Day 711- IANDS Meeting
It’s the first Sunday of the month which means IANDS and Helping Parents Heal meetings. I’ve been so incredibly busy over the last several weeks that the weekends have flown by and I’m not getting nearly as much done as I need to. An hour walk in the morning, a quick meditation, back home to grab a bite before the IANDS meeting and then just a couple of hours before I leave for the Helping Parents Heal meeting. I consider skipping the IANDS meeting today, but I decide to go and I’m glad for that decision.
Today there was no program. The meeting has really grown in the last few months. I estimate there were about 30 people there. We have more non-experiencers than experiencers. I always feel a bit guilty since this is supposed to be a support group for people who have had NDEs, but I’ll keep going until they kick me out. We begin the meeting with very short introductions (well, some of us kept it short), then we go into a time of sharing. The conversation is free flowing. Karen, who has had 19 NDEs gives us a taste of what her life is like. Her intuition has been blown wide open. She can look at a person and know way more about them than one might think is possible on Earth. She tells us about her work with the Monroe Institute. She tells us about this “instant knowing” that she now has. We go on sharing, talking about life on Earth, the purpose of life on Earth and, of course, death. One guy who had his NDE 12 years ago shares this is the only place he feels comfortable talking about it. We share stories of signs, including apports. Instead of trying to explain the things away as coincidence or hallucinations, when someone says “I’m pretty sure that was a sign.”, we say “Yeah, that’s a sign. And, here’s how the same thing happened to me.” Here we are, a group of strangers (mostly) talking about what is probably the most intimate subject you can talk about in our society, death. It is the only thing every person on the planet has in common besides the fact that we are born. We are all, each and every one of us, going to die. Yet, our society likes to pretend death will never happen to us.
We go around the group for an hour and a half sharing stories, encouraging one another to bring this message to the world, and talking about practices to help us keep the faith. I’m ready to head out, but someone grabs me and I end up in a smaller circle of about 8 people talking about Out of Body Experiences and with Karen sharing the secrets of becoming a “money magnet” with me when I tell her that I do worry about money.
I leave the meeting after 2-½ hours total. It doesn’t leave much time to get home, unwind for a few minutes, then think about dinner before Helping Parents Heal, but I’m so glad that I found the IANDS group. Online conversations about the only thing that is really important and lasting are great. But, it’s really nice to sit in a room and talk to people who get it when you say you’re looking forward to dying and that it doesn’t mean you’re suicidal or depressed. You’ve just been awakened to where your true Home is, where you feel comfortable and loved. You look forward to being your true Self again, not just the part that can fit into this meat suit. Just like a college student looks forward to graduation, you look forward to your Earthly graduation. It’s not often enough we get to bump into fellow travelers who know this isn’t the destination, but a stop along the way.
