Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m sharing my review for Medium, Matt Fraser’s latest release – We Never Die. I’ve been following Matt and his videos since I lost my husband and couldn’t wait for this book to come out in paperback.
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.Blurb:
Blurb:
From America’s top psychic medium and the author of When Heaven Calls comes a new book that unveils the secrets of the afterlife, the truth about heaven, and inspires “us with his comforting certainty that we never die” (Gloria Estefan).
Psychic medium Matt Fraser, author of When Heaven Calls, is back to unpack the number one question folks ask him: “What happens after death?” Although we might expect a complicated answer, it’s actually pretty simple: We never die!
Drawing from thousands of conversations with Spirit, Matt pulls back the curtain on life’s hidden revelations:
-What happens when we cross over -The beautiful realities of heaven and eternal life -The guardian angels who keep us safe on Earth (including our pets who have passed) -The role of dreams and how souls appear to the living -Love, romance, and soul mates beyond life -Ghosts, hauntings, negative souls, energy vampires, and psychic protection -Destiny, free will, and second chances -Regrets, amends, and forgiveness from heaven -Figuring out your gifts and purpose -Karma, kindness, and living in the divine flow -How to recognize the signs and messages our loved ones send us from heaven
As Matt explains, “We all have our own ‘phone line’ to communicate with heaven. All we have to do is figure out how to use it.”
Revealed through never-before-told stories, the wisdom in We Never Die “is healing the world by making sure we have a strong emotional and spiritual connection, which is the foundation for a healthy life” (Karamo Brown, star of Queer Eye and author and author of Karamo).
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My 5 Star Review:
Besides reading many books on grief after losing my husband, I also became more involved with wanting to learn more about the afterlife, despite the fact that I am clairsentient. Who better to get information from than Matt Fraser whose gift is communing with spirit and bringing messages to the many who seek an inside peek at heaven and a message from a loved one.
One doesn’t have to be grieving to want to learn the secrets of the ‘other side’. For me it fascinates to be able to receive messages from the beyond. And it’s clear to me that Fraser has an ‘auto button’ where he can talk to someone and let them into some privy information about a lost loved one. Written in easy conversational style – as Matt is known for his casual conversing.
In this book, Matt will distinguish the difference for us between a psychic and a medium, explain why people change after an NDE, how it is for a child born with ‘the gift’, the truth about heaven and how our lost loved ones can be with us spiritually, how a medium receives messages from our lost loved ones, how our spirit guides really do take care of us, how we can communicate with our lost loved ones, what happens when a person ascends to heaven, how to create good karma, how to let go of bad energy, and so much more.
Whether you are spiritual or not, the fact is, we’re all going to die someday, or we all have a lost loved one, and Matt Fraser teaches what comes along the way, and that energy never dies and that’s why spirit never dies.
Welcome to my first book review of 2024. Today I’m sharing my review for a fun romp with Pamela Wight in her book – Flashes of LIfe. Anyone who follows Pam’s blog and enjoys her short stories will definitely enjoy this book – flashes of memoir.
Blurb:
Wow! Life goes by in a flash.
Philosophers and mystics ponder the mystery of these flashes. Pamela Wight writes about life flashes in her short stories that include family and friends, love and life’s challenges. Wight’s “Flash Memoir” promotes the belief that we all share sparks of the extraordinary that occur in our everyday life. Each short story is true and brings a smile of recognition to her readers: that life transports and enthralls us in all its confusing, amusing, challenging, and astonishing ways. Each story is light-hearted and short – like a flash – but be prepared for a page-turner that keeps you in your seat, smiling.
My 5 Star Review:
If you enjoy short stories about life and some of its impressionable moments, you will love Pamela’s book of mini flashes of memoir where she shares pieces of her life in flashes of memories. The chapters are wonderfully sectioned into sections of topics – personal reflections, family drama, life is funny, pets, relationships and more! The author shares her joys and foibles of her life as a woman, a wife, a parent, and precious stories about being a grandmaw. Poignant moments of life with the ease of humor.
A few of my favs in this book: the chapter about having no middle name. Ms. Wright, apparently was never given one – until later life, but that’s a story you’ll have to read to find out why, and then you ‘may’ figure out how she became Pamela ‘S’ Wight. Early Morning Spirits – because even when ‘they’re gone’, we can still feel their presence. The Weight of the Soul, where the author questions exactly that. Spa Stress – which the title alone suggests an oxymoron, but after Wight’s glorious spa day she realizes she left her mobile phone behind.
