The early events in my life seemed ordinary at the time I experienced them until I undertook an investigation in later years—the events revealed extraordinary details of interactions with other worlds. Transcendental is a word denoting a nonphysical reality. While the physical universe is widely known to contain planets and stars in the vastness of outer space, the worlds I refer to throughout this book are nonphysical environments, where the association of interrelated energies or multiple selves representing our fundamental wholeness exists. We split off from our nonphysical family with the agreement of our higher self to experience life, so it is accurate to say we are a part of them.

Paying attention is about getting back to basics and reestablishing the fundamentals of our connection to our energetic counterparts. The clarity can provide a fantastic sense of confidence that no matter what troubling events occur in physical reality, we may find ourselves at peace in the playfulness of brighter realms.

 You could say my mother experienced this playfulness when she was grief-stricken and then reacquainted with her essence. When she lost her father, she experienced a painful trauma. Her first reaction was the terrifying fear he was gone forever. She soon became angry as she attempted to take control of her experience. The negative emotions left her frustrated and anguished for half a year. Her capacity to experience empathy, compassion, and love was diminished. She withdrew from her family and fell into discord with the world. My father, brother, and sisters watched her slowly disappear from our lives. She had lost touch with her essence. The further away she became, the less recognizable she appeared. She had reached an impasse. The morning she heard her father’s voice filled her with inner peace. The core of the experience gave her a renewed vision of empathy, compassion, and love from whence she came. The terrible uncertainty, the interminable noise of detrimental thoughts, and her fears and anger dissolved. She had discovered her potential to restore wholeness from the fragmentary effects of chronic emotional pain. In her most dire moments, she asked for help, and her higher self was listening. Nothing happens without oversight from our higher self. As I said, the higher self is the gatekeeper and guardrail, allowing or denying any adventures, good of bad, the human essence experiences.   

My mother was learning about discernment. She had become confined in a cave of darkness she created. Then, she experienced healing and emerged fulfilled. She may have been unaware of her essence or the connections she manifested. Yet she freed herself in brighter realms. She had learned the meaning of withholding love from herself and her family. By way of her essence, she rediscovered empathy, compassion, and love originating from her higher self. These values were always there, and through them, she gained the experience of expanded self-awareness. What comes from us is for us and, of course, for others. The virtuous characteristics of our core self are ours to experience.

On another note, the voice my mother heard that morning came as an audible message, as a form of intuition. The message was precisely what she needed to hear and, crucially, was ready to hear. That is the vast intelligence and organization of the higher self as work. Unconsciously, she was learning about her existing connections and the interwoven nature of physical and nonphysical environments. As she tuned in, she acquired the creativity to step outside the cave of darkness. She found the resources to change her relationship to loss and gained the understanding that her most precious bonds live on. She may have been unconscious of the process. Yet, she was unified with the wholeness of her being just the same. The shift in her mindset was palpable. In a single event, she healed from the pain and isolation and returned to her family.

Intuition is too often viewed by people as a mysterious force, a gut feeling, a thought in the back of the mind, or an instinctual awareness that goes far beyond observation, logic, or reason. We are constantly tapping into a source of information from within, influencing our choices and decisions. Fundamentally, intuition is seeing with our essence and making connections to do what it does best: to unify us with wholeness.

How do we develop stronger connections and foster intuition? We begin by paying attention to our reactions in everyday life. Our attitudes and temperaments, our thoughts and feelings, and emotions. What moves our needle? Happy, sad, afraid, angry, apprehensive, curious, ext. Behaviors manifest in our thoughts. Yet the origin of our behaviors comes from deep within our mental, psychological, and spiritual landscape. Learning to observe ourselves can reveal the patterns and forces behind our motivations. By paying attention, we can teach ourselves to become sensitive to the hidden layers of our inner life, where our essence resides, thus fostering greater connection. With awareness brings accord with the world. Insight, intuition, compassion, and love are our best allies. But looking beneath layers of our being can be a double-edged sword. As we seek deeper meaning, we may also discover shadows. The hardest part of changing myself has always been identifying the old obstacles and then accepting with resolute determination who I will become when they are no longer present. The first step to growth is looking closer. The benefits can be enormous. Greater self-awareness helps us make choices that align with our purpose in life—leading to greater fulfillment and happiness.

Each of us can make wishes on the wings of ladybugs to manifest our dreams. We can be present today, deliberately and with intent, opening doors to experience reality as it is leading by way of essence. To know ourselves is to discover the worlds we come from before life, for they reveal the extraordinary events that shape our lives. We begin with the desire to explore. We cross the bridge to the recognition as we are, partly physical and nonphysical beings yearning to experience all we are. I sometimes wonder if I discover worlds beyond, or do they discover me? Do I happen to the stories, or do they happen to me? They are the unfolding synchronicities set into motion by the mysteries of existence.

From the Larger Field and me,

Stephen Daniel