It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a SIGN?
/Without a doubt, the most talked about, written about, and misunderstood topic on the afterlife are "signs" sent to us from a loved one in Spirit.
- What makes something a sign and not a natural occurrence?
- How do we know who the sign is from?
- Why don't I see any signs?
- Why have they stopped?
I had a really good laugh with a friend last week about a "sign." A dress I had really wanted to buy last fall suddenly appeared as an advertisement on my Facebook newsfeed, on sale at 75% off. I told my friend, who had seen me try the dress on last October, "Well, it's on sale now! Of course I should get it-it's a sign!" She laughed heartily and said,"Yeah, a STOP sign!" I love the way the Universe operates and brings the joy of laughter into the most mundane moments of life.
Yet it's a big question for many: how do you KNOW and TRUST that what you are hoping is communication from a loved one, actually is?
Let's take a quick trip back to the basics of Spirit communication. Logically, we know we aren't going to hear an audible voice speaking to us; a loved one in Spirit doesn't have a mouth or a body, so the communication will come to us by mental telepathy. A simple thought. In order to get to the place where you are able to trust that the sign you are witnessing is a valid communication, you have to learn to trust your thoughts. You need to become aware of your thinking patterns, and learn to discern the moment when they become interrupted by a "Hello!" from Heaven.
Over the past week, I have had three excellent examples of how a loved one in Spirit manifested a sign through nature, and then amazingly, validated that specific sign during a private session with a client.
In the first situation, my client asked, "Does my mother send any signs to me of her presence?" Immediately, I saw a red cardinal in my mind's eye. When I communicated this, my client's face went white as a sheet! She told me just a few hours before her reading, her daughter emailed her to ask me if cardinals were a special sign. The daughter had just sold an older piece of family jewelry on eBay that featured a cardinal. Meanwhile the family had been seeing cardinals perched just outside their window, leaving them to wonder if the mother figure was trying to communicate.
In the second reading, I was connecting a client to her son who had passed several years ago. During the reading he showed me a bird's nest filled with blue eggs and robins. Breaking out into a huge smile, she exclaimed, "I just knew it was from Lyle! I knew it!" Soon after his passing, a robin had made a nest in the track of the sliding glass door, and it had to be moved. I was worried the parents would abandon the nest, so I said, "If that's you Lyle, bring the birds back!"Within a few days, the birds had safely built another nest just two feet away, where my client was able to watch the entire process from egg laying to baby birds catching their first flight throughout the spring.
During the third reading, I was connecting a client with her son who had passed, and he showed me the image of a monarch butterfly, and communicated this was his symbol to his mother. She smiled and also reported that soon after her son had passed, she'd had the unusual pleasure of witnessing a monarch transform from caterpillar to butterfly right near her chair in her backyard. She said she had always felt it was her son Louis, showing her through nature, how he too, had undergone a beautiful transformation to take flight into the Spirit world. How wonderful that he was able to confirm that for her!
I've gotten the question many times, "Has my loved one come back to me..." as a butterfly, dragonfly, bird, etc.? It's not that your loved one has reincarnated as an animal or insect, but rather, they use the power of their ability to connect through thought to work with these creatures, perhaps to make a nest in a specific place or to land in a spot you'll notice. Birds and butterflies are everywhere, so the next question is how do we tell if it's just a natural occurrence or if it is truly a sign?
First of all, let me ask you this: Does it really matter? If seeing a delicate, beautiful thing of nature makes you think of your loved one with joy or peace...isn't the purpose of connection fulfilled?
When a loved one wishes to connect with you, they do so by focusing their energy and their thoughts on you. You receive this by becoming suddenly flooded with thoughts of them, completely out of the blue. It happens when you are focused on your own reality, and boom! Suddenly, you think of a loved one.
Signs are as varied as Spirits themselves, so maybe your loved one is sending you repetitive images or messages through friends and even strangers. Everywhere you go, you see Harley Davidson merchandise. Or people keep coming at you with the same little quip. Are you listening? Do you see the pattern?
I'll never forget a powerful sign I had about six years ago from a cardinal. I was caring for an elderly friend who'd had knee surgery, sitting in her living room with her, when a cardinal landed on a gutter just outside the window. It started chirping, getting louder and more insistent with each passing minute. He stayed there, singing his song furiously for a full 10 minutes, until I looked in my handbag to discover that I had left my cell phone in the car. When I retrieved it, I had nine missed calls and three voicemails. My daughter had dislocated her knee at school, and had been rushed to the hospital! Was a bright red bird trying to get my attention? Could it have been a coincidence?! I know that was a sign, and one I appreciated!
Sometimes we wonder who is sending us a sign, and in my story above, I can't pin it to a specific loved one who has passed. It was perhaps just an urgent message from the Universe. The way to know who a sign is from is to listen to your heart as you first notice the occurrence. Who comes to mind? Who are you suddenly remembering?
If you feel you aren't seeing signs in the same manner you did in the first year or two after your loved one passed, it's not that they have "gone" anywhere; it's that the nature of the communication has changed. Think of receiving a sign through a cardinal as involving a third party. Your loved one has to use their thoughts to convince the cardinal to perch on the fence outside of your window at the exact moment you happen to be sitting there. Who knows how much energy that takes? Once you become more familiar and open to receiving thoughts, the middleman (middlebird?) is eliminated. It's quicker, faster and easier to simply send a thought. Learn to trust! The communication won't stop; it will evolve and change.
Hilariously, I hear about a wide variety of experiences, from those who don't see any signs at all, to those who see them everywhere. Highly-analytical, logical people often have a difficult time incorporating that spiritual trust into their rationale. Because we can't prove without a doubt that a deceased loved one caused a butterfly to flutter by, we don't trust that it is possible. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, I see people who are completely convinced that every gnat, seagull and pigeon they see is a Spirit trying to convey a message of urgent importance. Maybe it's just a fruit fly attracted to that overripe banana. I mean, just maybe...right?
It's so important to find a balance. We know the human Spirit is eternal and doesn't die. We know our loved ones who have passed no longer have a mouth with which to speak. We know we are able to receive thoughts from outside sources. It makes sense that our communication will be primarily through mental telepathy, which is subtle. We must also bear in mind that when a beloved person has made their transition to the Spirit world, their journey here on the Earthly plane is complete. We will not be fire-wired to them 24-7, but rather, we will receive blessed visits that restore our hope and faith in the process of life and assure us of continued bonds. There will be a wonderful reunion, free of communication barriers, when the time is right. But right now, our job is to truly live, to be focused on creating our reality, learning to love more fully and absorb the wonders of the Earth. We do this in the company of, and with the guidance of, all of our loved ones who have gone before us, whether we acknowledge them or not.
The next time you doubt a sign you are receiving, ask yourself if a friend showed up with a small gift for you, say a box of chocolates, would you ignore her in disbelief? Would you demand a bigger, better box on the spot? ("If this butterfly is really YOU, then send me a mountain lion! Then I'll trust it!")
Maybe the best response is, "Thank you."
©Mollie Morning Star 2014 Short excerpts of this article may be shared on the internet provided a live link back to this original source is used. Reproduction in print is prohibited.