A charming and humorous telling of ordinary stories of a day in the life of the author, which somehow, many of us can relate to. And you can even learn how to ‘fluff’ your aura!
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NOTE: Please excuse the double image of the book here. After 45 minutes I had to give up. WP is giving me ongoing grief, especially to put up a post. The pre- drafted post had the book image pre- inserted, but when I went to edit before publishing, the image completely disappeared. I re-added the image, previewed the post only to find two images, and in draft mode, there were zero images showing, hence, invisible and unable to delete.
Today my Sunday book review is for a most moving book – Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without, written by professor and keynote speaker, poet and author Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D. in 2013 after losing her soulmate, well into her 80s. This is a short book, written in freeverse style as the author talks about her daily life, covering every single emotion, longing, and her daily struggle to go on living without the love of her life. At 96 years old, she shares her last blogpost, posted on her blog April 4th of this year, after her passing in March of 2023. She is finally back together with the love of her life.
Dear readers, This is the last column I will be writing. I have been writing to you for over 40 years. You may not know it, but I will be 97 and I think my time has come to put down my pen. Thank you for all your comments and letters. One of the highlights of my life has been writing this column and hearing from all of you. Warmly, Natasha
You can read the rest of this post at Natasha’s blog:
Now into her 90’s, Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D., has lived a full life. Some might argue she has lived enough for several lives.
To say that she has been a trailblazer would be an understatement.
In 1980, Natasha wrote Paths to Power: A Woman’s Guide from First Job to Top Executive (Addison Wesley 1980), which quickly became a bestselling guide for women in the workplace. Natasha taught the first college course in the country on women in management. In the mid-eighties, she became one of the first female members of Rotary International in California.
Natasha has hosted her own television segment, appeared regularly on NPR, wrote her own nationally syndicated column, and appeared on Larry King Show, Sally Jesse Raphael, and Dr. Ruth, to name a few.
While Natasha has written several other bestselling books, her passion is poetry.
Now, at 90 years young, having lost her brother, her son, her husband, and most recently her son-in-law, it is Natasha’s strength, her passion for living life, and candor that is truly infectious. Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without (November 2013), is perhaps the most telling book ever written about pre and post grief. It is a collection of powerful, gritty, candid, and inspiring poems about living life after loss. It was recently named to Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2013.
In 2015 she was inducted into the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame and was the Honoree at the University of California, San Diego Women’s Conference.
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Blurb:
From the first, life-changing terminal diagnosis to a new way of life as a widow, the deeply moving journey of mourning a beloved spouse’s death is the subject of Natasha Josefowitz’s candid, uplifting collection of poems, Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without. Drawing from her own personal experiences navigating the grief of this seemingly unbearable loss, the author’s tender and thoughtful perspective is certain to offer hope and healing to anyone who is embarking on his or her own journey of grief and healing process, regardless of age and life stage.
With rich insight and raw honesty, Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without guides the reader from mourning to recovery, using simple, relatable poetry that casts an unflinching eye on the day-to-day experiences entailed with losing a loved one. The collection starts with a diagnosis of cancer and travels through the moments experienced in doctors’ offices, hospice care, the funeral, and on to the reality of a life alone. Examining the grief process chronologically, the poems progress from the painful early days to the second year, when healing has occurred. The book then culminates with a strong message of hope, as the grieving person emerges once again as a self-sufficient, confident person who is facing the next adventure life has to offer.
Natasha Josefowitz was inspired to put her poems on paper by her own experience with the death of her husband, as well as the grief she witnessed among so many of her friends. She now endeavors to help others who are confronting the unimaginable end of a central relationship. With compassion, clarity, and profound humanity, Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without is certain to offer solace and support to those who are bereft, and who will benefit from empathy and emotional connection as they work through their own grief toward help and healing.
My 5 Star Review:
This is a short book of 93 pages, with each page sharing how the weight of grief affects every single action in living without her other half, Josefowitz writes her emotions and thoughts on how each aspect of her life, and how nothing remains the same and how the most menial parts of daily life are no longer the same. Written in freeverse style – not so much poetry as sharing her thoughts on what life is now like as she grows from grieving to finally learning how to move her grief and continue living by learning to live with her lost husband ‘in her heart’, as final acceptance. She shares with us her own stories that many grievers can nod their heads to in confirmation as we know exactly of every word, emotion, and trigger us grievers endure while trying to make some semblance of our new lives.
