity to communicate. May the light of Divinity illuminate your every step along your wondrous path to your true being. With much gratitude, love and laughter.

Check out: http://www.michaeltamura.com/