My mom died two weeks ago. It came as a relief as her 20 year struggle with Parkinson’s had taken its toll. By the end she couldn’t speak or move, although we knew she could hear us as her breathing would change and speed up, or she would get teary when we would share memories or speak from our heart. As the youngest of 4 kids, we had a special bond. My siblings tease me to this day about being her “favorite”. I will always cherish her love.

I am grateful for an awareness of the afterlife because it helped me encourage mom to let go and be with my dad who passed away 9 years ago. It also helped me to be happy for her when she finally died. I cried a mixture of tears of joy and celebration for her and also sadness for the finality of the physical loss. The best thing anyone can do with a loss is to allow the energy of grief to move through you. Then, couple it with the awareness that you can still communicate with them, you’ll see them again, and that love never dies. My brother David made a beautiful, 5-minute video called Celebrating Sally Link Christopher. This has helped me and my family through the grieving process.

Given my work, I’ve had the experience of guiding thousands of people to past lives and the spirit world. One thing the journeys all have in common is a feeling of “going home”, and of being immersed in a lighter vibration of love and total acceptance as they moved higher and deeper into the spirit world.

Because of my work, I’ve also had the privilege of being introduced to several afterlife researchers. One of them is Victor Zammit who wrote the book, A Lawyer Presents the Evidence of the Afterlife. He and his wife send out a fascinating, free weekly newsletter called the Afterlife Report…something worth checking out if you’re interested in the topic.

A few years ago, I was introduced to a book called Flying High in Spirit, by Carol and Mikey Morgan (available on Amazon). It’s about a young man named Mikey who went to a Catholic high school about a mile or two from my home office. He was beginning his third year of college in Colorado when he was killed in a car accident. For several months after his death, he sent obvious signs and messages to his family that he was still alive and conscious, just not in a body.

When his mother Carol gradually accepted that he was communicating with her, he guided her to an intuitive development class so she could communicate with him. He revealed that they had both arranged their situation prior to this life. He was an older soul who had stopped incarnating to earth, but he had planned with his mother to incarnate into this life to get a taste of human life again, and then die early in order to communicate back to his mother things about the spirit realm and about God that would be helpful for humanity to know. Things such as what the spirit realm was like, what earth life was about from the spiritual perspective, and what God is and what God is not. Also, how exactly spirits communicate with loved ones left behind on the physical plane.

Flying High in Spirit confirmed much of what I’ve previously studied about the afterlife and taught me even more, making the spirit realm feel so much more “real” and accessible. Now that my mother has died, I have a clearer sense of her experience in the spirit world…what Mikey calls “the Summerlands”, where most souls travel to after their death. I’m comforted by the image of my mom reuniting with my dad and her family in a celebration of her life — something that Mikey says happens in the Summerlands.

Another author who shares about the after-world is Jurgen Ziewe. He meticulously chronicles 40 years of out-of-body astral travel research in his two books titled, Multi-Dimensional Man: An Authentic Eyewitness Account of the World that Awaits Us After Death, and also Vistas of Infinity: How to Enjoy Life When You Are Dead. Ziewe shares how souls can select and change their age and appearance, and how his mother always appeared different during the dozen times he visited her. Since my mom’s death, I often wonder what age she chooses to appear with my dad.

I’m grateful for my understanding of the afterlife, and how it’s supported my grieving process. The more we study and understand about the afterlife, the more comforted we become, and the easier it is to endure the inevitable losses on earth.