“Familiarity has gone strange,” says Natasha. She speaks of things that are new that were once the mundane and part of life – things left in drawers – “objects from an ongoing life interrupted midstream by death”, chores that are now hers, time – “There is a constant presence of his absence, he is everywhere, yet nowhere…”, long nights alone, no one to share her daily grind with, talking to her dead husband, progression of time not easing all the missing, the wrong things people say to us, no more intimate sharing of food, stories, secrets, love, and she speaks of the gratitude for single friends, as ‘widows are no longer invited for dinner by couples’. Everything in this book are a cycle of a new life she didn’t ask for, and so relatable for anyone who has ever loved and lost.
Below are some snippets of excerpts that felt as though I could have written them.
Moving Quotes:
Hospice
“…I don’t know where to turn
I want to leave
to go somewhere safe
where we can turn back the clock
to when he was healthy
it would be nice
for me to be unconscious, too
for a little while…”
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Dismantling His Office
“…there is a pervasive sadness
about objects once owned
and treasured
by a man I loved
that now need to find
usefulness elsewhere …”
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The Half Person
“…he left me with
reeling from realization
that I’m only half a person
the other half is gone
the other half is dead
we were one together
a unit, yin and yang
a whole side of me
has been torn away
and it’s bleeding
from the open, ragged wound
it’s not a clean cut
it’s pieces of heart
and pieces of gut…”
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Only Silence
“The sweetest sound in the world
was the sound of his peaceful breathing
as he lay next to me in bed
that sound secured the night
now that there is only silence
I do not feel safe anymore.”
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Perhaps my favorite verse as this sounds like me pleading and bargaining for same signs:
Today I’m sharing my recent edition from my Spiritual Awareness series column at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Blog Magazine. In this post I’m discussing soul contracts we make before birth.
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Explore the spiritual side of our natures as D.G. Kaye shares her experiences and research into this element of our lives.
Today Debby explores our past lives, something that has fascinated both philosophers for thousands of years and also more recently scientists. I am sure as always the post will encourage you to share your experiences and raise questions. Debby suggested I share my thoughts as well.
“I do believe in rebirth, and how can you not when you see a four year old play Chopin or a six year old sing an aria that would challenge a seasoned professional. I also believe in cellular memory. Not just the body carrying forward traits from many generations physically like the colour of hair or facial features and certain hereditary diseases but other cells such as our brain cells and perhaps the knowledge they contain.” ~ Sally Cronin
Now over to Debby… enjoy
Soul Contracts – Choosing our Family Before Birth
Welcome back to my Spiritual Awareness series here at the Smorgasbord. In this edition I’m going to be talking about why it is said that we choose our families before we’re born. Some might wonder if that is the case, why would anyone choose a tortured or difficult life? But it’s all about the life lessons.
Now, granted, if you don’t believe our souls don’t die when our bodies do, and if you don’t believe we’ve had past lives, then I’m not here to convince anyone, rather just discuss what I know about the subject. Many of these discussions about choosing a family before we’re born come from spiritualists, religious experts, and Yogis, and of course, cannot be proven scientifically because there are just some things from other realms we will never physically have proof of in this life.
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Before we incarnate into a new body, we make a collective decision, our souls commune with other souls to collaborate in negotiation as to what life lessons we should need to learn with our particular choice of purpose we agree to fill. As well, some are sent to repeat lessons for past unfulfilled karma. This is named our ‘soul contract’. The purpose of growing through this contract is to graduate to a higher consciousness of understanding.
It is said that every soul is assigned a guardian angel who works with seven teachers before they incarnate into human form. After our new birth we’ll find ourselves in a family where we will, as well as the parents we choose, learn what to expect from life or pass on our accrued knowledge from various past lives to teach them in a current life, and for us to learn life lessons we perhaps missed in a previous life from them. Our souls must follow the laws of the universe. If souls don’t abide by making a positive contribution in their lives, they will be deemed to repeat life lessons in another life.
What takes place is the family we choose to be born into. Time, date, and place of birth are all relevant to the contract. People will come into our lives we are meant to learn something from as part of a healing from a past life or even in our current one. We all are given Free Will, which permits us to choose a path to go down or avoid – yet, despite the route we choose to get there, our destiny will never change.
Our ultimate destiny is to experience Unconditional Love through each life throughout the universe to enhance our energies. Our chosen soul contract is the ‘deal’ we make with ourselves to evolve into a higher awareness. And we are told we are never alone without our spirit guides and angels guiding us.
