Close Calls Defined
Close call
noun
a narrow escape from danger or disaster.
Following The Light
It was a sunny San Diego afternoon. I drove into my driveway and parked my car. My kids and neighbors buzzed around me. I looked up and saw my neighbor J standing at her mailbox. In her arms, her infant child. Next to her, a shimmering glittering light in the form of a person.
I was pulled towards her. Everything around me in sight and sound faded away. As an intuitive person, that's how it goes. My heightened spiritual senses reveal to me what the average person doesn't recognize that they can see, too. When it first began nearly nine years ago, I was frightened and anxious. But now, I don't run from it. I walk towards it.
I know instinctively who is standing next to J. I explain to J my ability and she's receptive. I inform her that her mother, who died years back, is standing beside her. I go further illustrate what I see. I say, "Her arms are around you." I know without having to think about it the following, "She says you have close calls on the road and she protects you."
J explained to me that she feels her mother around her. We converse about her mother and I describe her mother's appearance to her. I said, "Right now, she's got long straight hair, but she shows me that her hair was shorter and curled when she was living."
She pulls out her phone and shows me an old photo of her mother. It was shorter and curled into waves around her face.
After the conversation, we went back into our homes and continued on with our lives. That's how it goes for me. These events are miracles, but life is a miracle. We forget that.
Close Calls Are Appointments With God
Days later, J catches me getting out of my car. She says she has to follow up with our conversation.
She sheepishly admitted that she didn't understand what I meant about the close calls on the road. She didn't really even think about it. However, something happened that clarified the definition of close calls and protection.
She said, "The other day, while driving, I almost slammed into a travel van on the highway. Within an inch of the van, my car just stopped. My foot was on the gas pedal, not the brake pedal. Something stepped on the brakes."
My jaw dropped.
She continued, " I was fully aware that my foot was on the gas. I pulled over on the highway in a full panic attack, not fully understanding what had just happened. My son was in the backseat."
She explained to me that she knew it was her mother who had intervened at that moment. She then admitted that she experienced baby blues and was overwhelmed by new motherhood. She said she felt the world to be a scary place and all she wanted to do is protect her baby.
Close Calls Are Experiential Learning Opportunities
My message to her was a premonition of the events to come. It was also validation that there are forces at work performing on our behalf in ways we cannot even begin to fathom. Sometimes, when people hear a message, it doesn't fully click. Experiences teach us and illuminate concepts in ways so that we can fully understand them. Not even I fully understood the message at the time. I just saw the image of reckless drivers and J narrowly avoiding collision. How was I supposed to know, without much further inquiry, that what I saw was indeed a preview of things to come?
I told J that she had to shift her beliefs about life. She had to say to herself that it's ok to be fully inside one's body, that her world is safe, and that she has a lot more living to do as a new mom. Living in fear is not the way to live life. I explained to her that this experience is just the door to opening up a world of spirit and embarking on a personal - experiential - relationship with God. That's how postpartum depression served me. It opened up my mind to a greater world that is available to each and every one of us.
And, like that, J learned something new: something life changing and important. We both went back inside to care for our children and continue on with our lives.
I Am Reminded of My Own Close Call
Looking at J standing on my driveway, a young mother with life ahead of her, reminded me of myself 9 years ago. My entire world existed solely of my husband, baby, and two little dogs. And, then, the close call of postpartum depression - where I understood totally and completely why people commit suicide - changed my life for the better. Developing my spirit opened up my world and life in an ever expanding way.
Would I ever wish postpartum depression and anxiety on anyone? No. Never. However, it's important to say that one day or another we will all experience a close call.
I've experienced several close calls in my life. I walked out of cars in what should have been fatal accidents. I almost died in anaphylaxis. I had a close call in which a man put a roofie in my drink and my friend drank it instead of me. We both had a close call that night.
That close call taught me that death is nothing to fear. I've had close calls that had awoken newfound revelations about the individual experience on Earth. These close calls strengthened my faith, improved my outlook and attitude, and connected me in deeper ways to others.
Have you had a close call?
Close calls come in a variety of forms. They can be financial close calls, professional close calls, health and safety close calls, and so on.
Take a moment to meditate on your own close calls.
What have they taught you? What do you know now to be true after having experienced them.
I'd love to know and welcome you to share your stories in the comments.