I recently read the book The Light Between Us, written by medium and psychic Laura Lynne Jackson. I’ve read many books about life after death experiences, mediums, and intuitive/psychic abilities and I loved this one because it touches on several aspects of mediumship: the emotional, metaphysical, and of course the spiritual. It’s also written very simply and matter of fact – it only took me a few evenings to read it.
Laura starts by detailing her experiences with energy and intuition as a child and goes into explaining how she discovered her skills as a medium – while raising three kids and teaching high school English. The overarching theme of the book is that we are all bright lights, connected as a massive field when seen from above. This is exactly how I picture our world too.
She states, “Picture a hand with five fingers. Each finger is distinct, but each finger also connects to the same source – the hand itself. The fingers are separate, but connected. We as humans have vastly different experiences here on earth, but all of our experiences funnel into one collective experience – the experience of our existence. Our souls, our selves, our experiences, our existence – these are not isolated in any way. The universe is not a place of separateness, it is a place of entanglement. We are connected to others in ways we cannot fathom.”
Although most of the book focuses on touching stories of connecting people with their loved ones on the Other Side, she does get a bit into the energy and science of spirit communication as well.
For instance, she participated in a brain study with a psychologist in order to study her neurofeedback while she connected with Spirit. They wanted to see what exactly happens to her brain waves during the process – and what they found is fascinating. Her brainwave patterns were “almost 100% consistent with those of someone who has had a traumatic brain injury.” Instead of normal brain wave activity, they found that during her readings her brainwaves were showing up as the kind usually seen when a person is sleeping, in a coma, or possibly having a seizure: they were big and intermittent waves rather than the normal steady series of small waves.
The psychologist pointed out that the temporal-parietal junction of the brain, which is “associated with such functions as storing new memories, processing sensory input, deriving meaning, and emotional regulation” was essentially not working much during her readings. She was entering an altered or meditative state while communicating with Spirit by “slowing down the self-referencing activity in {her} brain.”
He goes on to tell Laura that she was “consciously getting your brain out of the way so that other people and other messages can come through. When you perform as a psychic or a medium some parts of your brain are basically not functioning.” She was essentially getting rid of her Ego (mind chatter) so that she could hear and see that which is not perceptible to the average person while walking around during their day.
While the majority of the book is filled with touching stories, the reason I focused on this small scientific aspect of the book is I find often people (including myself sometimes) push aside the possibility of communicating with Spirit or their loved ones on the Other Side because they either don’t think it’s real or possible and/or they don’t think they can do it. What this brain wave analysis shows is that our brains are a part of the process. It’s about getting the brain to function in a different way for a bit. It’s about entering an altered state where we slow down our Ego chatter and enter a highly meditative space. We can then reach that area of “reality” where communication with higher vibrations is possible.
This also resonates with me since I will often feel and experience sitting with my loved ones who have crossed over, or feel the presence of angels, when I’m in deep meditation. When we call on and think of our loved ones, they are really right here next to us. Laura does a perfect job explaining just how “close” the Other Side is:
“Take an ordinary sheet of paper in your hand. Now hold it up in front of you, as if you’re reading from it. Notice how that sheet of paper becomes a border that neatly divides the space it inhabits. It may be sheer and flimsy, a few tiny pulp fibers strung together, but it’s still inarguably a border. In fact, as a border, it divides a great amount of molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles. When you hold it up in front of you, you and billions of things are on one side, and billions of things – chairs and windows and cars and people and parks and mountains and oceans – are on the other. And yet, from your side of the paper, you can see and hear and access the other side quite easily – in fact, some of your fingers are already there, holding the paper. The sides may be separate, but, practically speaking, they are one and the same. The other side of the paper is right there.”
She asks, “what if the border between our earthly life and an afterlife is as thin and permeable as a single piece of paper? What if the other side is right there?”
I hope this gave you something to think about – and that you treat yourself to reading this book. The stories Laura shares of her journey and the people she’s met here on Earth and on the Other Side might make you see yourself and others in a new light.
In gratitude,
Nicki