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Often throughout our lives we receive ‘signs’ or messages to remind us to keep on the right path. We are sent people at the precise time in life we need to meet them to introduce us to something we need to learn. These people may come and go, stay, or revisit, as the universe extends us a helping hand.
These soul contracts are made in conjunction with the people we will meet in our lives on earth. As I like to say, we meet people for Reasons and Seasons. We may make contact for a short time with someone we meet on the street, store, or anywhere who has something to enlighten us with or inform. This is all pre-destined, all the players we’ll meet in our life on earth are here to teach us lessons.
We may encounter a hurtful situation and learn forgiveness from it. We may be abandoned by someone and through their love, teach us to stand up for ourselves, or allow ourselves to succumb to the pain. We may become caregivers giving love, or we may have to encounter stubborn or unstable family members. Again, lessons. Some lessons we’ll have already mastered in another life which we can also pass onto others in a current life.
We are made of many past lives we’ve lived in. In each of those lives we’ve learned and, also, failed to learn something, which must become a repeated lesson to learn in the next life. We come with no recollection of our past life, other than the things ‘we instinctively know’ from a past life. It’s like we begin each new life with a clean slate, yet, bring with us some knowledge from our past life. The rest is forgotten when we start anew. Could you imagine if we harbored all the baggage we acquired from each life and had to tote it along with us in each consequent life?
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No, just the essential lessons. It is said that our entire lives and past lives are stored in the Akashic Archives, kind of like a universal archived library of recordings of memories throughout our lives. Lessons not taken in as supposed to in one life will follow in the next life, like karma, those lessons must be learned . . . Please read the conclusion at Sally’s Smorgasbord
I was thrilled when Resa McConaghy of Graffiti Lux Art and More, contacted me to tell me that she enjoyed my latest book, Fifteen First Times, and wanted to write a review in her usual artistic manor, and asked me a few questions about parts she’d read, and my answers ultimately, ended up in her review post. Resa is an artist in her gown designs, and an avid, and fabulous photographer. The butterfly images are her captures in her street art, graffitti mural art searches – right here in our city of Toronto.
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Fifteen First Times – by D.G. Kaye
It’s easy to read these memoirs, and think of your own first times. I kept thinking of my first times.
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Nonetheless, these are D.G.’s first times gleaned from the garden of her life.
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Whether it’s a commonality, such as diets, shoes or learning to drive, I see we are each alone, unique in our experiences.
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First boyfriend or first kiss are times when we are not alone during the experience. Yet, are we not experiencing the same things, each in our own way and own world?
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I was struck with all the humour in these memoirs.
I thought…”Does D.G. know how funny she is? Even when in reality sometimes things aren’t so funny”?
Then at the end of the book re: “First and Last Love”, she says “Humor. It’s the one thing that always got me through some of the darker moments in life.”
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Resa – D.G., My question was before I read that, and still is – Did you know you were being funny when you wrote this? I mean did you have to think about adding the humour after it was written, or were you consciously being aware that you should write humor as you wrote?
OR – Did you just write, and the humor presented itself naturally?
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D.G. – My motto as a writer is – eclectic conversationalist. I write like I speak (of course with edits). I’m afraid my personality is always present in all my books – despite the content. I’m a storyteller, and this my friend, is my voice. Thank you for noticing and picking that out.
Resa – Well, D.G. don’t be afraid! (I’m being funny there!) Your personality’s voice is a queen. (not being funny here)
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Now, one might ask, “What’s with all the butterflies?”
Please continue reading over at Resa’s artistic blog. I love how she created a page banner with fifteen copies of my book. 💚
Another month or so from now I plan on going back to working on my next book, a monumental task that I feel compelled to write about. I began writing this book about a year before my husband passed. I didn’t know then I was writing a book, but it turns out I was.
I began writing a conversational documentary on moments and conversations that would come up sporadically between me and my husband. I found some haunting, some humorous, but also, some that left me questioning. I kept adding to the conversations and thoughts almost nightly – late at nightly. I didn’t know why I felt compelled to write my questions and feelings about random things between us, I just did. I also didn’t know my husband was dying when I began writing these observations. Almost like a diary of poignant moments and thoughts. By the time my husband’s death was impending, I knew my reason for beginning these writings. I needed to talk about him, to him. I wanted to keep track of our poignant discussions. I needed to share his wit and wisdom. I needed to shine a light on a magnificent man and moments with him so that others could know him too. And most of all, although this is my life, this book will definitely be food for thought for those who will read it. My husband was funny, loving and wise – but mostly, remarkable.
The book I want to write is in a very rough draft of disarray of almost 100,000 words in dire need of revising. I honestly haven’t even began to look at the writing, I merely keep adding to the doc whenever an important memory pops up. I began with three different Word documents with these working titles – Observations and Conversations, Obituary, and Poetry. Not even looking at the pages yet as just thinking about, it gives me shivers to reread. I will have to print out the many pages and lay them on the floor as a mosaic, piecing things in order, to begin the rewriting, adding, substracting, and editing. I have many a working title listed, and hoping this will be my best book, and undeniably, the most difficult to write (with P.S. I Forgive You as a distant second as a heart-wrenching book to write) as I reread and rewrite, many times over. I also plan to write the book in epistolary writing style. See my featured article as guest writer at Wendy Van Camp’s blog, No Wasted Ink, on epistolary writing.
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Writing Our LIfe
When I began writing books, my husband was so proud of me. He used to ask me if I would write a book about him. I asked, what exactly would he like me to write about? I also told him I’m not a ghostwriter, I’m a memoir writer. We laughed. Well, I suppose the joke is on me because it appears that I am now that ghostwriter in the literal sense – writing about the life between me and my beautiful husband, now a ghostly spirit as I remain the one who holds the love for both of us – on this planet.
Below is an example of how I’d like to convey my stories in epistolary style. Using my husband’s asking me if I’d write a book about him as a sample of how I’d write it below:
You asked, “Cubby, will you write a book about me?” I chuckled and asked you, as my eyes caught that sweet boyish grin of yours, what exactly is it you want me to write about? As though there weren’t a thousand and one things I could write about you. You laughed and said you had lots of good and funny stories to share. And certainly you did. But I backed off, telling you I wasn’t a ghostwriter, and memoirs are personal stories belonging to the writer. Remember? I’m a memoir writer. But the universe gets the last laugh on that one. In my life, I never thought I’d ever be writing about grief stories. And especially -that all those stories would be featuring YOU.
Me, the person who would or could not ever for one moment, allow myself to even entertain the thought that I could possibly one day be left, living without you. I’d never let my brain entertain one second of a thought of a life without you, especially with my strong believe in manifestation about – you get what you focus on. And being without you was just something I would never let cross my mind. But here I am, writing about you, sharing both my joy and grief, and questions. So many questions.
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Below, you will find more in this article from Writer Mag on what epistolary writing is:
My Sunday Book Review is for Elizabeth Gauffreau’s beautiful picture and poetry in memoir- Grief Songs – Poems of Love and Remembrance. The author generously sent me a paperback copy of this beautiful poetic memoir. Inscribed in handwritten words at the front page, Liz writes: “I hope Grief Songs will resonate with you. Living with grief is a very hard road to travel, as you know all too well.”Thank you Liz.
“Poetry readers willing to walk the road of grief and family connections will find Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance a psychological treasure trove. It’s a very accessible poetic tribute that brings with it something to hold onto–the memories and foundations of past family joys, large and small.” ~Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review
“Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance is a passionate ode to loved ones lost and an intimate portrayal of one family’s shared grief. It holds the key to solace in home photographs and illustrates just how special our singular moments can be. ~Toni Woodruff, Independent Book Review
“A beautiful, personal collection of family photos and poems that express the author’s most inner feelings. Nostalgic and heartfelt, Gauffreau’s poems are written in the Japanese style of tanka, simple, thoughtful, and full of love. Filled with wonderful memories of the past.” ~Kristi Elizabeth, Manhattan Book Review
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My 5 Star Review:
The author brings us this heartfelt little book of poetic memoirs inspired by snippets of her life with poignant memories wrapped up in poetic telling, accompanied by nostalgic photo imagery. The theme throughout the poems and photos is love, loss and remembrance, shared in vignettes.
This is a short book that packs a punch of life through the pages. A lovely tribute to Gauffreau’s lost loved ones, mother, father, brother, expressed through Tanka poetry. Stories you can read over again and again, leaving us to conjure our own nostalgia about people from our own past lives, depicting moments in time through snapshots of life.
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One of the author’s heartfelt Tanka’s in remembrance of her brother George:
For a Crooked Smile (accompanied by a photo of smiling brother George)
DGKayewriter.com 